VIRTUAL REALITY VALLEY READERS PUT THEIR THINKING CAPS ON AND PROPOSE THE NEXT BIG THING FOR TV.

Our idea for a reality-TV show, ``Executive Privilege,'' is admittedly pretty lame. We'd round up the top network executives in a cramped, IKEA-furnished dump, and force these men with Ivy League educations, Lexus convertibles and Bel-Air homes to defend the virtues of reality television.

Les Moonves of CBS: `` 'Big Brother' is a 'social experiment.' '' (Much laughter) ``No, really.''

Garth Ancier of NBC: ``We have a show called 'Chains of Love' where a woman is chained to four guys for days on end until she agrees to date one of them - it's a relationship show.'' (Much laughter) ``No, really.''

Sandy Grushow of Fox: ``OK, we won't crash a 747 and we won't marry off a millionaire anymore, but here's what we will do ...'' (Much laughter) ``No, really.''

Stu Bloomberg of ABC: ``We think our new reality shows about some random guy traveling across America and some random people developing a Web site will be exciting, pop-culture events that will seize the country's imagination.'' (Much laughter) ``No, really.''

(Satan appears from nowhere in a pouf of smoke.)

Satan: ``You know what? You guys can have your souls back. Hell has some standards.''

See? That's why the Daily News turned to you, our readers, to concoct the next big reality-TV sensation. Now that ``Survivor's'' gone - and since impending strikes next year by both actors and writers unions threaten to put an end to traditional TV entertainment - the networks are in dire need of gimmicks for cheap and easy reality shows more than ever. (Remember if one of these ideas shows up as a network replacement show, you've got proof you thought of it.)

And you responded, hearteningly, with avalanches of ideas. We read proposals that suggested that our readers needed an agent; likewise, we read letters suggesting some of our readers needed a therapist.

< One of the more diabolic submissions was from Stephen J. Todd and Michelle Troncoso. It's called ``Serial Killer Survival,'' which would pit perpetrators of infamous homicides (Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, the usual suspects) in a double-wide trailer with a few lawn darts and what not to see who walked out after 90 days.

Chris J. Han suggested ``The Great Escape'' - about prison inmates trying to go free - before ABC announced it was developing a similar show called ``Jailbreak.'' Chris' main problem was that his show would underscore social issues - namely, prison overcrowding - and the last thing the networks would do is try to get viewers to think.

Similarly, Gilbert ``Buck'' Cohen came up with a concept that is reportedly already in development - placing contestants in a real haunted house, and Jim Hughes had an inspired ``Prince-and-the-Pauper'' idea - forcing politicians to live on retirees' pensions, another idea that the networks would likely deem too thought-provoking for TV.

Rick Rofman took the literary approach with ``No Exit,'' which finds three people with all too little in common locked in a room for eternity. They discover that they are dead and that hell is other people, while ``And Then There Were None'' consists of an unknown host summoning 10 diverse souls to a remote outpost, where each day a victim is found dead. The killer turns out to be a retired judge who not only sentences but murders the alleged killers. He then admitted that Jeal-Paul Sartre wrote ``No Exit'' and Agatha Christie penned ``And Then There Were None,'' but Rofman wasn't the only one to notice the literary connections with reality shows. Caryn James of The New York Times recently saw ``Survivor'' as ``meticulously structured as a novel by Agatha Christie (whose 'Ten Little Indians' plot it brilliantly mimics).''

Eric Krackow suggested a show called ``A Taste of Their Own Medicine'' in which psychiatrists are confronted by disgruntled former patients. The audience then selects a form of punishment for the nominated shrink: anything from a dunking, to a pie in the face, to electroshock therapy or psychotropic drug doses.

Krackow follows with another switcheroo called ``Sleep in Your Own Bed.'' Similar to his first idea, except this time, a tenant votes for a slumlord to be videotaped living in his own property for a week.

Olivia Wong takes a sociological approach, suggesting we place five individuals, who speak distinctly different languages, in a house such as the one in ``Big Brother,'' and watch them live and learn to interact with each other.

Steve Russell suggested ``Bikini Shots'' - voyeurism on the world's beaches. Obviously he hasn't watched the Travel Channel lately.

