By KEVIN BREWER

“Monday Night Football” will die at the end of the coming season. It will be 36.

Sure, ESPN will try to resuscitate the ABC institution, and NBC will have “Sunday Night Football,” but it’s over.

“Monday Night Football,” as a cultural event, as a water cooler moment, ended when ABC dumped Howard Cosell in 1983.

As a cultural touchstone, it lost touch long ago. Indeed, last season’s “Desperate Housewives” promo was a desperate attempt to use a more popular show for a ratings grab.

In the 500-channel universe, “Monday Night Football” has become the domain of football nerds coming down off the weekend’s fantasy football high. Former “MNF” viewers are split in, well, 500 directions.

Yes, there are more choices now, and choice is good. But there is not the shared television experience.

When “MNF” premiered in 1970, there were but three choices on Monday nights at 9 p.m.: NFL football, “Mayberry, R.F.D.” and the “NBC Monday Night Movie.” Football in prime time was such a novelty that “MNF” finished third in the ratings race that first season.

But soon enough, Cosell, Don Meredith and Frank Gifford were a major hit, proving networks could successfully schedule sports in prime time.

“MNF,” the second-longest running series in prime time history, has remained a ratings winner for its entire run but became a money loser, costing ABC $150 million last season.

Now with networks overpaying to schedule sports in prime time, the legacy of “MNF” is secure.

The demise of “Monday Night Football” comes soon after the death of Johnny Carson and the retirement of Dan Rather, which only reminded everyone that he was no Walter Cronkite.

Cronkite, Cosell and Carson were the giants of their fields: news, sports and entertainment. They were so big, in fact, that they were often credited with shaping the news.

But the 1970s are gone for good, and so are the giants of broadcasting.

Turn out the lights. The party’s over.