Hard to believe, but it has now been six years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Six years since Americans sat riveted to their televisions for a week straight watching nothing but news. Remember that? No soap operas, no game shows, no reality TV. Just the news. The networks didn't even show commercials for a week, let alone other programs.

Six years since a lot of us secretly vowed to ourselves that we were going to pay more attention to "serious" television like Nightline and MacNeil Lehrer, and less attention to shows like Temptation Island or The Weakest Link. Right?

Well, it didn't take long for our mentally and physically wounded country to get back to normal TV viewing. But like the New York City skyline, the landscape of television also changed on that terrible day.

When I first started thinking about this column, I really believed that nothing much at all had changed about television since 9/11. In fact, aside from local and national news coverage, there hardly seemed to be anything much different at all.

Before 9/11 we had gawdy game shows such as Who Wants to be a Millioniare?. Since 9/11, they've been replaced with equally extravagant productions like Deal or No Deal and Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?

Before 9/11, Britney Spears had us all titilated over her scandalous half naked dance with a boa constrictor on the MTV Music Awards. Since 9/11, we've had Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" and sensational sex and drug scandals with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

Before 9/11, we had a slew of reality shows like Survivor and Big Brother. Since 9/11 we've had... well, a slew of reality shows like Survivor and Big Brother, and every other possible reality show you can think of. (Name an occupation and I bet I can find you a reality show about it!)

But looking deeper, it's apparent to me that things have changed on television quite a bit since 9/11. Albeit subtly.

For starters, some shows did not survive the 9/11 attacks. Remember That's My Bush? The Comedy Central sitcom that was the brain child of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker which was a bizarre cross between The West Wing and Married With Children. The show poked a little too much fun at President Bush, and was quietly removed from the air during the uber patriotic and just-shut-up-and-support-the-President period that followed September 11th.

Now, I guess it's back in vogue to bash Bush a little. Comedy Central now has Lil' Bush, an animated satire that lets us laugh at preschool aged George, Condi, Dick and Don. (The show makes equal fun of guys like Michael Moore and Al Gore too.)

Since 9/11, we've also seen the rise of some already existent shows. Comedy Central's The Daily Show was a well-established mock news program, and joke writers had plenty of ammo after the 2000 election debacle. But following 9/11 and the subsequent war in Iraq, the program really soared. As I pointed out in an article recently, some people use The Daily Show as their bona fide news source!

I'm convinced that CBS's JAG earned a new lease on life after 9/11. The show about a Navy fighter pilot turned lawyer was six years old when the terrorists struck, and had pretty much jumped the shark. But our country's surging patriotism no doubt had us hankering for more of the character of Harm, and gave us a few more years of the show.

Another subtle change I've noticed is the acceptance of the 9/11 attacks in some popular dramas. It's not unusual for one or all of the Law & Order shows to refer to September 11th. Some episodes have even dealt directly with themes such as the suffering of 9/11 widows of firefighters and police, remains found at ground zero, and the post-9/11 anthrax scares.

Maybe the biggest change I've spotted is some of the new shows that have either addressed or been inspired by September 11th. Jericho, the post-apocalyptic drama is the first to come to mind. Producers and writers frankly admit they were inspired by September 11th when they created the show, and moved by "the best of people" that was brought out after that horrific day.

NCIS is another. This JAG spin-off deals with Navy investigators looking into high-profile cases. Like, for instance, terrorist plots.

Now don't get me wrong, because I'm not trying to be critical. I didn't really expect that TV viewing habits would change too much after 9/11. I certainly didn't think that American culture would make a radical shift after the disaster. We didn't after Pearl Harbor. Why would we now?

Television still offers us everything from the sublime to the banal. Which is just the way it should be. Right?

I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Ethan Morris: "Not always right, but never in doubt." Go ahead and write me.