TELEVISION\'Murder' getting killed Mondays by 'Chicago Hope'.

Byline: Ray Richmond

Channel-hopping and never stopping ...

It doesn't look as if Monday nights will be any better to ABC's "Murder One" than Thursdays were. In its first Monday head-to-head battle with CBS' "Chicago Hope," the national ratings figures looked like this: "Chicago Hope," 14.9 rating/24 percent audience share; "Murder One," 9.2 rating/14 percent share.

This doesn't bode well for a long-term - or any other kind of - future for "Murder." But it is mighty encouraging news for "Hope" and for CBS, which needs all it can get.

Don't look for new episodes of HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show" anytime in 1996. Garry Shandling has a couple of film commitments that will keep him too occupied to work on the show. This is a significant bummer. But Shandling remains committed to at least one more "Sanders" season - sometime, presumably, before the millennium.

TV Guide reports that the pilot scripts ordered by the networks for next season indicate that "Friends" clones are out and clones of "ER" and "The X-Files" are in. There are "ER" knockoffs set in a TV newsroom, in an airport, in a firehouse and even in another ER.

There is great buzz on "Gulliver's Travels," the four-hour NBC miniseries starring Ted Danson that airs Feb. 4 and 5. Danson is said to give the performance of his life.

The Sundance Channel, an independent film channel backed by Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford and Showtime, is scheduled to launch on Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. To find it, however, you'll need a satellite dish of some sort.

I don't know about you, but I'm having trouble getting excited over the "new" Mark Walberg - the one that discusses topical issues "responsibly without being cheap, abrasive or exploitative."

Nothing like lousy ratings to turn you into a choirboy. It is perhaps the ultimate cynical act. Sleaze didn't work, so let's try clean. Viewers will see through it. You can't put mustard in a ketchup bottle.

The cancellation a few weeks back of "Gabrielle," the first-year talk show featuring Gabrielle Carteris, was a little bit sad. She was at least making the attempt to take the high road, only to run into a dead end.

A&E has devised a clever way to counterprogram the Super Bowl on Jan. 28, showing a four-hour "Biography" special that it's calling "Super Battle Royale: Princess Diana vs. Prince Charles," which features the complete, unedited BBC interview with Diana that originally ran in December.

Surest sign that A&E is running a little short on "Biography" ideas: On Feb. 12, it profiles Adam and Eve.

I was shocked - shocked - to hear that CBS was pulling the plug on "Bless This House." Who knew it was still on the air? The cancellation reportedly saves us from a proposed guest stint by Pauly Shore. Say amen, somebody.

Tom Snyder celebrated a year on CBS Tuesday. He remains the coolest geek on television.

I still think that PBS matters. Does that make me a geek?

Don't you feel guilty watching clips of the East Coast blizzard on the news? It makes me want to go out and shovel the dust out of the driveway.

On the other hand, do you think the Eastern folks experience a whit of compassion when they see video of our houses sliding down rain-soaked, mud-caked hills?