KTVX-Ch. 4 is pre-empting tomorrow night's episode of "life as we know it" — arguably the most suggestive show on network television — and replacing it with the Billy Graham Crusade.

But it's just a coincidence. Really.

And it's not a sign of things to come. Next week, "life" is scheduled to air in its regular Thursday-night time slot.

It wasn't Ch. 4's original plan to replace an episode about the sex lives of three teenage boys with a bit of that ol' time religion. The station contracted to carry the crusade — yes, KTVX is paid to air it — months ago. And the deal requires Ch. 4 to air the program within a certain period of time.

The station made several adjustments to avoid pre-empting special programming on the network. At one point, Billy Graham was penciled in on Wednesday at 8 p.m., but then ABC put the Nick Lachey-Jessica Simpson Christmas show in that time slot. So Ch. 4 put the crusade on Thursday.

At the time, "life as we know it" was sort of in limbo. Only after Ch. 4 scheduled Billy Graham did ABC schedule a new episode of the series. (Ch. 4 will air it at 2 a.m., if you want to set your VCR.)

So it really is only a coincidence that Ch. 4 is replacing libidinous teens with the Billy Graham Crusade. A rather humorous coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless.

HANGING BY A THREAD: ABC hasn't canceled "life as we know it." Yet.

The network has been pre-empting the show frequently in recent weeks, which comes as no surprise because it's ABC's lowest-rated show this season. It's averaging just more than 4 million viewers per episode, although it is up against TV's most-watched show, "CSI" (which attracts 30 million or more a week) and "The Apprentice" (which isn't nearly as strong as it was last season, but is still No. 13 with more than 15 million viewers).

ABC has given "life" the most tepid of lukewarm support, ordering four more scripts but no more episodes on top of the original 13.

It didn't hurt, however, that Touchstone Television, which produces the show (and which, like ABC, is owned by Disney), has sold the series to MTV. The cable network repeated the first three episodes this past Saturday; episodes 4-7 are scheduled to air this Saturday from 5-9 p.m.

And, by the way, this show is waaaay too suggestive to be seen at 5 p.m.

GROUNDED: RIP, "LAX." NBC is shutting down production after 13 episodes, 10 of which have aired to mediocre ratings on Mondays and Wednesdays.

No word on if or when the final three episodes will be seen.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com