Trying to think inside the box Makers of wide-screen shows promise those black bars will mean more picture, not less

The shape of television began to change in the spring of 1997. Producer Dick Wolf had a new show on CBS called "Feds." To lend it adistinctive look, a decision was made to televise it in what's called"letterbox," a format with black bars above and below the picture togive it the rectangular wide-screen dimensions of a theatrical filmdespite the squat, nearly square dimensions of a standard TV screen.

"Feds" survived a whopping five weeks. But the furor--like theformat and the squinting it causes among small-screen viewers--continues to this day.

"The letters that came in to CBS were quite amusing," Wolf said."I think the best one was: 'I paid for my entire TV screen. …