`LADIES OF MONDAY NIGHT' READY FOR SEASON KICKOFF.

Byline: Mike Duffy Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

NBC is calling them the ``Ladies of Monday Night.''

That's four of the Peacock Network's female appeal comedies - ``Suddenly Susan,'' ``Fired Up,'' ``Caroline in the City'' and ``The Naked Truth'' - gathered together as a cozy, two-hour block of ``Must She TV'' for the fall season.

Need some hype?

Warren Littlefield, president of NBC Entertainment, is happy to oblige. He calls his gal pal gang of goofballs ``four of the smartest, funniest and most beautiful women on television.''

The femme fatale four? Say howdy to Brooke Shields (``Suddenly Susan''), Sharon Lawrence (``Fired Up''), Lea Thompson (``Caroline in the City'') and Tea Leoni (``The Naked Truth'').

``It's not just a female night. The demos have a very strong male-support audience as well,'' says Littlefield, gargling industry jargon. ``We like the momentum.''

When NBC first introduced the ``Ladies of Monday Night'' lineup in June for a hot-weather trial run before the fall season, the quartet quickly clicked with those dreamy demos of 18- to 49-year-old men and, especially, women. That's the precise audience advertisers most want to attract.

But the ``Ladies of Monday Night''?

How about the ``Chucklehead Chicks,'' starring in their own chick-coms.

No problem, say Sharon Lawrence and Brooke Shields.

``I have never thought that `chick' is a pejorative,'' chirps Lawrence, the ``NYPD Blue'' regular who strutted into ``Fired Up'' last season and wound up No. 6 in the Nielsen ratings.

And Shields isn't bothered by the C-word, either.

``No, because it's usually associated with `cool chicks,' '' babbles Brooke.

``When I did the pilot for `Caroline in the City' two years ago, there really weren't any other girl shows on NBC,'' says Thompson. ``And I'm proud that it's sprouted into this great thing, so that we can all have great jobs.''

Whoa, just a minute. Not so fast.

``This great thing,'' as Thompson calls it, still has to prove itself in the fire of the fall season. That's when many male viewers will flee to ABC's ``NFL Monday Night'' football telecasts. And when CBS will have fresh episodes of its own popular Monday night comedy lineup that includes ``Cosby,'' ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' and ``Cybill.''

``I'm not complaining. I don't care how it happened,'' jokes Lawrence of her show's fast start on Thursday nights.

``Caroline'' has come the closest to solo success, surviving nicely last season in the Tuesday spot following ``Frasier.''

But the other three? Well, they've all been blessed by the time slot gods with their protected spots on NBC's powerful Thursday night lineup. At one time or another, all four shows have held the coveted 9:30 p.m. slot between ratings stars ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER.''

And when you enter the prime-time wars nestled between those shows, good ratings are guaranteed. Your actual comic strength remains untested.

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Photo

Photo: ``I'm not complaining,'' jokes Sharon Lawrence of ``Fired Up's'' ratings success last season. The show is one of four comedies making up NBC's ``Ladies of Monday Night'' fall lineup.