A PAX IN YOUR HOUSES NETWORK GETS PIECE OF OLYMPICS PIE.

Byline: Tom Hoffarth Media

Instead of ``Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,'' it'll be Marion Jones, Olympic maven.

The climatic moment of ``Scarecrow and Mrs. King'' will have to yield to Michael Johnson and Maurice Green.

And don't expect Dick Van Dyke on ``Diagnosis Murder'' to have figured out who the heir to Carl Lewis will be in the men's long jump.

If it seems a bit of a strange fit having the opening blasts of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials tonight on the Pax Network, it's understandable. This is the family-friendly, wholesome-values channel that causes some viewers to almost use a naughty word as they try to find its location on the cable box (it's channel 30 on most), even though it reaches about 80 percent of American TV homes.

Actually, the reason is simple. Late last year, NBC bought a one-third share of the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based start-up network. And NBC's coverage of the U.S. Olympic Trials, leading up to its taped-delayed extravaganza of the Sydney Games in September, goes along with the co-op.

NBC will do Saturday and Sunday events - on tape, of course (live only on the East Coast).

As ESPN does with coverage of the first two rounds of an ABC golf tournament, Pax has been a constant NBC fallback in Olympic Trials coverage, starting in early June and continuing with 14 straight Saturday-night packaged shows covering 38 hours.

The difference with the telecast tonight as well as coverage Monday, Thursday and Friday next week is that Pax goes live from Cal State Sacramento at 8 p.m., using NBC broadcasters like Tom Hammond, Carol Lewis, Dwight Stones, Marty Liquori and Jim Gray.

So far, viewer reaction to the unique sports-event coverage on the otherwise ``Touched by an Angel'' network has been heaven-sent, drawing ratings similar to that of its usual shows.

``What could be more wholesome, upbeat and positive than the U.S. Olympic Trials?'' asked Bill Scott, Pax's president of programming. ``(Adding this) was an easy decision. It works with the context of our network philosophy. It's the whole essence of family-friendly.''

Which is basically how NBC is selling the network version of the Olympic Games - meaning, even if it's on 24-hour delay, people will watch what others might stupidly consider a results-driven sporting event.

Live competition is the real coup for Pax, which takes the production of the show from St. Louis-based Bud Sports in association with the U.S. Olympic Organizing Committee. But that also brings up live problems: What if an athlete tests positive for steroids?

That's not part of the Pax philosophy, but it doesn't mean it's going to sugarcoat that kind of situation, either.

``A family network doesn't mean we don't look at real life,'' Scott said. ``Steroid use is unfortunate and something we don't dwell on, but if you look at our shows, it's about issues in life, how they're met and how they're overcome.''

Mike Adamle hosts the track shows, but Chris Marlowe and Paul Sunderland have also hosted Pax Olympic Saturday shows. Marlowe and Sunderland, the former Olympic volleyball players who built their careers on beach volleyball telecasts and will do the sport for NBC from Sydney, call the relationship between Pax and NBC natural and professional.

``It's worked out pretty well,'' said Marlowe, who has been exposed to track cycling, marathons, white-water canoeing and kayaking and water polo during the Pax shows. Also for Pax, he and Sunderland will do the men's U.S.-Brazil volleyball match a week from Saturday, then the women's U.S.-Germany volleyball match Aug. 5 before heading to Sydney in September.

Pax's sports programming won't end with the Trials (which can also be followed online at www.paxtv.com/olympics or this weekend's events at www.usatf.org and www.sacsports.com/trails). Pax already has a deal to carry some opening rounds on the U.S. Senior golf tour next season and is looking into other NBC-related sports franchises.

Like the XFL? Sure, just as soon as Goldberg resolves a Father Dowling mystery.

--They've got more ``Game'': You might have seen St. Louis' Jim Edmonds recording home video during Tuesday's All-Star Game in Atlanta, which had NBC broadcasters Bob Costas and Joe Morgan reminiscing about the brilliant ``When It Was A Game'' documentaries that HBO produced in recent years.

Costas, who'll have his own HBO sports show this fall, was also really giving the premium cable channel a well-deserved plug. A third hour-long installment that covers the major leagues during the 1960s begins airing Monday night (10 p.m.), completing the trilogy in outstanding goose-bump fashion.

Rare color home movies of players as far back as the '40s were the astounding framework of the first two ``When It Was A Game'' productions (which began airing in 1991 and jump-started the TV sports documentary genre), so to see Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale in all their Technicolor glory this time might not be as unusual.

But for those of us tail-end Baby Boomers who grew up loving the game in that fragile time period, it's as if our memory banks have been scanned and somehow transferred to the TV screen.

It's actually more amazin' than the '69 Mets.

Actor Liev Schreiber narrates, and master thespian Kevin Costner is among those voicing over baseball prose. But the comments from Costas, another one of the contributors, seem to fit best into this episode, especially his remembrances of baseball cards (an Eli Grba in the pack next to the stick of gum does smell the same today) and how this was the last era when players were so easily identified with their teams and numbers.

The best clips for L.A. fans: Former Angels owner Gene Autry leading the group of bicycle riders in Palm Springs, high overhead shots (must have been from the Dodger Stadium reserved level) of Maury Wills stealing bases, and the recoiling windup of Koufax, who, as catcher Jeff Torborg says, threw every pitch like it was his last.

Oh, and as for that Edmonds video. Maybe HBO can use it in a future documentary, a series that will no doubt go with the title ``When It Was A Business.''

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--ESPN re-enters the game-show genre with a new trivia show developed by Michael Davis, the exec behind ABC's ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' and Andrew Golder, a creator of ``Win Ben Stein's Money.'' This one, called ``ESPN's 2-Minute Drill,'' won't be giving away $1 million - more like sports-related stuff - when it launches Monday, Sept. 11. Also, and unfortunately, ESPN commentators are supposed to be part of the question-asking process for the show taped before a studio audience in New York.

--Will we see a much hipper Jim Lampley on the HBO broadcast Saturday of the Lennox Lewis-Frans Botha heavyweight match from London? Lampley had recent replacement surgery on his left hip.

WHAT CHOKES

--Monday's WNBA All-Star Game will be transmitted to 154 countries in 23 languages via 37 telecasters. We can't find a better use of modern technology than this?

--Vince McMahon and his obnoxious promos for his XFL during NBC's coverage of baseball's All-Star Game. If there was ever a dissimilar audience demographic. . . .

--Which NBC dweeb reporter would you rather have a mike shoved into your face by, Jim Gray or Jimmy Roberts?

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: Don Drysdale, part of HBO's latest ``When It Was A Game'' documentary, had a career that lasted 14 years - all with the Dodgers - and ended in 1969.

Daily News File Photo

Box: Sound bytes (see text)