Any doubt that ``The Sniper'' has turned into the ultimate, horrible, reality TV show was erased Monday, when the Fox News Channel sought comment from a former reigning serial killer, Son of Sam.

Just as Richard Hatch went from ``Survivor'' winner to authoritative reality-TV commentator, so too was David Berkowitz trotted out, via a letter from prison, which was read on air by a Fox senior Washington correspondent.

``I feel that I have been feeling this person's anger and rage toward law enforcement,'' Berkowitz said, in all his wisdom.

Unlike the fake reality shows, with their ever-increasing level of desperation - watch a ``Fear Factor'' contestant gobble nightcrawlers! - the sniper compels with his simplicity, and by his ability to turn the residents of the greater Washington, D.C., area, and those who pass through, into unwitting contestants.

Hey, no need to send in a video, everyone has to play!

As one of my colleagues noted grimly yesterday morning, after a bus driver was killed, ``It looks like another person was voted off the `show.' ''

Immediately after the most recent shooting, police weren't sure whether it was the work of The Sniper (or some random shooter), ``but,'' said Montgomery County, Md., police Capt. Nancy Demme, ``we're treating this as if it is (the sniper).''

Which was good news for CNN and the cable cabal, since the sniper has singlehandedly boosted their ratings, and engaged an audience that, post O.J. and Sept. 11, has come to demand ever more exciting plot lines for their news stories.

Indeed, so conflated have TV and reality become, that after Tuesday's shooting, one witness told CNN's Paula Zahn that after hearing a shot, she did what any good citizen would, and placed a call to a local TV station.

911, apparently, didn't cross her mind.

Unlike the reality shows that take place in exotic spots - the Australian outback, a Scottish castle, a Caribbean island - the sniper uses mundane locations - a Home Depot parking garage, an Exxon gas station - as his locales, without any apparent loss in audience share.

The cable channels, meanwhile, have retained a bevy of criminologists, shrinks and gun people to comment on the action, just like they do during the Super Bowl, or Academy Awards. And the public, even some living in the terror zone, has been drawn into the story as if it were a made-for-TV thriller.

``Her hair doesn't work,'' one viewer said as she watched a CNN criminologist speculate about whether the note found at the scene of Saturday's shooting was authentic.

Perhaps, with all the media hype, she'd forgotten for a moment that actual lives were at stake, or maybe she was just trying to make herself feel safer by turning the story into entertainment.

Meanwhile, as the shooting spree closes out its third week, some members of the public confess that while they've come to dread another shooting, they crave the excitement of the continuing story.

``You don't want more people to die,'' one woman told me, ``but as soon as he's caught, the story's over. ''