No soap opera has so engrossingly captured the wondrous banality of the human condition.

Titanic clashes in this video courtroom are likely to swirl around botched paint jobs, unshoveled sidewalks, defective toasters, aggressive guard dogs and every conceivable, and sometimes inconceivable, mishap involving a dry cleaner.

Max Headroom, if overly exposed, could end up as just another Muppet Nothing would be more distressing than to witness a brilliant parody of TV turn into a TV cliche.