All
i pulled the back of the set off and looked at the CRT PCB, found R3340 and noticed nothing. nothing on the whole board - resistors, diodes, capacitors etc. - was burned, smoked, destroyed. but i figured what the heck, its only a dollar. so i bought the resistors and some solder removal braid. when i had extracted the resistor my multimeter confirmed suspicions....it was dead. so i tossed a new one in and bam, it works.
therefore, even if it isnt burned up, if the symptoms fit the prognosis, swap R3340 for a new 10 ohm 1/2 watt from radio shack
thanks everyone for your help
alex