'FRIENDS,' MONEY DO MIX.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

``Who says money can't buy you 'Friends?' '' joked Scott Sassa, NBC West Coast president, as the long national nightmare ended and the popular, long-running comedy was officially renewed for two seasons on Monday, when the network offered its up-front presentation of the upcoming fall season. OK, so it was a short national nightmare.

Each cast member will receive $750,000 per episode, as well as a healthy chunk of future profits from syndication. Sources suggested that had the cast not budged from its $1 million-per-episode demand, the network was prepared to walk away from negotiations. Of course, with syndication money, which comes from the production company and not the network, each star will earn around $40 million per year rather than a mere pittance of $26 million.

NBC also announced the remainders of its new fall schedule in New York with spectacle highs and lows, from the cast of ``Will & Grace'' performing a mini-opera to embattled sock-puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog slagging last year's scheduling of ``Stark Raving Mad'' before ``ER.'' ``That's like saying, 'We've got some Alpo Supreme for you, but first you've got to drink out of this toilet,' taunted Triumph.

In addition to ``Friends,'' three other series were given multiple-year deals. ``Will & Grace'' was guaranteed two more years. ``Law & Order'' and ``ER,'' the long-running, Emmy-winning cop and medical shows, respectively, were each renewed for four more years apiece.

Here's a breakdown of the network's strengths and weaknesses, and how the new programming should enhance its schedule.

Strong points: Despite being No. 2 in the ratings, NBC has arguably the strongest overall programming schedule, with quality shows appealing to young and upscale viewers. In addition to strong Tuesdays and its Must-See Thursdays, NBC strengthened Wednesdays and Fridays last season with new shows like ``The West Wing'' and ``Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.''

Weak points: NBC's strong evenings proved vulnerable in the past year, with Tuesday and Thursday fortresses crumbling a smidgen under ABC's ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' siege. Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays all took a pounding, and, like every other network except Fox last year, the network struggled in comedy development. Only ``Daddio,'' a coolly received family comedy, survived the season. Its best comedy hope of the midseason series, the poorly titled but hilarious ``M.Y.O.B.,'' is getting burned off during the summer.

New this fall season: On Mondays, ``Law & Order'' creator Dick Wolf contributes his third series to the network: ``Deadline,'' starring Oliver Platt as a newspaper columnist and journalism professor who enlists his students on investigative stories. Tuesdays, see the arrival of three new comedies: ``The Michael Richards Show,'' in which the former ``Seinfeld'' sidekick plays a bumbling private investigator; ``Tucker,'' sort of ``Malcolm in the Middle'' four or five years later; and ``DAG,'' starring David Alan Grier as a Secret Service Agent forced to protect the first lady (Delta Burke). Both ``Richards'' and ``Tucker'' are single camera, no-laugh-track comedies.

Aaron Spelling returns to prime-time soap operas with the new Wednesday series ``Titans,'' in which one of the subplots features a father and son battling over Yasmine Bleeth. On Thursdays, the tentatively titled ``The Steven Weber Show'' stars the former ``Wings'' actor as a man whose life becomes Murphy's Law writ large when a blind date goes awry and the woman casts a spell on him. Sunday's new series, ``Ed,'' from ``Late Show With David Letterman'' head writer Rob Burnett, is a sort of ``Providence'' meets ``Northern Exposure,'' as a lawyer returns from the big city to his small, eccentric hometown and buys a bowling alley.

Scheduling changes: ``Frasier'' got bounced out of its cushy Must-See Thursday slot at 9 p.m. in order to make room for up-and-comer ``Will & Grace,'' with ``Just Shoot Me'' tagging along for the ride (it'll air at 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays). ``Frasier'' moved to Tuesday, where it will have to anchor a trio of untested new comedies.

