In The 500-channel Universe, Which May, Of

If The Networks Can Get Audiences To Tolerate Pop-up Promos By The Dozens, Maybe They'll Start Selling Pop-up Commercials, Too.

The Once Inviolate Frame Within Which Programs Or Commercials Were Displayed On Television - Always Separately - Has Been Violated To A Pulp. Program Content Is Seen Increasingly As A Mere Backdrop On Which Ads Are Posted Like Billboards On A Fence.

You Don't Hear Tv Cops Griping Because They Have To Enforce Some Draconian Law That Shouldn't Be On The Books In The First Place, Or Lamenting Vindictive Excesses In Sentencing. Hollywood, Supposedly A Frothing Cauldron Of Liberalism, Has Always Been Conservative On Crime.

Perhaps Western Civilization Is In A Post-decline Phase, Or Maybe The Decline Is Just Taking A Really Long Time, Like The Roman Empire's Did. The Romans Had Gladiators And Christian-hungry Lions And That Sort Of Thing. We Have Mtv.

By A Twist Of Fate Rather Than Anything Approaching Journalistic Enterprise, I Did The Last Major Interview With Johnny Carson.