Putting some fun into Monday nights.(John Madden joins ABC's Monday Night Football show)(Brief Article)

John Madden's pursuit of the Monday Night Football commentary job has ended. It also ended one other time. That was in 1994. ABC executives shared brandy and cigars in celebration of hiring Madden as the second man in the booth with Al Michaels. They promised the CBS star an even greater measure of fame and wealth. "They also told him he could get rid of that bus," a television insider says. "They would give him a train."

Well, what more might a boy want than his own train? ABC learned an answer to that question. Rupert Murdoch's Fox network stacked money so high it blocked Madden's view of the sun, and he fell into Murdoch's eager embrace.

Not that Madden forgot the ABC sweethearts left at the altar. In 1998 there were reports Madden was near an agreement to move from Fox to MNF. Instead, he re-upped with Fox. That time, a twice-burned ABC publicist insisted, it was all Madden's maneuverings. "We had no interest whatsoever in him," the publicist said.

A curmudgeon would say few businesses are more cynically expedient than television. Let us say TV is an enterprise of swiftly changing dimensions in which today's expression of "no interest whatsoever" becomes tomorrow's declaration of everlasting love. It's small surprise, then, that Madden and ABC again have exchanged vows (though this time in writing).

The more interesting thing is that Al Michaels and John Madden might become the best football broadcasting team ever--or go down as just one more experiment in ABC's attempt to stop MNF's ratings slide.

"The feeling at ABC was, if there was an opportunity to get John Madden, the network had to do it," Michaels says. "John is the gold standard among football analysts and has been for a long time. What ABC is hoping is that by bringing John on board--along with the `flexible' schedule--it will help to juice the ratings. It's not just the composition of the booth that matters; there are many factors, but the certain feeling is that having John puts Monday Night Football in a better position."

Delivering on that potential is the next step. Michaels likes the idea of moving some late-season Sunday games to Monday depending on their marquee value, the "flexible schedule" suggested by NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "Fox and CBS have had flexible schedules of their own, as regards starting times and second games televised in New York," Michaels says. "Monday Night Football televising meaningful games is a win-win for fans."