Truth is stranger than fiction in the TV wasteland. Not that it hasn’t always been, just that recent twists and turns between the people who make TV and the people who watch it suggest we’re on the verge of a new set of rules to govern the relationship between broadcasters and viewers.

All sorts of odd things are going on that nobody wants to talk about. Less people are watching commercial TV than at any time in the past 20 years. Fewer TV sets have been sold this year than last year. Pay cable TV networks are flourishing at the expense of free TV broadcasts. Adventurous broadcasters are experimenting with 24 hour all-news and all-sports channels. Sales are soaring in the home video player and pre-recorded cassette market. And of course, corporate TV executives are staying up late trying to figure out how to re-establish the supremacy and advertising b&se rates they’ve maintained for the past 30 years.