TV Daily

Prime Pick

Photo: Fox

Ah, what a twisted self-hating web Rupert Murdoch weaves. In the ultimate postmodern, snake-eating-its-own-tail turn, Fox premieres a nasty little gem of a reality show about the frivolous, idiotic nature of broadcast news. In reality-comedy hybrid "The Anchorwoman" (premieres 8 p.m. EDT on Fox), a small news station in Tyler, Texas, KYTX, hires Lauren Jones, a buxom former "Price Is Right" beauty, to anchor the nightly news in order to boost ratings. Needless to say, the female news anchors at the station are less than thrilled about it ("A swimsuit model fills Annalisa Petralia's shoes?" Petralia, one of the more self-important anchors at the station, asks her boss incredulously), and the crew takes bets on whether Jones will tank or not on her first night on the air. "It's not like I'm a bimbo," Jones tells Petralia. "It's a lifelong thing I've had to prove." We'll just see about that, little lady!

-- H.H.

Also…

Who says TV can't be a religious experience? On Wednesday night at 9 p.m. EDT, CNN airs the second of its three-part documentary "God's Warriors" (Part 3 airs Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT), in which Christiane Amanpour confronts religious leaders who are fighting in the name of faith. Wednesday's installment focuses on Muslims, Thursday's on Christians. And PBS offers a look at religion in Spain in the Middle Ages in "Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain" (9 p.m. EDT). Plus -- late night watch -- Sen. Barack Obama is scheduled to appear on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" (11 p.m. EDT on Comedy Central).

On the talk shows

Contributors: Matthew Fishbane, Heather Havrilesky, Amy Reiter

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