CELEBRATION OF LIBERTY : TELEVISION/ By Howard Rosenberg : Coverage of Our Huddled Masses: Wretched Excess?

What America needs as much as a Statue of Liberty is a Statue of Brevity.

The pair of statues would guard New York Harbor like sconces, one symbolizing democracy’s moral high ground, the other reminding us that enough is enough, that a flag can be respected and honored without being continually waved. The Statue of Brevity would appear to be drawing her finger across her throat like a floor director in a TV studio. And there would be a one-word inscription at her base:

“Cut!”

Fat chance.

Thursday night’s opening ceremonies for the Liberty Weekend should have satisfied nearly everyone’s liberty lust. (All right, throw in today’s tall ships, too.)

The ABC special was initially almost anticlimactic, following a week-long glut of liberty statue centennial programming and commercial tie-ins. By the time Gregory Peck recounted the statue’s history Thursday night, it seemed stale and musty.

What a stunning TV spectacle the evening turned out to be, though. A time for stars, speeches and spirits, with President Reagan on his game. The topper was a medley of songs shaped into a rousing, cheering production number that showed how much better liberty is explained in music than in lectures.

All this culminated with the presidential relighting of the liberty torch, accompanied by a noisy fireworks display that seemed to set the screen ablaze

“And that is only Act 1,” said ABC’s Peter Jennings who co-anchored the event with Barbara Walters. Unfortunately, he was wrong. It was about Act 20.

If you’re getting that deja vu feeling about TV’s coverage of the Statue of Liberty’s 100th birthday, it’s no wonder. You’re hearing the same thing again and again and again.

As the “official” Liberty Weekend network, for example, ABC Wednesday launched its 17.5 hours of special coverage with an hour preview advertising the rest of its coverage. On that program, David Brinkley became perhaps the 100th person on TV this week to explain “how the lady got here and why.” Let’s see. The statue was a gift from Spain?

Just as redundant are the definitions of liberty.

ABC’s James Wooten delivered an eloquent essay on liberty Wednesday night. On “The CBS Morning News” the singer Vanity had likened it to “the Fourth of July, Christmas, Halloween and,” she giggled, “my birthday.”

ABC’s “Good Morning America” polled columnist Ellen Goodman, commentator George Will and the Rev. Jesse Jackson on their interpretations of liberty.

Even that usually reliable CBS skeptic, Andy Rooney, fell all to pieces and gave his own mushy definition of liberty. Everyone on TV was defining liberty, but no one was getting it right.

It’s really very simple. Liberty is the freedom to ignore all these definitions of liberty.

That hasn’t been an easy assignment in a week when hordes of Statue of Libertyphiles have been unleashed by the media.

If you’re seeking Liberty Weekend’s conflicting images, they’re not hard to find. “A lot of the people who are going to be here (in New York) celebrating are probably not registered voters,” said Goodman.

Thursday night’s spectacle included the awarding of Liberty medals to 12 naturalized Americans whose outstanding accomplishments were deemed worthy of special recognition. But only one of them was a woman.

Hence, much of the week’s hyperbole, and today’s inspiring TV pictures of those majestic tall ships collecting in New York Harbor like an Olympics parade of nations, clash with some of America’s harsher realities.

You’d think that by now, also, that Hollywood’s wheels would be turning. Perhaps there will be a TV series spun off from the birthday celebration. “The Tall Schleps.” Or a camp movie: “Lady Liberty Meets Godzilla.” Or jokes: Give me liberty or give me Cleveland.

You have to love some of the real-life commercials. Nothing beats using the statue to sell Wendy’s “crispy chicken nuggets.” And on Wednesday, ABC’s Peter Jennings said that the statue “reminds us and tells the world what America is about.” Yes, indeed, for Jennings said that immediately after a local commercial showed a woman beside a miniature of the statue. “I’m getting ready for the Fourth of July,” she said, “and so is the Broadway.”

Get ready for Act 21.