A DONE DEAL: DIERDORF IS OUT; THERE COULD BE MORE MONDAY-NIGHT SHUFFLING.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

Dan Dierdorf is not returning to ABC's ``Monday Night Football.''

This is a real story.

In a statement released through ABC on Thursday, Dierdorf said: ``Yesterday, ABC Sports informed my representatives at The Marquee Group that no substantial offer to extend my contract would be forthcoming. Therefore, Sunday's broadcast of the Pro Bowl will be my last for ABC.''

Dierdorf then repeated the statement:

``Yesterday, ABC Sports informed my representatives at The Marquee Group that no substantial offer to extend my contract would be forthcoming. Therefore, Sunday's broadcast of the Pro Bowl will be my last for ABC.''

Again, Dierdorf said he is not returning to ``Monday Night Football.''

Transcripts of Dierdorf's statement may be obtained through ABC's publicity department.

The fallout: In announcing the end of Dierdorf's 12-year career with the show, an ABC spokesman said it would be premature to discuss plans for next season's booth arrangement.

No one's ever accused us of being mature, so . . . we have three suggestions:

There's talk that Boomer Esiason will be lured back to the NFL as a backup quarterback in San Diego. Let him go, too.

Forget Sterling Sharpe.

Bring back Fred ``The Hammer'' Williamson.

Further speculation is Dierdorf, who made nearly $2 million a year at ABC, will end up back as an analyst on CBS' NFL coverage. CBS wants to put game-analyst Randy Cross into the New York studio to revive an otherwise stagnant presentation, which would open a spot for Dierdorf.

Fukuzaki's following: He was born on the Fourth of July in Southern California, but when he was 3 his family moved to the tropical paradise of Honolulu.

He graduated with a bachelor of arts in broadcast journalism from the University of La Verne, then went back to Hawaii to start his professional career. Five years later, he joined the KABC ``Eyewitness News'' team as the first Japanese-American sports anchor in the city's history.

You know him as the roving reporter for ``Monday Night Live,'' the weekend sports anchor of ``Fuk's Follies,'' and now as the winner of the Daily News' first L.A. sportscaster ``Q-T'' rating poll.

Please give a warm ``Dating Game'' welcome to Rob Fukuzaki.

Of the 63 reader votes received over the last two weeks, Fukuzaki not only had the handsomest amount of favorite responses (29) but also had by far the best overall graded average.``My grandmother must have bought all the papers,'' said Fukuzaki when informed of the vote. ``That's flattering.''

But again, it's nothing new. Two years ago, Fukuzaki was included in a special ``sweeps'' episode of ``Oprah'' on trying to line up dates for single guys on TV. Fukuzaki said he was picked by KABC almost by default since everyone else at the station is married. But he met a girl from Southern California with whom he still keeps in touch.

But he remains single.

KCBS-Channel 2's Jim Hill probably has a better representation of voters to take the No. 2 spot with the second-most favorite responses (22), but KTTV-Channel 11's Randy Kerdoon, after a late surge of e-mail ballot stuffing, came out with the second-best graded average. KNBC-Channel 4's Fred Roggin received the third-most favorite votes, but his overall graded average put him fifth.

There were, however, a couple of other disturbing findings from this reader experiment:

Only one balloteer - a lovely woman from Monrovia who apologized that she didn't see the paper all the time because she couldn't receive it by subscription in that part of the city - was alert enough to recognize that both KCAL-Channel 9's anchors were completely missing from the list.

A year after we named Channel 9's Tom Murray and John Ireland the top sportscaster team in L.A., we could say we left both off this year to see if anyone (outside of KCAL management) would notice. Fact is, we made the mistake, but then let it play out to see what would happen.

That reader, by the way, wrote in both Murray and Ireland but left off current Channel 9 sportsanchor Alan Massengale.

Departed KABC Channel 7 celeb Todd Donoho had more write-in votes giving him the best grade than nine of the guys currently working. The man who replaced Donoho, Bill Weir, ended up with the worst graded average.

KABC weatherman Dallas Raines got as many favorable votes (one, as a write-in) as Newy Scruggs, Kenny Sargent and Steve Hartman.

Not everyone reads directions. In what was to be a women-only vote to determine the cutest sportscaster in L.A., at least a half dozen men sent in ballots. And some women voted on Lisa Guerrero.

But then again, it's L.A. We'll let it slide.

Any way you slice it: L.A.'s 40.0 rating and 66 share from Sunday's Super Bowl XXXIII practically mirrored Fox's national average of 40.2/61.

