THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : You’ve Seen the Trial--Now See the Wrap-Ups : <i> O.J. Simpson: The Column About the Nightly Wrap-Up Shows About the Trial About the Case About the Two Murders About Which Television Is Obsessed.</i>

It was ABC News that in 1979 seeded the present surge of Simpson trial reruns by creating a nightly program (“The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage”) to track the tortuous Iran hostage crisis. Nourished by unexpected chubby ratings, it would grow into the long-running, widely admired “Nightline.” The message: There was, indeed, a sizable evening audience for thoughtful discourse on the day’s top headline.

Just who is being held hostage by the Simpson coverage--some would argue it’s again America--is the kind of question that makes for good schmoozing on a bar stool.

Whatever the case, that coverage has assumed a swollen life of its own, much like the nasty creature growing inside Sigourney Weaver in the last of the “Aliens” trilogy. More often than not, for example, it’s the Simpson trial that leads “NBC Nightly News.” In addition to its regular coverage, “The CBS Evening News” is now airing its own trial retrospective each Friday. “Nightline” has been living off the Simpson story almost as much as its predecessor did the hostage marathon. And in Los Angeles, KCAL-TV Channel 9 has set aside the last half-hour of its three-hour news block for a nightly trial wrap-up. (“The defense also scored big with that video,” anchor Tawny Little announced Monday during a tally of the day’s “hits and misses” by opposing sides in the case.)

And there’s much, much more. Check the TV listings, for example, and you find a bunch of nightly programs devoted largely, if not entirely, to that day’s action or inaction inside the Simpson courtroom. They range from the sober (KCOP-TV Channel 13’s “O.J. Tonight” and Court TV’s “Prime Time Justice”) to those shrieking roller coaster kids (KNBC-TV Channel 4’s “O.J. Simpson: The Trial” and CNBC’s “Rivera Live”).

It’s the February ratings sweeps, so it should startle no one to see television programmers exploiting the apparent popularity of anything remotely Simpsonesque. Nevertheless, how ironic that Channel 13, which generally covers news like a bikini does a body, should decide this month to institute half an hour of “O.J. Tonight” in the same 10:30 time slot once occupied by the second half of its evening newscast before it was halved to 30 minutes.

For a no-nonsense nightly update, however, this program is not a bad bet. On Monday, “O.J. Today” went for the routine, opening with segments of Denise Brown’s emotional testimony about O.J. Simpson’s allegedly abusive behavior and about Nicole Brown Simpson, her sister and Simpson’s ex-wife, whom he is accused of murdering along with Ronald Lyle Goldman. There also was that controversial Polaroid photo of Nicole Simpson shown to the jury by the prosecution before Judge Lance Ito ruled that it couldn’t be shown to the jury, bringing to mind an old saw. You can’t “unring a bell,” Ito reminded.

“O.J. Tonight” covers the expected bases without theatrics and, as a bonus, takes comments and questions from the public via America On-Line. Co-anchors Brian Jenkins and Wendy Walsh sit on stools. They’re ultimately joined by Southwestern University School of Law professor Robert Pugsley, who does a nice, straightforward job of analysis. When the program is over, they all say goodby from their stools. Look, it’s a gig.

Much better is the nightly Simpson trial wrap-up on cable’s Court TV, supplier of the pool camera for the courtroom. On Monday, Court TV led its regular “Prime Time Justice” program (live at 5 p.m. and repeated at 8 p.m. in Los Angeles) with coverage of another trial’s verdict before doting an hour on the Simpson courtroom.

Despite the boyishness of host Terry Moran, “Prime Time Justice” reviews the Simpson trial with a refreshing gray-wigged sober-mindedness. Moran frames issues succinctly, as do reporter Gregg Jarrett and legal analyst Fred Graham checking in from Los Angeles. On Monday, the show typically offered thick slabs of testimony interspersed with only occasional comments from Moran and trial attorney Raymond Brown, who was never asked to read the minds of witnesses or jurors. He didn’t appear disappointed.

“Prime Time Justice” operates on the outrageous premise that it’s the trial that’s most compelling, not speculation from hip-shooting reporters and lawyers.

Channel 4’s “O.J. Simpson: The Trial” appears to operate on no premise. Despite typically cogent analysis from the station’s in-house legal specialist, former prosecutor Manuel Medrano, “The Trial” has the look and feel of haste. The 7:30 p.m. half-hour has lots of production flourishes, including swells of oompah adventure music taking viewers in and out of the show, but not much beyond the perfunctory.

On Monday, reporter Jim Avila, who does such solid studio work during Channel 4’s live trial coverage, was awash with snap judgments (“The defense was able to leave the jury with an impression . . . “) while live in the dark outside the Criminal Courts Building. The meaningless space-filler prevailed (“Tough job for the jury, huh?” anchor Paul Moyer asked Avila), as did the obsession with the trial horse race. And there, fronting a massive graphic titled “The Evidence,” was co-anchor Colleen Williams: “It was the day of the murder. . . .”

Monday was another day of double duty for Geraldo Rivera, hosting both his taped syndicated daytime talk show and his live CNBC talk show, on which he wears small spectacles, just to let you know this is the serious Geraldo.

So serious that he has transformed his cable show into a nightly Simpson round-table, which Monday featured a panel of attorneys that included Gerry Spence (who’s looking and sounding more like Davey Crockett every day) and Leo Terrell of Los Angeles.

Terrell, an African American, angrily accused the media of not understanding or reporting that the Simpson case is “about race!” The new, more thoughtful Geraldo wanted to know if Terrell thought Denise Brown was a “racist.” Terrell said no. Geraldo also asked: “So you believe, Leo, that (black Deputy Dist. Atty.) Chris Darden is just a tool in the hands of the white Establishment and what he did with the Polaroid picture today, and some of these improper questions, were intentional, (and) that he is in some ways performing the role of (black defense attorney) Carl Douglas in being, y’know, falling on his sword and throwing himself into disrepute for the cause?”

Terrell: “Lemme think about that. Yes!”

It’s that kind of thoughtful show. Simpson trial coverage in all its glory. When a bell’s been rung, you can’t unring it.