By A Twist Of Fate Rather Than

In The 500-channel Universe, Which May, Of Course, Contain Many More Channels Than 500, The Fun Never Stops - Fun At Such A Fever Pitch As To Sometimes Seem Threatening, Numbing, Even Agonizing.

"more Fun Than A Barrel Of Monkeys." Has Anyone Ever Stopped To Think How Cranky, If Not Downright Vicious, A Barrelful Of Monkeys Would Be, Especially Once Released From The Barrel?

Television's Escapist Programming Naturally Continues To Endorse Living Beyond One's Means As The Time-tested American Way And Rarely Depicts Families Or Individuals Wracked By The Pressures And Miseries That Come With Excess.

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.

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.