O.J. SAGA COMES TO END : THE O.J. SIMPSON CASE: A CASH WINDOW WITH DEEP RESERVES.

Byline: Bill Carter The New York Times

As the verdict in the O.J. Simpson civil trial was flashed across America on Tuesday night, the sound coming from various television networks, magazines and publishing houses was something between a sigh of exhausted relief and a low moan of despair at the prospect of the greatest gravy train in media history finally starting to pull out of town.

Beyond its impact on race relations and the questions it raised about how saturation media coverage affects the American justice system, the Simpson case created its own cottage industry, made up of legal commentators, instant authors and occasional centerfold models, all lining up at a cash window with surprisingly deep reserves.

The superheated national focus on the case made celebrities out of everyone from Johnnie Cochran Jr. to Faye Resnick; it made actors out of trial figures like Christopher Darden and Kato Kaelin, and talk-show hosts out of actors like Charles Grodin; it established serious television careers for former prosecutors like Roger Cossack and former tabloid performers like Geraldo Rivera, and it made millionaire authors of everyone from Jeffrey Toobin to Paula Barbieri.

It also made Marcia Clark a TV show host.

The question that now faces the whole roster of people who gained fame, notoriety and money from their association with the Simpson case is: Is it all over?

``It has lasted an incredibly long time,'' said Toobin, the New Yorker magazine writer who went on to write one of the several best-selling books about the case and to establish a side career as a legal commentator for ABC News. ``Everything about this case is on the down slope now, but it's coming from an enormous height.''

And for every media executive like Jeff Zucker, the executive producer of NBC's ``Today'' show who suggested, ``I certainly hope this is the end of it,'' there are people in the media who are convinced the Simpson story is destined to haunt the nation indefinitely.

``It is so deep,'' Toobin said. ``It's a permanent part of American culture now, like Watergate or the Kennedy assassination.''

That position was echoed by Rivera, who has tried to rebuild his reputation as a television legal specialist, turning his nightly CNBC show into, by Rivera's definition, ``the program of record on the Simpson trials.'' He called the case ``America's Dreyfuss affair.''

Still, the question being asked about the Simpson case in many media headquarters Wednesday was more basic: Will it still sell?

So far, it has sold millions of books, several television shows and endless words of commentary by a new category of performer: the ``legal expert.''

Gail Evans, senior vice president of CNN, said: ``There were so many people hired to give an opinion on this case, some of them surely will fall by the wayside. It was like the experts put on television during the Russian revolution. Everybody hired one. Then the story was over, and three or four months later I started getting calls from them saying, `I'm available.' ''

Zucker said, ``A lot of the legal experts who were using this case as oxygen over the last two years are going to be looking for something else to keep their lungs replenished.''

But for figures like Greta Van Susteren, who worked as a commentator on the case for CNN, the trials have been a window into a promising new career. CNN created a new daily show called ``Burden of Proof'' for her and Cossack, a former Los Angeles prosecutor.

Their show, which now covers legal issues ranging from the Whitewater investigation to how to write a will, has become the most-watched program on CNN's daytime schedule. Van Susteren compared it to ``the way `Nightline' came out of the ABC News specials on the Iran hostage crisis.''

Several legal experts hired by the networks, most notably Peter Arenella, who works for ABC, and Laurie Levinson, who works for CBS, have been impressive enough, network executives said, that they will be asked to comment on almost any `story that involves legal issues.

Jack Ford, the legal reporter for NBC, is expected to get his own cable show. Cochran has a show on Court TV.

Rivera, who set ratings records for CNBC with his coverage of the verdict Tuesday night, has formatted his show to cover whatever is the biggest criminal case in the country. It is now unquestionably the signature program for CNBC.

Charles Grodin, who starred in such films as ``Beethoven'' and ``Midnight Run,'' is host of another CNBC talk show, which turned from an entertainment program into an issues show when Grodin started talking passionately each night about the Simpson case.

In the fall, Clark, the prosecutor who lost the criminal trial, is scheduled to begin her own syndicated television show, ``Lady Law,'' a nightly portrait of women in law enforcement.

