ESPN may want to give viewers a chance to own a little piece of its network - by buying an ESPN-branded television set.

Toss out the serious message -heavy TV shows - the procedural cop programs, the life-and-death struggling medical efforts, the gut-wrenching courtroom dramas -- frivolity is now in vogue for TV.

There aren't enough TV shows to watch. Even the mediocre ones need further examination - which seems to be what the glut of TV-DVD releases is all about.

Like its loose model, Joan of Arc, "Joan of Arcadia" went down fighting... to the death. Death won again in this instance, as the CBS Friday night show didn't make it onto next fall's schedule.

With the broadcast part of the upfront advertising market almost done, a number of fingers will be pointed this week - at NBC, cable, and syndication. In somewhat of a traditional marketplace, with the broadcast networks going first -- ABC, CBS, Fox, UPN, and the WB - it would seem like the remaining pieces of the market could be fighting for what's left. This is especially true in a less than robust marketplace that exists.

Who knew? Now it's TV programmers that are having an effect on length and style of Internet video.

Fox now sports its first ever season-long broadcast ratings crown, but some not-so-sporting complaints remain from its competitors. Fox Broadcasting won the season with a 4.1 rating in the Nielsen 18 to 49 ratings race, just a smidge over CBS' 4.0. ABC was a bit farther back at 3.7, showing a big rise of 12 percent over last year. NBC sank some 19 percent to arrive at an unexpected 3.5.

If you work for a U.S.-based media company, you have to be inspired by the employees of the BBC. In response to the company-wide job cuts of 4,000 people over the next three years, the company's entire work staff went on strike for one day. It's kind of nostalgic to think media companies are like steel companies or automobile companies of years ago - that the slightest whim of change can bring about unity.

Start the guessing game now that the upfront programming presentations are over -- what is the next great out-of-the-box original network hit? Can't think of anything? Perhaps we are getting a little too greedy, since there is already one show that this year fit the bill. After years of having no honest-to-goodness scripted rookie hits, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" seemingly arrived from outer space last September.

So where's the TV upfront advertising market this morning? Lukewarm? Warming? ABC supposedly did some early deals last week to, in theory, kick off the upfront advertising sales market - a market that is poised to be rather feeble. Speculation centers around a deal or two or three or perhaps 17 the network had with media agency OMD - all because ABC has the Super Bowl in 2006, a piece of the 2005-2006 broadcast selling season.