Bob Costas should stick to sports broadcasting. AP

I missed the first hour of Game 2 of the NBA Finals last Sunday. But I figure it's OK. So did Bob Costas, and not too long along ago he was broadcasting the NBA Finals on NBC. If he can skip the first part of the game, so can I.

Costas missed the game because was guest-hosting Larry King Live on CNN. I missed it because I was watching Costas, trying to figure out what he is doing .

Costas has signed on to guest-host Larry King for 20 episodes a year. Sunday was his first show.

On the surface this isn't an entirely odd step on Costas' career path. He has always been a man of diverse interests -- that is, in fact, much of his appeal, as evidenced on his old Later With Bob Costas show. Anyone who saw Costas and Tom Selleck discuss the episode in which Magnum P.I. killed Ivan the Russian has seen the embodiment of a man in full.

But the Larry King Show? Basic cable?

Here's what you need to know about Costas' first outing:

The topic: Clinical depression.
The guests: Three women and Dick Cavett.

What's wrong with this picture?

Clinical depression in itself is a fine and elevating topic for a talk show -- much better than, say, the Michael Jackson trial or a B-list actor hawking his latest movie. The female panelists -- former talk-show host Jane Pauley, actress Mariette Hartley (who I chiefly remember pretending to be James Garner's wife in Polaroid commercials years ago) and Johns Hopkins doctor Kay Redfield Jamison -- all contributed worthwhile perspectives. The weak link was Cavett, who did get in a Marlon Brando anecdote but inexplicably failed to shoehorn in a mention of Groucho.

Why one of our better sportscasters needs to play traffic cop to these four is beyond me. This is the same Costas who began his career calling games on the radio for the St. Louis Spirits of the old ABA, and then went on to work World Series and Super Bowl broadcasts. He still hosts Olympics for NBC and Inside the NFL for HBO. By my count he's more genuine than James Brown and more personable than Al Michaels. He's a much more convincing human than Jim Nantz. And while the sports world carries on with Costas' intermittent presence, he's turned to a job where he asks questions like "What medication, Jane, has proved most effective for you?"

Costas gave a good effort. He looked forward -- at least on a kitsch level -- to the prospect of opening up the phone lines and taking live calls from small-town America. "For years of watching Larry, I've wanted to do this," Costas said.

This was his first show. It's too early to draw conclusions. And it's certainly too early to accuse Larry King's producers of trying to bury Costas by saddling him with depressing guests of fading star power. But these producers certainly didn't do him any favors. How about starting Costas out with a softball -- an hour with Sly Stallone, maybe?

At one point in the show Costas posed this to Cavett, "What's the worst example of poor judgment you can think of that you can now attribute to a depressed state?" I can only imagine that while Cavett told his tale, about crossing Park Avenue without looking both ways first, the most acerbic part of Costas' brain was whispering: "Signing on to do this show?"

NBC is putting together its 2006 NFL team. Let's hope Costas is a part of it.