Chips on the Old Box

Spending too much time staring at your computer screen? Watch computers on your TV screen instead. Two weekly shows devoted to computing debuted in April — c|net central, on the Sci-Fi Channel and the USA Network, and The CNN Computer Connection. They join such other recent technology offerings as the Jones Computer Network — a 24-hour-a-day cable venture that televises more than you could ever want to know about hard drives and floppies.

With so many magazines covering the field, what's the impetus for computer TV? In a word, multimedia. Five years ago, ''computers were pretty much about words on a screen,'' says Stewart Cheifet, executive producer and host of PBS' long-running series Computer Chronicles. Today, says Cheifet, with CD-ROMs incorporating sound and motion, a computer show is like This Old House: ''You can read about how to fix something in a book. But when you see some guy actually do it, it makes more sense.''

Judging from its premiere, c|net central's more like A Current Affair. The leadoff segment — a computer-animated simulation of the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman murders — may have been bloodless, but it felt grisly and sensationalistic. ''We wanted to open with something people would talk about,'' says c|net president Kevin Wendle. In a trend that says more about TV than about computers, CNN's Computer Connection debuted with an O.J. trial story as well — reporting on the use of computers in the courtroom.

Somewhat less pulse pounding is the Jones Computer Network. Despite some high points — notably a hip rant show called 10 Nanoseconds of Fame — JCN's production values seem more appropriate for public access. A typical interview leads off with this invitation to a guest: ''Give us some insight from your unique global perspective as to how you think the information-age technologies might evolve on the European landscape over the next few years.'' With discourse like that, you might be better off returning to your computer.