How lucky are we to be able to enjoy a pair of scripted television series that aren't simply two of the best of their time, but also two of the all-time best? I'm speaking of FX's "Justified," which concluded its densely entertaining third season this week with what may be its strongest episode ever, and AMC's "Mad Men," one of the very few drama series in the history of the medium that started out as something better than anything else on television and has continued to raise its own bar during each of its subsequent seasons.

There is arguably no more important feature of the digital marketplace than bandwidth, which impacts the speed with which we can access and use content. There has been ongoing discussion about how to best package bandwidth -- either through unlimited space, or parsed and priced via tiers of usage. The apportioning of bandwidth can impact return path data measurement because it contributes to latency as well as other usage conditions. Variable bandwidth levels are a challenge to edit rules, algorithm creation and metric standardization.

Last year, when I was working as a consultant, I developed the Commercial Value Index, designed to rank cable networks on which were best at minimizing commercial avoidance among their viewers. This year I added a viewer loyalty component. The impetus for the CVI was my frustration when I was on the media agency side of the business. During numerous upfront presentations every year, there would invariably be a handful of cable networks that tried to sell me on some sort of value factors that went beyond Nielsen ratings. In some cases they would come up with some nifty new …

Morning television came surprisingly and excitingly to life this week with the kind of intensity usually reserved for sweeps months. What was so special about this first week of April? I haven't a clue, but it was fun while it lasted. The results of this sudden surge in early morning competitiveness were decidedly uneven, but as I have repeatedly stated in the past, any extra attention that any broadcast network pays to any part of its daytime schedule is a good thing for all of them.

Whether you call it Drift or Slippage, incorrect clock time or frequency tuning requires a correction or an adjustment so that content is correctly matched to the data stream. Here are terms associated with realigning drift:

These are the signs of spring: the first crocuses, the first robin and the first Internet-streamed game of the new baseball season. For me, the most enjoyable pleasure wrought by the Internet is that it lets me watch my beloved Red Sox throughout the season. I live behind enemy lines in the New York DMA, where regular telecasts of Sox games are prohibited by Major League Baseball broadcasting rules unless they are playing the Yankees and appearing on YES.

My column last week about the mentor issues swirling around Fox’s “American Idol” was already in production when the show seemingly proved me right. Talented Erika Van Pelt submitted to a wholesale image change (from sporty blond with shoulder-length hair to intense Kris Jenner mode) and was promptly voted off by an audience that was likely thrown by her dramatic and perhaps alienating makeover. Van Pelt may not have been a front-runner to win the competition but she was far from the most deserving to get tossed after last week’s performance show. At least she made the top10; that’s what …

How often do we look at a clock and realize that the time is slightly off? This occurs on occasion with computer clocks and set-top boxes (which are also computers to a certain extent). The cause of Clock Drift may have to do with the speed of processors, or service gaps or tuner mistakes. While next week we will review terms to correct this phenomenon, this week we list all the terms related to Drift in its many forms:

Ken Wollenberg, president/general manager of Experian Simmons, has a range of measurement experience from MRI to Nielsen to Arbitron, which led to his current position at Simmons. In my interview with him. Ken talks about the pros and cons of STB data measurement, research quality, and the modeling and hybridization of STB data and other big data sets -- especially as it applies to Experian and the future of media.

One of the best moments in what has proven to be a decidedly uneven season for Fox's "American Idol" came this past Wednesday on Billy Joel Night, when contestant Phillip Phillips took the stage. He sang his own very distinctive rendition of "Movin' Out" -- and nailed it. Significantly, he did so by sticking to his own instincts and flatly ignoring the advice he had received earlier in the week about his performance style from "Idol" in-house mentor Jimmy Iovine and guest mentor Sean P. Diddy Combs. He also rejected the styling advice he received from the newest member of …