In the 500-channel universe, we're definitely lost in space

[Commentary] In the 500-channel universe, which may, of course, contain many more channels than 500, the fun never stops -- fun at such a fever pitch as to sometimes seem threatening, numbing, even agonizing. Somewhere along the way, standards seem to have been not so much lowered as eliminated. "Content" has replaced that archaic term "substance" and seems to promise much less. Style, in many cases, is content; that's not even really news anymore. The bar has been lowered so many times that it now just lies there on the floor, lifeless and limp, the outmoded relic of other eras. Originality is now really too much to expect from a movie industry enslaved by economics and the need to produce film franchises fit for clone upon clone after clone. In television, on CBS, there are those endless "CSI" franchises. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"and "Private Practice" are essentially the same show. On ABC Sunday nights, "Desperate Housewives" flows fairly effortlessly into "Brothers and Sisters" -- their temperament and attitude are identical and they seem to even share the same musical score.