TWO OF A KIND; SASSA, HERZOG TAKE CABLE SMARTS TO NBC, FOX ENTERTAINMENT POSTS.

Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer

For two guys with so much in common, Scott Sassa and Doug Herzog couldn't be more different.

Both were named the entertainment president of a major network late in 1998. Both are 39 and made their names as cable television executives. They even moved into the same swanky Los Angeles hotel before finding a permanent West Coast residence.

Now, let's scrape below the surface.

Sassa, the president of NBC Entertainment, is a business suit-wearing numbers-cruncher who is running a network on the downswing. He took the press through an array of charts and graphs, clicking from one to another with a high-tech remote control at the Television Critics Association Press Tour.

He replaced Warren Littlefield, who ran NBC Entertainment for nearly a decade.

Then there's Herzog. The president of the Fox Broadcasting Co.'s entertainment division, met the press with an open collar and a few jokes. His presentation was low-tech; the only graphics he used were cardboard signs that said such things as ``Fresh Meat'' and ``Human Target,'' and during a later press conference he sat in the back of the room tossing a Nerf football.

Few in recent years have survived longer than three years in the position he now occupies.

Sassa and Herzog's lives are parallel yet divergent.

``I always thought Scott and I would make a great team,'' Herzog said.

The two have known each other since the beginning of the '80s. And Herzog once worked for Sassa - for a day.

Sassa tabbed Herzog to work for him at Turner's Cable Music Channel in 1984, when Turner was eager to take a run at MTV. Herzog was 25, and the job was paying $75,000, plus a car.

MTV also wanted him and offered him a spot back in New York to start up its news division for $40,000 a year and no car.

After an excruciating week of playing the pros and cons game, Herzog decided to accept Sassa's offer.

However, he was urged to have breakfast with MTV co-founder Bob Pittman at the Hotel Bel-Air. After some persuasion and another $10,000 in salary, Herzog made a 180-degree turnaround.

``The Cable Music Channel was on the air a month, and it crashed and burned,'' Herzog said. ``Scott called me and said I made the right decision. He understood. I think MTV was trying to hire him at the same time.''

They have both come a long way from the days in the early 1980s, when Herzog booked appearances for a late-night talk show and Sassa escorted guests to the show as part of his job with a publicity firm.

The two cable guys are now jumping into the network game, a trickier gig than ever, precisely because of the cable world they helped create.

Sassa's made his first big stir by announcing his intent to broaden the network's fare beyond shows about single people in New York on the hunt for casual sex.

Predictably, Sassa's comments about sexual content created the biggest stir.

``When sex is used in a smart way, it works out OK,'' he said. ``In some cases, sometimes, I think we could use a few more words between `Hello' and `Would you sleep with me?' So we need to figure out how to use sex appropriately.''

The new reach for balance and broader portrayals leads Sassa to this conclusion: tell stories about traditional families, set shows in places other than New York and diversify the casts.

That's not to say he has any plans to get rid of the ``Friends'' image - single, New York, casual sex - that brought NBC a devoted viewing audience on Thursday nights.

``We're not trying to create a family channel here,'' said Sassa, who will be promoted to head of NBC's West Coast operation after Don Ohlmeyer retires later this year. ``I'm just making the observation about balance, that we need to be balanced about what we show, and we need to move the pendulum back a little bit more toward these values.''

Over at Fox, Herzog has his own agenda to promote - that is, more of the same.

His broad goals are to build on the brand that Fox has made for itself, much in the way that he built an identity at Comedy Central.

``I think what I bring to the job - from the cable world - is a keen sense of branding. Fox has got a brand, maybe - or arguably - the best brand in broadcast television. And so I want to evolve the brand, and I want to strengthen the brand.''

And what is that brand? ``Adventurous,'' ``edgy'' and ``in certain cases, experimental,'' Herzog said.

``If Fox is doing it,'' he said, ``it should mean that ABC, NBC, CBS, whomever, aren't doing it.''

He's got his bases covered in the animation department. None of the major networks can claim to have as many hyped animated shows as Fox, with a midseason lineup filled with such shows as ``The PJs,'' ``Family Guy'' and ``Futurama.'' They join the established ``The Simpsons'' and ``King of the Hill.''

Animation is familiar territory for Herzog, whose main success at Comedy Central was with animated shows such as ``South Park'' and ``Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist.''

But one genre new to Herzog will be developing live-action sitcoms, something Fox hasn't been able to do consistently for a decade.

``Sure it's daunting,'' he said. ``It's all very daunting.''

SCOTT SASSA

Title: Entertainment president, NBC.

Age: 39.

Resume: President, NBC's television stations; president and chief operating officer, Andrews Group, a unit of MacAndrews & Forbes Holding; chief executive officer, Marvel Entertainment; president and member of the board of directors, Turner Entertainment Group; member of the TBS Executive Committee; vice president of network management, Fox Broadcasting Co.; vice president of new business development, Don Ohlmeyer Communications Co.; director of sales and promotions; Turner Broadcasting; vice president and general manager, Cable Music Channel.

DOUG HERZOG

Title: Entertainment president, Fox Broadcasting Co.

Age: 39.

Resume: President and chief executive officer, Comedy Central; executive vice president of programming and production, senior vice president of programs and development, news director, MTV.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Scott Sassa brings a button-down, bar-chart style to his position of entertainment president of NBC.

Alex Pitt/ImageDirect

(2) Fox entertainment president Doug Herzog comes to the job after 18 years in cable programming.

Marilynn K. Yee/New York Times