There's still a lot of nostalgia for the days when three or four broadcast networks produced virtually everything on television and functioned as the glue that held us together as a society. Because it seemed like everyone watched the Academy Awards, the World Series, The State of the Union address, "Happy Days" and "Dallas," TV was essentially the lingua franca for the average American. Looking back, in the transformation of television from a somewhat bland landscape of homogenized shows to the vibrant, if flawed, carnival of programming we have today, the launch of the premium network we once called Home …

Two big events played out on TV while I was in Israel last month. Many times, our perception of the ongoing conflict in Israel takes on a particular divisive view of how intractable the problem seems to be. Always the observer, television is often accused of fanning the flames. But I learned that sometimes you need to pound the pavement to get a real sense of the street.

With the success in recent years of such consistently smart situation comedies as ABC's "Modern Family" and "The Middle," CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" and NBC's "The Office" and "Community," I started to think that broadcast sitcoms might finally be getting beyond the frat humor and all-around crudeness that seeped into the genre in the '90s and all but overtook it during the last decade. But the early weeks of the 2011-12 television season have me thinking otherwise. Naughtiness is everywhere, especially in the form of talk about naughty bits.

In industry-standard media measurement, the generally accepted measurement increments can be in homes or persons. In the world of Set-Top-Box data, the measurement requires an additional increment which is the Box. Generally speaking, U.S. households have an average of 2+ set-top boxes but this can vary by operator and footprint. Here are the measurement terms associated with measurement at the Set-Top-Box level:

Michele Buslik, senior vice president, director of media research at TargetCast tcm, is one of the most knowledgeable researchers in the industry. She is very active in many industry committees and initiatives including the 4As Media Measurement Committee. In my interview with her, Michele talks about the future of the industry, set-top-box data measurement and the importance of full disclosure of data algorithms, the evolving role of research, accreditation and the challenge of "false rumors" that raise doubts about the accuracy of research data used in the industry today.