Live in N.Y.! 3 Who Can Newsblast, L.A. Style : TELEVISION

New York: What excitement, what tall buildings, what humidity, what bagels, what television news.

I watched a little of it while there recently, concluding that New York newscasts are relatively lifeless compared to their exotic Los Angeles counterparts.

Quite frankly, I was disappointed and bored by the pallid news teams operating out of Manhattan. Like an addict cut off from his drug, I ached for team coverage, for live shots of inanimate objects, for endless “exclusive details,” for the three words that I learned I just couldn’t live without: “This just in!”

Many times you watch local news less to be informed than to be entertained, a good giggle being worth a thousand live stand-ups. In Los Angeles, the biggest yuks have always been generated by personalities--newscast eccentrics less renowned for what they say than how they say it: the vamping Paul Moyers, the wisecracking Fritz Colemans, the pontificating George Putnams, the gesticulating George Fischbecks.

Ah, yes, Dr. George, the incomparable bow-tied, bow-worded, swirling wind of KABC-TV’s “Eyewitness News” weathercasting, no longer on the scene, but fondly recalled for sometimes getting so wound up in front of the camera that he would inadvertently leave out part of his forecast.

In the late 1970s, “Eyewitness News” had another memorable character, Al Julius--a short-wicked, melodramatic, raging, mad Russian-style commentator whose face seemed to be all beard and who was so crammed full of himself that you could sense him imploding on the air. After his commentary, there would be silence on the set, as if God had just spoken.

And it was also “Eyewitness News” that once had its own “appearance” reporter, the perceptive and bold Christine Kunzelman, who, I seem to recall, once shocked all of Los Angeles with a penetrating treatise on men’s sideburns.

But New York? Ho hum.

What kind of news was this, anyway? I sneered at the lack of razzle-dazzle, the lack of bombast, the lack of burlesque.

Well, near lack.

In fact, I did encounter three TV news personalities in New York who just may have the unique gifts to make it big out West in the big tent. Attention, Los Angeles news directors: It is my great pleasure to nominate the following people for your newscasts.

* Sue Simmons, anchor, WNBC. Uninhibited. The mouth speaks without intercession from the brain. Put your ear to her head and you hear the sea.

At least that’s the impression she left with me. A New York television fixture for years, Simmons is just a hoot--almost too farcical to describe--while interviewing the famous and flaky during the station’s nightly “Live at Five” newscast.

There she was one night with author Patti Davis, the maverick Reagan daughter and star of a nude pictorial in the July issue of Playboy. Simmons wanted to know why Davis had posed nude.

Simmons began by seeming to agree with “some in the audience”--she didn’t identify them--who she said felt Davis’ flesh display somehow showed “disrespect for the White House.” That was a little hard to fathom, given that Ronald Reagan left the White House in 1989. Simmons asked: “Is it true that your mom had somebody go out and buy all the issues in your hometown?” It was the kind of hard-news question you rarely hear.

Part of the interview was devoted to tape of New York gossip columnist Cindy Adams snidely defending her decision to print the name of the street in Connecticut where Davis lived. Davis lashed out at her for doing it: “It took less than 24 hours for strange cars to be lurking outside my house, driving up and down the street asking neighbors where I live. I had to call the police three times and I did have to move again.”

As if sitting opposite E.T., Simmons observed her guest quizzically. Liking what she was hearing, she gave Davis her blessing: “You are one tough cookie,” she said. And Simmons is just the cookie for L.A.

* Arnold Diaz, “Shame on You” reporter, WCBS. Backs down from no one. Operates as judge, jury and executioner. Never lets a story get in the way of his close-up.

“Shame on You” is a regular WCBS consumer segment. One recent piece opened with hands blocking the camera lens and Diaz saying, almost boastfully: “At a Manhattan company . . . not only were we physically thrown out, but when I tried to leave my business card, a man spit in my face.”

Then came footage of a man spitting at Diaz, who angrily shot back: “You’re a big man, huh?”

Confrontation. Spit. So far it was a great story.

It turned out that the company being pursued by Diaz was allegedly involved in some kind of “800” number scam. Diaz: “So into our Hall of Shame we induct (company name) for helping turn some 800 numbers into another consumer rip-off.”

Then came the usual music with a chorus singing, “Shame on you,” accompanied by an animated cartoon of a wagging finger.

Shame on L.A. news directors for not going after Diaz and the Wagging Finger.

* Lloyd Lindsay Young, weathercaster, WWOR. Looks, sounds like a Marine drill instructor. Shouts. A human echo chamber who tends to spread moisture when he speaks. Punches words. Samples:

“It is REALLY gonna start cooking around here, folks!”

“Oh, that HUMMMMMM-IDITY.”

It turned out that the chance of rain was “HEAVEEE, HEAVEEE” and that the showers and thunderstorms would really be “R-R-R-R-R-RUMBLING!” Plus the heat? Try “S-S-S-S-S-S-IZZLING!” And “it’s NOT even summer yet.”

He returned later for a birthday greeting to a viewer--”HELLOHHHHHH!”--and the second half of his weathercast. “CHECK THIS OUT! LOOK AT THIS!”

And check this out. When Young revs up his mouth, you can see the anchors preparing to duck to avoid getting splattered by spittle.

Obviously, he too has earned L.A.