This document analyzes and evaluates dilemmas and difficulties in developing/implementing "progressive television," a kind of television that seeks to transgress the boundaries of dominant (mainstream) television by proposing a new constellation of television production and consumption. The ideal is described as a television that tries to stimulate the audience to thought, or inspire them to believe, or remind them of their humanness, with the result that the position of the audience becomes a central issue. It is noted that: (1) it is up to the audience to take up the role of active, committed citizens to bring about the development of an ideal, progressive television; (2) the function of "progressive television" is totally different from that of mainstream television; and (3) the narrator in progressive television speaks on behalf of and for the benefit of the whole audience. An example is provided by describing the experiences of a self-proclaimed "progressive television" organization embodied by the Dutch Socialist broadcasting organization, VARA, which is set up to represent the interests and preferences of the democratic socialist current within the Dutch nation. It is concluded that "progressive television" can never be a given ideal that transcends time and place, but is something that has to be constructed again and again under ever-changing circumstances. (45 end notes/references) (CGD)