It is difficult to understate the lasting impact that the works of William Shakespeare have had on the world. One can scarcely go through a day without hearing a line from one of his sonnets or a quote from one of his plays. Indeed, many people (myself included) spout his prose verbatim without even realizing the source of the words they speak. Shakespeare's plays have been the subject of films from the earliest days of movie making, and the body of his work has been dissected, studied, argued and analyzed for literally hundreds of years. Not surprisingly, the plays of The Bard are finding a more and more prominent place in our entertainment venues as the millennium draws to a close.

I have, for some time now, been privileged to participate in Harris Poll Online's ongoing public opinion polling. It is often quite a lot of fun, and I'm amassing points toward some sort of trivial little gift in the process. Today, however, was the first time I actually got *excited* about the topic of the poll which arrived in my email.

It seems that TLC/Discovery/One of Their Other Affiliated Channels will soon be airing a program featuring *chariot racing*. Yes, chariot racing, complete with jaunty two-wheeled carts pulled by great lumbering beasts, driven by what I assume will be buffed and tanned males wearing leather skirts, zooming at perilous speeds around a circular dirt-floored race track. Apparently, the object of the survey was to ascertain (1) whether the proposed ad campaign would pique my interest, and (2) whether the chariot racing itself would be something that I might watch. There were numerous little boxes in which I could indicate my potential levels of fervor at the prospect of such a show. (Note: one of the questions asked me on which of several affiliated channels the chariot racing should be carried. TNN, formerly known as The Nashville Network seemed to me to be the obvious choice out of the group.)