Local ratings were obviously higher in Atlanta (58.2/79) and Denver (51.6/83), but from a pure eyeball standpoint, there were more viewers watching in L.A., since one ratings point here represents about 50,000 homes. In Atlanta, the nation's 10th-largest market, one point equals 16,700 homes; in Denver, the No. 18 market, one point equals 12,000 homes.

L.A. TELEVISION SPORTSCASTER SURVEY RESULTS

Sportscaster/StationScore (Average)x ``N'' votes ``1'' votes

Rob Fukuzaki, KABC Ch. 7 2.08 (119 of 57) 6 29

Randy Kerdoon, KTTV Ch. 11 2.33 (77 of 33) 30 15

Jim Hill, KCBS Ch. 2 2.41 (140 of 58) 5 22

Ed Arnold, KTLA Ch. 5 2.43 (107 of 44) 19 15

Fred Roggin, KNBC Ch. 4 2.65 (154 of 58) 5 17

Carlos Del Valle, KNBC Ch. 4 2.78 (128 of 46) 17 9

Rick Garcia, KTTV Ch. 11 2.78 (103 of 37) 26 7

Tony Hernandez, KTLA Ch. 5 2.95 (127 of 43) 20 8

Bret Lewis, KCBS Ch. 2 2.97 (131 of 44) 19 5

Steve Hartman, KCBS Ch. 2 3.23 (111 of 34) 29 1

Newy Scruggs, KCOP Ch. 13 3.33 (84 of 24) 39 1

Kenny Sargent, KCOP Ch. 13 3.44 (54 of 16) 47 1

Rory Markas, KTLA Ch. 11 3.46 (97 of 28) 35 2

Bill Weir, KABC Ch. 7 3.69 (181 of 49) 14 4

Others:

Lisa Guerrero, KCBS Ch. 2 11 total votes 3

Todd Donoho, ex-Ch. 7 11 write-ins 10

Rick Lozano, ex-Ch. 7 8 write-ins 4

Gary Cruz, KNBC Ch. 4 2 write-ins 0

Tom Murray, ex-Ch. 9 1 write-in 0

John Ireland, KCAL Ch. 9 1 write-in 0

Stu Nahan, ex-Ch. 5 1 write-in 0

Chick Hearn 1 write-in 1 write-in 1

Dallas Raines, KCAL Ch. 7

weatherman 1 write-in 1

x - Score is an average of the total votes divided into total points. Next to each sportscaster, voters were instructed to give 1 point if he was one of my favorites; 2 if he was very good; 3 if he was good; 4 if he was fair; 5 if he was poor and N if you never had heard of him before. ``N'' votes are not included in the score average.

WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV

The top 10 Nielsen-rated sports events (with their share numbers) on L.A. television from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3:

Event Date Station Rt/Sh.x

Super Bowl XXXIII 1/31 Fox 40.0/66

NBA: Lakers-Clippers 1/30 KCAL 5.6/9

European Skating 1/30 KABC 4.6/9

Senior Skins Game 1/31 KABC 3.4/8

NCAA: UCLA-Washington 1/31 KABC 3.4/7

PGA: Phoenix Open 1/30 KCBS 3.2/9

PGA: Phoenix Open 1/31 KCBS 3.1/7

Senior Skins Game 1/30 KABC 2.3/6

NCAA: Indiana-Penn St. 1/31 KCBS 1.7/4

NHL: Kings-Buffalo 1/30 KCAL 1.7/3

Fox's Super Bowl-related Sunday programming:

Super Bowl Pregame 3-3:25 p.m.34.5/63

Super Bowl Postgame 6:45-7:30 p.m. 27.8/42

Super Bowl Pregame 2:30-3 p.m. 18.3/38

Super Bowl Pregame 2-2:30 p.m. 13.3/29

Super Bowl Pregame 11 a.m.-2p.m. 9.3/21

All-Madden All-Millennium 9:30-11 a.m. 8.0/18

Super Bowl All-Access 9-9:30 a.m. 5.9/14

Hardcore Football 8:30-9 a.m. 3.4/9

Super Bowl Pregame 8-8:30a.m. 3.0/9

Note: Fox's national rating for Super Bowl XXXIII was 40.2/61.

x-One rating point equals 50,092 TV homes in Los Angeles; a share is the percentage of all the TV sets in use at that time.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, 2 Boxes

Photo: FUKUZAKI

Box: (1) L.A. TELEVISION SPORTSCASTER SURVEY RESULTS (See text)

(2) WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV (See Text)