The essay analyzes the game nature of screen attraction - one of themost important tools of television dramaturgy. Attraction is examined, in thetradition established by Sergei Eisenstein and developed by Russian and foreignresearchers, not just as entertainment but as a way of influencing audienceperception. TV viewing is regarded as a special kind of game developing inaccordance with the rules established by a program’s format and repeated in thisprogram’s each new release. The key aspects relating classic TV communicationto game are: voluntary selection and viewing of the programs; clearly markedplace and time of occupation; a set of rules mandatory for a particular game;the feelings of joy and fun generated by the participation in TV viewing;immersion of the viewer in the "otherness" of the game and simultaneouspresence in everyday life. The rules of communication game are accepted byall participants in the process: the makers of a TV product, the partakers andthe audience. Voluntary way of program viewing is an indispensable conditionfor TV communication, and the attractions are its most active moments: theyare designed to capture and keep the viewer's attention, and to evoke emotionsassociated with the pleasure produced by game.The essay explores the attraction-like nature of TV shows both as acontent and as a set of the signs, as a way of the functioning of the audiovisuallanguage. The variability of the TV spectacle is investigated as the phenomenonof postmodern aesthetics, as an aesthetic merit rather than an immanentdisadvantage a priori depriving TV products of the right to uniqueness