This paper argues that the effectivity of television lies in the complex effects it generates by operating in specific ways on the line of in-difference, i.e., a particular structure of self relationship enacted in the relation between identity and difference. Using a theoretical and critical framework, the paper presents an analysis of three television functions: reshaping the powers and pleasures of identities and differences; reworking the relationship between ideology and affect; and rearticulating the social structure and power of difference within an affective democracy. A number of popular films and television shows are discussed to illustrate these points. Other aspects explored in this paper include: (1) in-differences of context and of form; (2) fragmentation and interruption of discourses constantly appearing on and disappearing from the television screen; (3) inability of television criticism to confront the problems posed by the determination of television apparatuses; (4) postmodernism and hypermodernism; (5) irony, repetition, and excess and the three forms of in-difference they announce; and (6) in-difference of identity or meaning. (5 end notes) (CGD)