The last time I talked to an NPR reporter about BET -- senior correspondent-turned-news analyst Juan Williams -- all my comments ended up on the cutting room floor. I think that was because I didn't agree wth the way Williams kept trying to get me to call BET's programming "pornography" -- which I thought was a bit over the top.

Fortunately, correspondent Neda Ulaby wasn't quite so strident, allowing me to express my conflicted feelings about BET in a story she developed for Morning Edition today. I think the channel airs a lot of awful programming, but they also air some interesting stuff and the reasons they air what they do isn't simple as a white-owned channel pimping black people.

One thing Ulaby only referenced slightly in her piece, for instance, is this fact: Black TV households seem attracted to the kind of programming BET's critics often criticize.

A look at cable TV ratings in black households for lasty week shows -- apart from the NBA playoffs in the first eight slots -- that TBS' House of Payne, VH1's Flavor of Love 3, BET's College Hill and VH1's Miss Rap Supreme were the top-rated cable shows in black households. None of these shows would likely get the stamp of approval from BET's critics (except Payne, which avoids criticism for its buffoonish characters through the weight of creator Tyler Perry's sterling image with black people).

It makes sense -- the first 20 spots among all cable TV households were the NBA playoffs, two Indiana jones movies, Spongebob Squarepants, WWE wrestling and MTV's The Hills. People, no matter what color, seem to enjoy watching a lot of nonsense.