“NBC’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION,” 8-11 p.m. Monday...

“NBC’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION,” 8-11 p.m. Monday (4)(36)(39)--There is plenty for NBC to celebrate this year besides an anniversary.

This is the season that Grant Tinker-led NBC completed its prime-time comeback, replacing CBS atop the Nielsen ratings with probably one of the best program mixes in recent TV history. It’s also the season that “Today” took the ratings lead from ABC’s “Good Morning America” and the season that the Tom Brokaw-anchored “NBC Nightly News” seemed poised, finally, to overtake Dan Rather and “The CBS Evening News.”

“Saturday Night Live” is listless, but this seems to be NBC’s era for happy endings. So clearly, the network is healthy again and a celebration is in order.

That being said, it should be noted that anniversary shows are seldom as good as their billing. Last month’s ABC prime-time special noting the 25th anniversary of “Wide World of Sports,” for example, was a drag, proving that two hours of wordy Jim McKay were nothing to toast.

However, NBC will be jumping through its own hoops Monday night, just as it did a decade ago in celebrating its 50th birthday. The unpreviewed three-hour program will be the usual “star-studded evening,” featuring oodles of network personalities past and present, some in person, others via old radio programs or black-and-white TV clips.

Some announced highlights: moments from “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show”; Bob Hope, Michael J. Fox, Milton Berle, Barbara Eden, the “Cosby kids” and others leading tours of the New York and Burbank studios; Jack Paar recalling memorable radio broadcasts.

Clips from old TV shows are usually the most fun, reminding us just how good programs used to be, and how bad. Altogether, they depict this still-young medium as it is: a work in progress.