CONSIDERING THIS NEAR-GOLDEN AGE

I don’t want to hear anybody say: “There’s nothing to watch on TV.”

It’s just not true. Not lately, anyway.

The fact is, prime-time television is experiencing something of a renaissance. Maybe not a golden age. Not yet. But something’s definitely going on. Something that makes you want to sit down and take notice. On just about every night of the week.

And that’s a major development.

Best of all, you don’t need cable. You don’t need a satellite dish. No. I’m talking about good old-fashioned, bring-’em-in-by-the-millions broadcast television--a slew of satisfying, prime-time network comedies and dramas.

Shows you can invest in. Bank on. Week after week. If you’re any kind of a fan of television, you know what I’m talking about. You’ve probably been feeling it, too.

That rekindled sense of excitement. Anticipation. Hope, even!

Don’t lie. You know you’ve been rearranging your schedule around at least one prime-time series. Which one is it?

Is it NBC’s monster hospital hit “ER”?

Or have you been checking in on “Friends,” NBC’s new sitcom for twentysomethings?

Has word reached you about “NewsRadio”--the latest feather in the peacock network’s cap?

Are you one of those intensely devoted fans of “The X-Files” on Fox? We know you’re out there.

I don’t want to go overboard on this. Believe me, I’m no industry apologist. Far from it. I’ve got a life. I read. Spend quality time with my kid. But let’s give the people who program the Big Four some credit--now that they finally deserve a little.

Personally, I feel most indebted to NBC and Fox Broadcasting. They’ve made prime time what it should be. A carefree pursuit. They’re the ones creating all the commotion, drawing all the viewer double takes.

I’ve never been a cyberpunk, for instance. I’ve never been into sci-fi in general. Yet suddenly I find myself turning down Friday-night dinner invitations, ignoring the speed limit when I’m running late at week’s end

Now Fox has me hooked on its companion -- “VR.5,” a virtual-reality experience that’s part “The Prisoner” and part, well, I don’t know what it is but I find myself watching anyway.

NBC, on the other hand, has tapped into the TV traditionalist in me, my Nick at Nite education, my historic appreciation of situation comedy.

Every Tuesday night at 9 it’s time for “Frasier,” a half-hour well on its way to becoming a classic. On Thursdays, I’m still dedicated to “Seinfeld,” one of the few shows I can quote at length, will watch even when it’s a rerun and already anticipate missing when it’s gone.

NBC actually has me rooting for them because when a network that’s been dead and cold suddenly comes back to life, as NBC has this season, it’s an exciting thing to watch.

“NewsRadio,” for example, could have been another static rip-off of “WKRP in Cincinnati” but instead looks like it’s in the same class as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

And let’s not forget the other guys.

ABC, the No. 1 network, has more than a few shows to recommend itself. Let’s start with the still-riveting “NYPD Blue,” a cop show in a class of its own. “Home Improvement”? Lightweight but always funny--tailor-made, you might say, for TV. “Roseanne”? Still one of the finest half hours the medium has ever seen.

Even my fringe viewing is satisfying.

When I can find it, I’m usually into NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street.” I can’t get enough of “The Simpsons” on Fox (though I seem to miss it a lot) and CBS’s quirk-ridden “Picket Fences” has its well-made charms.

Finally, this season I became downright passionate about two little-viewed shows: ABC’s “My So-Called Life,” now airing in repeats on MTV, and Fox’s “Party of Five,” which also won my heart.

Both may not be back next year. So I know the networks are far from perfect. But hard as it is for me to say this, right now, they’re doing all right by me.