THE END GAME

Many producers are being asked to jazz up their end credits to keep viewers away from the remote button and on standby for the network’s next show.

“Some of that material is funnier than what you see on many shows,” says Alan Sternfeld of ABC. “It’s all a welcome mat for viewers to stick around.”

CBS’ “Murphy Brown” and “Love & War” and NBC’s “Mad About You,” among others, use closing codas (or, as they call them “living credits”) that continually surprise viewers with comic twists, whether they be outtakes or bits and pieces alluding to the night’s storyline.

And let us not forget “hot switches” (“seamless transitions,” as CBS likes to tab them) where one show literally leads into the next without even a closing or opening credit (as “Roseanne” did with “The Jackie Thomas Show” last season). This season NBC is trying out seamless transitions with all its sitcoms ending on the half-hour, such as “The Mommies” leading into “Cafe Americain” at 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays and “Empty Nest” leading into “Nurses” at 9:30 the same night. This season, ABC is also pulling a hot switch regularly from “Coach” to “NYPD Blue” on Tuesday nights at 10.