DON’T FIX NEWS THAT’S NOT BROKEN

Not that it matters, but here’s one vote for keeping “The CBS Morning News” pretty much as is.

Although not always the first with the most, the soon-to-be-revamped program is an uncluttered, sober alternative to NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Forrest Sawyer and Maria Shriver are astute, attractive co-hosts who also happen to be terrific together. They are smart, likable, warm and good interviewers. Also, Faith Daniels is a proficient news reader who, as a bonus, comprehends what she reads.

Sure, “The CBS Morning News” stumbles. It should have followed the lead of “Today,” for example, and not contributed to the weeklong gluttonous, swollen advance coverage of Liberty Weekend.

If CBS is so financially strapped that it’s eliminating hundreds of jobs (including a batch in the news division), then why did it spend a bundle sending its morning news program on location to overcover a non-news event?

In the main, though, the present version of “The CBS Morning News” has restored breakfast-time credibility to a news division that once saw its early morning future in Phyllis Georgecasting.

Being good, however, is rarely good enough.

So CBS has promised yet another renovation of its oft-renovated morning news program, which continues to trail “Today” and “Good Morning America” in the ratings, the only plebiscite that counts in TV.

New York co-hosts Sawyer and Shriver are the expected top casualties, although there’s talk that Shriver would appear on the program from Los Angeles as part of a regional anchor format. Daniels may be a goner too.

Already set to take over as executive producer is Susan Winston, who helped shape “Good Morning America” before producing just plain “America,” a lumbering syndicated series that ranged from stupid to incoherent.

Winston is on the record opposing the continued CBS recloning of “Today” and “Good Morning America.” Despite its harder edge, “The CBS Morning News” is essentially a copy--albeit an appealing one--of its more watched competitors.

Most of the same elements are in place, including the usual experts gabbing on every conceivable subject, and sometimes being unwittingly hilarious when trying to be serious.

On a recent edition of “The CBS Morning News,” the show’s medical adviser, Dr. Bob Arnot, gave viewers the life-saving scoop on how to survive heat waves.

Rule One: “Try to find a cool place,” he said. Right away, you’ve got to love this guy’s sense of humor.

When exercising, Arnot continued, stop if you get dizzy or nauseous. If you need a doctor to tell you that, you don’t have the smarts to know dizzy from frizzy.

If you have a baby, “don’t bundle him up,” Arnot declared. Are you listening, low-IQ parents? When the temperature soars above 100 degrees, don’t put your kid into a snowsuit. And no scarf, mittens or thermal underwear, either.

Arnot concluded by warning residents living on upper floors of apartment houses without air conditioning that they are in a particularly hot place. They needed Arnot to tell them that?

“What should they do?” asked Shriver. “Stay cool,” the doctor replied.

Of course! Sound medical advice. Simple, yet profound and undeniably logical. When it’s hot, get cool. And if you can’t afford an air-conditioning unit, get cool anyway. Maybe you and your family can sit around and blow on each other.

What will Dr. Arnot advise for winter? Will he go out on a limb and recommend getting warm?

And who will come in from the cold when the coming new chapter of “The CBS Morning News” is written?

There are lots of stories. One is that CBS has offered Sawyer’s job to “Good Morning America” host David Hartman. CBS denies it. Another is that CBS has offered Shriver’s job to Linda Ellerbee, who is reportedly weighing her options after leaving NBC. Still another is that CBS is interested in its own Charles Osgood and former KCBS anchorwoman Sandy Hill. That would be a kick--Hill going to CBS after being dropped by a station owned by CBS.

Two names that haven’t surfaced are two of the most logical. Imagine how high “The CBS Morning News” would fly if its co-hosts were Al Capone biographer Geraldo Rivera and snarling Howard Cosell.

Imagine the sparks, the electricity, the chemistry, the inspiring TV. They would be a boffo combo, creating a “Monday Night Football”-style morning news series. And each week, Geraldo could open Cosell’s head--like Capone’s vault--to see what’s inside.