First came the television, a must have staple for all serious football fans. Then came the remote control, a magical device that allowed everyone from Cheeseheads to the Raider Nation to control their equally magical television without wasting precious body fat. Then God bestowed upon his people the buffalo wing, a sports viewing achievement no one thought could be topped.

That was until Dec. 7, 1963 when television saw the first instant replay during the Army-Navy game on CBS.

Now thanks to this marvelous technological fusion of athletics and broadcasting, viewers around the world can go to the bathroom in peace knowing they would not be able to miss a minute of the action. Fans were ensured that referees would conclusive access to every angle of every play no matter how minutiae the detail. Now if only technology could improve the refs, we'd be set.

As Bob Sassone wrote in his report about Inside the NFL ending its HBO run last February, the NFL was reporting that the show would find a home on another network. It has. And I can tell you now that Inside the NFL will be appearing weekly on Showtime. It'll be a collaboration with CBS Sports and NFL Films. That said, I think we can expect to see CBS talent on the show.

In its most recent edition on HBO, Inside the NFL was hosted by Bob Costas, with expert input by former players and current broadcast analysts Dan Marino, Cris Collinsworth and Cris Carter. Costas and Collinsworth are NBC employees, and Carter is part of ESPN. That leaves Danny Boy. And yes, he is a CBS guy, a regular commentator on The NFL Today every Sunday during football season. I'll bet you right now that Dan will be on the show.

Inside the NFL is a unique weekly highlight show -- one of the best ever -- because shows the games up close from the viewpoint of NFL Films. Those cameras get inside of the game more than TV cameras. They're films, not TV and the production values are like a documentary film. As a longtime football fan, I'm really glad that Inside the NFL will go on. This year will be its 32nd on the air.

So, what do you think it is?

Was it the debut episode of this season's American Idol? Was it the season opener of 24? Or maybe the half-season-ender of Lost a few months ago? The season opener of Grey's Anatomy?

Nope. The highest-rated TV show of the season so far was the third episode of Ghost Whisperer! OK, I'm kidding. The actual highest-rated show after the jump.

I don't think there's anything I look forward to less than this two week period in March when CBS subjects us to non-stop college basketball action. Not the Olympics, not root canal surgery. And it's not even the basketball that bothers me, it's that it's college basketball. I mean, unless you go to the school or went to the school, who gives a *&#%?

And it's one of those events where people who ordinarily have no interest in college basketball all suddenly join in and bet money in various pools. They become pseudo experts, and become obsessed with scores and matchups and who's playing who and when and what happened and what the score is and everything else. And all the other networks have news stories about the games, my local paper covers it as if it's the Super Bowl (it's not, sorry), and everyone just sort of tries to force it down our throats. Ugh.

It's funny, but I don't even watch that much on CBS, now that I think of it (Letterman, maybe one of the Monday night comedies, Survivor), but this two week interruption still bothers me.