EW isn't alone; the show's just-opened curtain call is receiving perhaps the greatest huzzahs ever to greet a summer of reruns. (The Washington Post's Tom Shales writes, "Some reruns do seem too grand for the term 'rerun.'") Tom Carson in Esquire hailed the rer -- sorry, encores -- last month; more recently, Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times, "It just may be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century," which in turn may be the greatest work of critical hyperbole in, oh, the past couple weeks.

What's interesting is not so much the level of attention, considering that a) it's a fine and witty series that b) is about the mob, allowing those fuggehdaboudit ruminations on manhood and honor and generational change that have been critical faves since "The Godfather." It's that this wide, mainstream attention is going to a show on HBO, a premium subscription channel available in a minority of television households, albeit a growing one.

James Poniewozik's column appears in Media, every Monday and Thursday + Biography + Archives

What you don't much hear is this question: Isn't it a shame people have to kick out a couple hundred bucks a year to get this? Now, that may not be a critic's job, but, effectively, they're increasingly writing to a self-selecting group of fans who dispose growing chunks of income on supplemental entertainment -- the televisual equivalent of the "lobster medallions ($10 supp.)" on a restaurant menu. (The analogy isn't completely strained: Food critics, unlike entertainment critics, have long had to decide whether a restaurant's prices should figure into its rating.)

This is no knock against premium channels, which deserve credit for realizing that high-quality original programming is key to attracting subscribers. In fact, they may be further mainstreaming themselves by gaining customers with shows like "The Sopranos." In the process, though, they're accelerating a trend: the economic multi-tiering of not just TV but all popular culture.

One factor in this emerging caste system is demographic: "Will and Grace" and "Frasier" for one bracket, WWF for another. The number of channels has allowed programmers to slice the audience many ways, and socioeconomically is one of the most popular. But another factor is simple dollars and cents: How much is information and entertainment worth to you? It's long been possible to spend more money on accoutrements -- expensive stereos, popcorn -- but now consumers can drop top dollar on content too. We hear a lot about the splintering of the media audience, but it's not just because there are so many choices. There are also a greater number of price points.

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