The other day I saw an interesting story on MSNBC saying that since 1994, the percentage of Democrats who disapprove of the Republican party and the percentage of Republicans who disapprove of the Democratic party each rose from about 15% to over 50%. The MSNBC reporter struggled to come up with a reason, seemingly oblivious to the obvious: MSNBC and Fox News both started in 1996.

This past Sunday's Emmy Awards broadcast was the lowest-rated ever. Before that, last year's broadcast was the lowest-rated ever. Next year's broadcast will probably lower the bar even further and again be the lowest-rated ever. That's what happens when most of the series nominated for the major awards are among the lowest-rated ever. Why should people watch a show that highlights shows they don't watch?

I was watching the season finale of TNT's "The Last Ship," and saw a promo for CBS's new drama, "Bull." Made sense to me. They probably have very similar audiences. But we would never see "Bull" promoted on NBC's "Law & Order: SVU." That's because the broadcast networks still seem to see themselves as their main competition. Strangely, they will take advertising from ad-supported cable networks, but not from one another.

The Emmy Awards are a handful of days away, but we already have a winner: The New TV World Order. If the statue is of a winged woman holding an atom, that atom is finally splitting.