Shortly before Christmas, the business section of my paper had an article about retailers' sales figures. It said that retailers were disappointed in sales of sophisticated new TV's. They were having to slash prices to get people to buy them at all.

They should have asked me. I could have told them that people are tired of ever-more sophisticated television sets that broadcast ever-more stupid programming.

By my estimate, there are only 800 adults in the nation (U.S.) who actually watch TV anymore. Adults who have one favorite show a week and watch only that are more numerous, possibly several million.

A couple years ago I wanted to play Mouret's Rondeau, the theme from Masterpiece Theatre. I kept asking people if Masterpiece Theatre was still on, and if so, was that still the theme. All I got was blank looks.