Some of the ideas hit close to home. Dan Roth suggested having eight Valley yuppies commute by BMW on the Ventura Freeway twice a day from a Studio City Starbucks to a downtown Los Angeles Starbucks. Contestants are disqualified if involved in an accident while driving or for striking a fellow ``commuter.'' Contestants must subsist on food and beverages from the two Starbucks locations. Points are taken off for traffic tickets and low stomach-acid content caused by not drinking enough coffee. One motorist will be voted out each week. The final two will meet in a ``chicken-run'' showdown on the Lankershim off-ramp in trams provided by Universal Studios.

A few of the submissions targeted teens. Dick Stiles suggested 20 teens, who love rap and booming-bass music, reside in a house in which their music would play from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for 30 days. Dick Clark would be the live-in host. Because no one would be allowed to leave, all the contestants would be winners, receiving two years' worth of tickets to the concerts of their choice. If the point is to make the teens turn the music down, we're not sure it will work.

Greg and Jeanne Morgan went in the opposite direction with ``Teen Survivor ... Oh Brother.'' Picture this, they wrote: Parents desperate to mend the ever-widening generation gap between themselves and their teen-age kids - due to the tech-savvy generation - volunteer their family to participate in a program that requires the teen-agers to stop using all technological advances (i.e., beepers, cell phones, computers, e-mail, cars, etc.) and force them to spend quality time with their family for a span of three weeks. The teens are viewed by TV and Internet audiences (their peers) and are voted on a ``suffering scale'': The teen who has suffered the most alienation from friends and withdrawal from technology, coupled with the sheer humiliation of spending time with his or her family, becomes the winner.

Some of our other favorites were less elaborate.

David Dronek came up with ``County Coroner,'' which follows a coroner, while the audience deciphers clues about whether the death was from natural causes or a murder; and ``Homeless,'' which follows a person who is chosen to live homeless for 30 days. The winner gets $100,000, plus $10,000 to give to a homeless person he or she met during the 30 days.

Beckey Ruiz had a variation on this: Take four poor women, she wrote, and dress them in the finest of clothing, jewelry, makeup and hair styles. Then send them to exclusive events and have them act as though they are someone rich and famous. Will they be respected or shunned? Will the media begin to dig up dirt on them?

Mitchell Gordon came up with a dicey proposition called ``The Final Countdown.'' Four teams of five people have 90 days to construct a bomb shelter on an island. Each week a challenge would reward the winning team with the proper building materials (i.e., tools, cement, etc.). The object of the game is to survive the elements, build a bomb shelter and survive the blast. The winning team shares $20 million ($5 million each). Of course, the team with the fewest casualties wins. This idea is a cross between ``Survivor'' and Pearl Harbor.

John F. Goff thought that a reality show about a group of journalists in a newsroom would be a good idea. Those who fail to identify news about reality shows as reality news are kicked out into the real world. OK John, we get the point.

Morgan then adds, ``This idea is not a joke. We are serious.'' Wonder if they tried the people at MTV?

Michelle Krehl has an idea that's perfect for L.A. called ``Who Am I Anyway?'' Six people enter a clinic, where for three months they live and undergo surgical and other less invasive procedures in an attempt to look like their favorite celebrity (think a 32-year-old soccer mom from Woodland Hills trying to look like Britney Spears or a 54-year-old accountant from Tarzana trying to look like Harrison Ford). The contestants will have access to dietitians, trainers, hair stylists, dermatologists and other consultants, including a noted team of plastic surgeons. The audience will decide which contestant looks most like the star he or she set out to resemble.

And Mark Miller came up with a few tongue-in-cheek ideas, including:

``Weight-Challenge 2000'': Richard Simmons is placed inside a biker bar and has 30 minutes to recruit 10 of the bikers to join his weight-loss program.

``World's Greatest Automotive Adventure'': Contestants must navigate an obstacle course, all the while attempting to avoid being hit by Halle Berry.

``Who Doesn't Want a Prostate Exam?'': Regis Philbin hosts this exciting spin-off of ``Millionaire'' that awards exciting prizes to the trivia-answering winners, and a certain uncomfortable medical procedure to the loser.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 4 cover -- color) WATCH THIS

Our readers create their own reality TV Shows

(5) Paul Pontrelli offered ``What's Poppin','' placing nine women in the last month of their pregnancy - and their partners - in a mansion for all manner of conflict (``Imagine the cravings for strange food!'' Pontrelli wrote).

(6) no caption (TV set)

(7) no caption (traffic)