By Bill Griffith, Globe Staff, 2/1/2002

ox has big plans for Sunday's presentation of Super Bowl XXXVI. The script represents a major deviation from the original outline laid out last spring.

That was thrown away after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Fox Sports president Ed Goren originally had wanted to keep the first hour or more of the pregame show outside the stadium and its backdrop of empty seats.

Enter some TV-created Mardi Gras. Goren was going to have the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' pregame crew of James Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Cris Collinsworth riding in a float through a sea of fans (an impromptu parade) as they previewed the game. After Sept. 11, out went the ''Party Town'' emphasis. In came patriotism.

Now, Super Bowl XXXVI is being wrapped in red, white, and blue with a big patriotic ribbon. It seems somehow fitting that the Patriots will be one of the participating teams.

The pre-pregame show, 1:30-3 p.m.: Pat Summerall and John Madden host the 19th All-Madden team announcement with some surprise segments and a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Madden's Super Bowl XI champion Raiders.

The pregame show, 3-6 p.m.: With a theme of ''Heroes, Hope and Homeland,'' the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' crew will do its pregame show from a Superdome set, but there will be much more for the national audience.

Keith Lockhart will conduct the Boston Pops in performing Aaron Copland's ''Lincoln's Portrait,'' a stirring mix of voice and music written in the aftermath of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Lincoln's words will be presented on film by former US presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. Bush, and Bill Clinton, with Nancy Reagan contributing in place of Ronald Reagan.

Present and past NFL players and coaches, including Alan Page, Jim Brown, Roger Staubach, Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk, Bill Cowher, and Steve Largent will read from the Declaration of Independence in a dramatic presentation with each passage read from a different American Landmark.

''The content and philosophy of the show is a celebration of America,'' said Long. ''It won't be as much straight football information. This is entertainment to reach a broader audience. I'm glad we're doing it that way.''

''Let's be honest, it's the Super Bowl,'' said Collinsworth. ''There have only been 20 million shows and stories done and written this week. Sept. 11 is why we're sitting here now instead of having played the game last week. This is the appropriate tone of the show.''

Throughout the pregame, Fox will cut to US servicemen on duty around the world for their views and predictions on the game.

John Walsh, host of Fox's ''America's Most Wanted,'' will report on the extraordinary security in place for the game, and Fox Sports's Jeanne Zelasko will do a special report on former Bills player Bob Kalsu, the only NFL player to die in combat in Vietnam.

Pop groups No Doubt and Barenaked Ladies will perform, as will Paul McCartney, who will sing his single ''Freedom,'' written in the wake of Sept. 11.

Just before the coin toss, Mary J. Blige and Marc Anthony will perform ''America the Beautiful,'' and Mariah Carey will sing the ''The Star-Spangled Banner.'' Both will be backed by the Boston Pops.

Halftime: A little of Terry, JB, Howie, and Cris. A lot of U2 performing live. Hint: Turn up the volume on WBCN (104.1 FM) for the stereo sound.

Postgame: Commissioner Paul Tagliabue will present the Lombardi Trophy on the field. The Fox crew will do its postgame show, then do a ceremonial passing of the microphone to the network's next sport - NASCAR.

You can also expect a Fox tribute to Summerall, who is ending a 21-year broadcasting alliance with Madden after the game. The two first worked together on Oct. 4, 1981.

Fox endeavors to hang onto its Super Bowl audience by having Long and Bradshaw appear in the episode of ''Malcolm in the Middle'' that follows the game.

Fox is coming off a boffo 12 months with top ratings and critical acclaim for its NASCAR, Major League Baseball, and NFL telecasts. So why is Goren worried? Because of the economic climate of televised sports. ''When four networks pass on the NBA because they can't make it work economically, it's a red flag,'' he said Wednesday. ''When an ESPN picks up the NBA and the networks can't because ESPN gets subscriber fees of $1.60 or $1.70 per month per household and we're [networks] on one revenue stream [advertising], I see troubled seas ahead unless the economics change.

''We've seen what's happened at NBC [letting go of the NFL, MLB, and now NBA],'' said Goren, ''and how losing those contracts affects peoples' lives and careers.''

Goren's sobering assessment comes at a time when a Fox football telecast will be the week's highest-rated show on television for an unprecedented third straight week.

How does Goren feel the Fox Super Bowl pregame show will fare in the ratings? ''In inverse proportion to Tiger Woods's position on the leaderboard at Pebble Beach,'' he said ... The most-asked question of the week: What time is kickoff? The answer is 6:28 p.m. ... Channel 4 will do a ''Sports Final Live in New Orleans'' tonight from 7:30-8, going head to head with a live ''Chronicle'' from New Orleans on Channel 5. Channel 25 will have a Super Bowl special tonight at 10:30, and NECN has one at 11 ... According to Goren, Fox's ''Widescreen'' telecast will be seen in only 100,000 homes nationwide in markets where the signal is broadcast (including Boston). The Fox format is significantly sharper than conventional broadcasts but well short of true HDTV. Fox declined to add any technological gadgets for the Super Bowl. ''We're just like the teams who played the whole season to get here. You don't make a lot of changes in the Super Bowl,'' said Goren ... Fox expects Sunday's programming will generate $225 million in advertising revenues. ''I think we'll be in line where it was a year ago on CBS,'' he said. ''Our sales guys had just a few spots left at midweek.''

Bill Griffith's e-mail address is griffith@globe.com