Midseason replacements: Steven Spielberg executive-produces the Marine drama ``Semper Fi,'' starring Scott Bairstow and Vicellous Reon Shannon. Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth stars as a wholesome Midwestern girl working for a crass Big Apple tycoon in ``Kristin.'' ``American Pie's'' co-creator Adam Herz executive-produces the high school comedy ``Go Fish.'' In the hourlong dramedy ``News From the Edge,'' a young reporter goes to work for a supermarket tabloid, only to discover that all its stories about alien love children and ratboys are true. And three sisters (Vicki Lewis, A.J. Langer and Katherine LaNasa) find all routes lead to Los Angeles in the comedy ``These Women.''

Other programming: NBC (along with cable channels CNBC and MSNBC and their attendant Web sites) will present a whopping 437 hours of coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics from Sydney, Australia. Upcoming miniseries include ``A Man in Full,'' based on Tom Wolfe's best-selling behemoth, and ``Jackie, Ethel and Joan: The Women of Camelot,'' based on the book about the women of the Kennedy dynasty.

Prognosis: A couple of years ago, when ``3rd Rock From the Sun'' was a huge hit, the network moved it to a different night and surrounded it with so-so comedies, which spelled the end of its ratings dominance. We're not saying that will happen with ``Frasier'' on Tuesdays, but they're already reshooting the pilot for the wan-looking ``The Michael Richards Show.'' And ``DAG'' looks far too broad to be a comfortable companion series with Kelsey Grammer's urbane comedy of manners. ``Tucker'' may have been a better fit with the family-oriented ``Daddio'' on Monday nights, which would've left ``3rd Rock'' (which has been moved around too much for any series to flourish) on Tuesdays and given NBC more of an established presence for the evening (the network no doubt wanted to keep its single-camera comedies in a bloc).

On Wednesdays, the ``guilty pleasure'' (NBC's words) ``Titans'' is a curious lead-in indeed for the bracingly intelligent ``The West Wing.'' The quirky, seriocomic ``Ed'' would seem a better fit for the equally seriocomic ``West Wing,'' and ``Titans'' just feels like a big, brash Sunday night show. Overall, though, the lineup shows a lot of promise - ``The Steven Weber Show'' looks like a rarity, a genuinely funny comedy shoehorned in among the Must-See Thursday hits, and ``Ed'' and ``Deadline'' looking particularly strong, though they're stranded in competitive time slots. September's Olympics coverage will be a monumental aide in promoting the entire new schedule.

Here is NBC's fall prime-time lineup, which begins in October after the summer Olympics:

SUNDAY

7-8 p.m.: ``Dateline NBC''

8-9 p.m.: ``Ed''

9-11 p.m.: NBC Sunday Night Movie

MONDAY

8-8:30 p.m.: ``Daddio''

8:30-9 p.m.: ``3rd Rock From the Sun''

9-10 p.m.: ``Deadline''

10-11 p.m.: ``Third Watch''

TUESDAY

8-8:30 p.m.: ``The Michael Richards Show''

8:30-9 p.m.: ``Tucker''

9-9:30 p.m.: ``Frasier''

9:30-10 p.m.: ``DAG''

10-11 p.m.: ``Dateline NBC''

WEDNESDAY

8-9 p.m.: ``Titans''

9-10 p.m.: ``The West Wing''

10-11 p.m.: ``Law & Order''

THURSDAY

8-8:30 p.m.: ``Friends'

8:30-9 p.m.: ``The Steven Weber Show''

9-9:30 p.m.: ``Will & Grace''

9:30-10 p.m.: ``Just Shoot Me''

10-11 p.m.: ``ER''

FRIDAY

8-9 p.m.: ``Providence''

9-10 p.m.: ``Dateline NBC''

10-11 p.m.: ``Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''

SATURDAY

8-11 p.m.: NBC Saturday Night Movie, to be replaced by ``XFL Football'' Feb. 3-April 21, 2001

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 3) NBC's new Tuesday fall season lineup includes ex-``Seinfeld'' sidekick Michael Richards, left, as a clumsy private investigator in his namesake show; David Alan Grier as a disgraced Secret Service Agent guarding first lady Delta Burke in ``DAG,'' above left; and ``Tucker,'' a comedy similar to ``Malcom in the Middle,'' but which takes place several years later, above right.