NEW YORK (AP) — The cockeyed optimism of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” routinely flies in the face of real life.The premise of this NBC drama finds a pair of brassy writer-producers hired to rejuvenate a faded late-night sketch-comedy show (think: “Saturday Night Live”) airing on the National Broadcasting System (you guessed it: NBC).

And who stuck her pretty neck out to recruit these mischief makers? None other than newly appointed NBS president Jordan McDeere, a network exec whose idealism makes Mister Rogers a hard-bitten cynic by comparison.

On a series that presumably means to be more than a fairy-tale version of the industry it’s set in, Jordan is straight out of dreamland.

And never so much as on the October 16 episode, when she put her job on the line by turning down a sure-fire ratings smash — a new relationship show not unlike Fox’s bygone “Temptation Island” — because she found the concept sleazy: “It appeals to the very worst in our nature,” she said, her baby blues flashing, “and whoever airs it will play a measurable role in subverting our national culture.”

Later, on the same “Studio 60” episode, Jordan (as played by gorgeous Amanda Peet) begged the young creator of an ambitious new dramatic series to please let her network have it, rather than HBO, where he naturally assumed such a high-minded venture would find a more receptive audience.

“Your show is good,” Jordan cooed. “It should be on American broadcast television for free and seen by as many people as possible.” She landed the show.

Just preposterous. Especially considering what happened three days later, when Jeff Zucker, real-life chief executive of NBC Universal’s television group, joined NBCU Chairman Bob Wright to grandly unveil a company-wide plan that would have given Jordan hives.

The so-called NBCU 2.0 has a goal of slashing company expenses by $750 million by the end of 2008, with 700 employees fired along the way.

But nothing about NBCU 2.0 would seem to affect — or, for that matter, interest — the ordinary viewer. Except, perhaps, one glaring detail: NBC said it would move away from airing costly scripted comedies or dramas at 8 p.m., instead giving up the hour to cut-rate reality fare.

You don’t have to be an industry insider to question NBC’s supporting claim: that scripted programming at 8 p.m. no longer makes good business sense. The fact is, other networks are doing fine with new scripted shows in the eight o’clock hour, even up against tough reality competition — CBS with “Jericho” (opposite ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” on Wednesdays) and ABC with “Ugly Betty” (a welcome alternative to CBS’ “Survivor” on Thursdays).

Even odder: NBC’s cut-and-run manifesto came just weeks into a fall season when, for the first time in years, the network could boast a slate of new series even Jordan would be proud of.

NBC has scored a hit with “Heroes,” a classy supernatural serial. And while “Studio 60” and yet another new drama, “Friday Night Lights,” weren’t instant ratings successes, they are impressive parts of a whole that demonstrates the sort of showmanship long absent from NBC.

Even the runt of the litter — the soon-to-be-yanked sitcom “Twenty Good Years” — is superior to past embarrassments like “Coupling,” “Father of the Pride,” “LAX,” and a misbegotten slurry of so many, many more.

With this schedule, Kevin Reilly, who since May 2004 has been president of NBC Entertainment, seemed to have come into his own while emerging from the shadow of Zucker, his boss and predecessor in the job. NBC appeared to be back in the game, to be serious about offering viewers good TV.

Unfortunately, NBCU 2.0 is signalling otherwise. This “wide-ranging strategic initiative” aims to “exploit opportunities created by the rapidly evolving digital and global marketplace” (with investment in new digital projects to be boosted by some $150 million) while reducing “NBCU’s dependence on traditional content distributing methods and advertising models” (like broadcast TV).

Or maybe NBCU 2.0 is a diversionary tactic for NBC Universal, which has seen NBC plunge from first to fourth place in prime-time ratings, and where, in each of the past three quarters, operating profit slipped 10 percent.

This has put a drag on earnings for corporate parent General Electric Co., a trend that not only unsettles GE stockholders, but conceivably could derail heir apparent Zucker from getting the top job when Wright retires in a few years.

This fall, viewers caught sight of NBC’s long-overdue Showmanship 2.0. But in the corporate aerie of NBC Universal, the mission is putting on a good show for Wall Street, not you.

Extravagance is no substitute for vision, of course. But neither is cutting corners, which now seems to be the grand plan for NBC in prime time. This makes the sentiment voiced by Jordan McDeere seem all the more quaint: “The better our shows are,” she declared, “the more money we’re gonna make.”

Crazy as that sounds, maybe Zucker should consider taking heed at long last. A dose of Jordan’s idealism might end up benefiting everybody.