NBC still can't find a fight on Thursday nights Special interest shows are best rivals have to counter the giant

I'm not a major consumer of TV on Thursdays. Oh sure, I like to keep up with the feeding frenzy on "ER," and "Friends" is always good for a laugh. But NBC's 14 years of dominance in prime time on Thursdays have made the night dull. Other networks are getting tired of having their best shows bulldozed by "must-see TV," so mediocre shows are being substituted instead, like "Promised Land," that flag-waving cup of cocoa over on CBS. Or Fox's freak tandem of reality TV, "World's Wildest Police Videos" and "Guinness World Records. " (The latter was a summer-only series that got a reprieve when its replacement, "Hollyweird," was canned at the last moment by Fox.) With the notable exception of ABC, no network this fall is putting even a single new show up against NBC. Picks to click ABC's revamped Thursday-night lineup takes dead aim at viewers who like explosions and gunfire but aren't too wild about subtlety. The action genre doesn't do much for me normally, yet even I sat up and took notice when I saw the network's 7 p.m. offering, "Vengeance Unlimited." In the spirit of "The Equalizer" comes Mr. Chapel, a sturdy lead character played by film star Michael Madsen. He's an enigmatical defender of the victims of crime; when the justice system lets you down, Mr. Chapel shows up. In the pilot episode he uses stun guns, monster trucks, phone harassment and extortion to wear down the bad guys and send them running into the arms of the authorities. Needless to say, a premise like this requires a lead actor who can convince viewers it's not completely ludicrous. Madsen is the man. The only other regular on "Vengeance Unlimited" is K.C. (Kathleen York), a woman he previously helped to right a wrong. "Vengeance Unlimited" launches next week because tonight ABC unveils its new Thursday night movie with the three-hour "Executive Decision. " ABC's movie package will remind you of TBS' "Movies for Guys Who Like Movies," which also airs on Thursdays. This season you'll see films like "Mission: Impossible" and "The Rock," plus made-for-TV productions from the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer and Martin Scorsese. What else is new? One can't begrudge the producers of "Friends" their success on Thursday nights. But "Jesse," which debuts at 7:30 tonight on Channel 41, is their third sitcom of the night (the other is that gem "Veronica's Closet") and that's at least one sitcom too many. Jesse, played by Christina Applegate of "Married With Children" fame, is a single mom living in Buffalo with her young son and two brothers. Dad lives nine blocks away and owns the tavern where she works, so basically she can't escape these men. This is horrible for her, great for them, because they all rely on her for financial and emotional support. Like the new Fox sitcom "Costello," this show left me asking: Who lives like this anymore? By the end of the first episode I wanted Jesse to change the locks on her house and chase these losers out the door. Of local interest: Overland Park native John Lehr gets plenty of camera time as one of Jesse's brothers, but he has little to say. Jesse tells a neighbor that he stopped talking the year before because he's trying to "use language in a more efficient manner." Hey, if I were associated with this show, I'd keep my piehole shut, too. Surfin' turf After six episodes last spring on NBC, "For Your Love," the latest sexy comedy from "Living Single" creator Yvette Lee Bowser, moves to the WB, where it airs at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 62. Set in Oak Park, Ill., a multiracial suburb that abuts Chicago's West Side, it features six friends neatly divided into three couples. Two are black, one is white. One couple are newly married, another are thinking about it and the other two have been there and done that. I wasn't smitten by "For Your Love" on NBC, but comedy development is notoriously tight at the network and the switch to WB may make the show looser and more appealing.