The midterm election coverage began with intimations that the Democrats might unleash a “blue wave.” It proceeded, in early evening, with James Carville soberly declaring on MSNBC, “It’s not going to be a wave election.” It ended, after a re-reversal of the narrative, with cable news panels arguing over what the definition of “wave” is.

I will leave the assessment of any wave, its magnitude and its color, to the pundits. But there were all kinds of waves pouring from the TV on Tuesday night: waves of data, waves of narrative, waves of nausea and/or relief.

The networks agreed that the 2018 election would be momentous: a “verdict,” Wolf Blitzer said early on CNN, on President Trump. But it would come from millions of jurors in thousands of cases.

[Read what Stephen Colbert and other late-night hosts had to say.]

As the returns started rolling in, the analysts told a zigzagging, roller coaster story of just what decision the jury had rendered: who was doing well and badly, who should be elated and devastated.