But many observers questioned whether her show will get off the ground. Indeed, doubts are equally high for her achieving a success with her book on the case, which is long overdue.

``Like so much of the rest of this case, it's a question of timing,'' said one senior publishing industry executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``With a different lawyer beating Mr. Simpson in the civil case, Marcia's time might have passed.''

Viking, which signed Clark to a deal reported to be close to $4 million, surely hopes that assessment is wrong.

Huge advances have been common for Simpson-oriented books, and some of the deals have paid off. Darden got his book out quickly, and it was a hit. Two books by nontrial figures, Toobin and former Los Angeles prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, were considered big successes.

But Cochran's book, for which he received a reported $3 million, was, in the assessment of Stephanie Oda, who writes a newsletter on the publishing industry, ``one of the biggest flops ever.''

Oda said, ``I think the publishers would be better served to let this thing go at this point.''

But a new book by two detectives involved in the case, Tom Lange `and Phillip Van Atter, seems to have benefited from good timing: It came out just in time for the civil verdict, giving the writers lots of invitations to talk shows to plug their book.

And Little Brown must think the case has lasting fascination: It recently paid a reported $3 million advance to Barbieri, Simpson's former girlfriend.

Toobin, who admitted it was ``a total mystery to me'' why anyone would still be interested in Barbieri's revelations, pointed to that deal as evidence that ``the fallout in interest in the case is not going to be steep.''

He said: ``Part of the legacy of this case is the disappearance of the line between fame and notoriety. Faye Resnick, a former drug addict, is a centerfold in Playboy. Chris Darden, who lost the case, is now a learned commentator on all sorts of legal matters. It's just comical.'' Darden also appeared this season as an actor in the CBS show ``Touched by an Angel.''

The senior publishing industry executive said Simpson himself could surely find a willing publisher if he wanted to try his hand at a second book on his travails in the two trials. (His first book was on the best-seller lists for weeks.)

Toobin said it would be easy to come up with scenarios that would prove that both interest and money could still easily be generated by the lingering ``tabloid obsession'' with the case.

``Say O.J. decided to get married again,'' he said. ``It would be a huge story. Overnight the new Mrs. Simpson would have higher name recognition than Newt Gingrich. And the woman's high school best friend would be able to make $200,000 from `Hard Copy' by telling the story of her first boyfriend.''

THE O.J. SIMPSON CASE: A cash window with deep reserves

With the $8.5 million compensatory award last week, Fred Goldman and Ronald's mother stands to collect from the June 1994 slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Goldman and the Brown family may collect more in the punitive phase.

They may be the last to collect in a s`ensational case that created its own industry - a few millionaires.

Marcia Clark

The lead deputy district attorney in the failed criminal prosecution inked a $4.2 million book deal, and will anchor a television show.

Paula Barbieri

O.J.'s former gal pal got a $3 million book deal for her ``memoirs.''

Robert Shapiro

The Simpson dream teamer got $1.5 million for penning ``The Search for Justice.''

Alan Dershowitz

$1 million book deal, trial analyst.

Johnnie Cochran Jr.

Earned $3 million for his ``Journey to Justice'' memoirs; co-anchors Court TV's ``Cochran & Grace.''

O.J. Simpson

The NFL football great earned $2.8 million since the killings, $1 million of it for his jail tome: ``I Want To Tell You.''

Christopher Darden

The co-lead prosecutor got $1.3 million for ``In Contempt,'' the bestselling of the best sellers.

The six-figure club

Faye Resnick - Authored tell-all tome and posed for Playboy

Mark Furham - Former LAPD detective plans a book

Vincent Bugliosi - Former L.A. prosecutor wrote ``Outrage''

Kato Kaelin - Shaggy houseguest's book did well

CAPTION(S):

7 Photos, Box

Photo: (1) Marcia Clark

(2) Paula Barbieri

(3) Robert Shapiro

(4) Alan Dershowitz

(5) Johnnie Cochran Jr.

(6) O.J. Simpson

(7) Christopher Darden

Box: THE O.J. SIMPSON CASE: A cash window with deep reserves (See text)