Know how to really hurt a television anchorman or woman?

Insult their hair.

That's one of the jokes in the new movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." The Will Ferrell comedy is set in San Diego in the 1970s and features Ferrell as a sexist, egotistical lead anchorman for fictional KVWN/Channel 4. The breaking news for Ron Burgundy is that an anchorwoman is trying to take over his news set.

Some longtime San Diegans see a connection between Harold Greene, who worked at KCST (now KNSD/Channel 39) in San Diego in the 1970s and now reads news for KCBS in Los Angeles, but anyone over 35 can recognize their hometown's own "Ron Burgundy." In my hometown of Los Angeles, there was Jerry Dunphy and the revolution when Connie Chung came to the city in 1976 to co-host KNXT's (now KCBS) evening news.

As funny as "Anchorman" is, it also has a melancholy note for those of us who remember a time when local news affiliates were locally owned. A big news day meant the local news station might provide a news story to the network broadcast, and in the 1970s the network news was the top of the food chain.

Now CNN and Fox News Channel have blown up that food chain, and corporations have gobbled up local news affiliates.

Midwest Television owns KFMB/Channel 8, McGraw Hill owns KGTV/Channel 10, and NBC, which is owned by GE, owns KNSD. The Tribune Co. owns KSWB/Channel 51, and Grupo Televisa owns XETV/Channel 6. KUSI/Channel 51 is the only San Diego channel to remain under the local control of an independent owner, Michael McKinnon.

The anchors, reporters and news directors of San Diego's news stations live locally and certainly care about San Diego -- much like "Anchorman's" Ron Burgundy, who adores San Diego. But corporations are driven by profits and follow the same marketing ideas. The result is a wide array of local newscasts that tend to look alike.

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Part espionage, part world history lesson, "The Grid" (9 p.m. Monday, TNT) is compelling television.

The espionage comes as the National Security Council, FBI and CIA try to team up with Britain's domestic crime-fighting agency, MI5, and its international crime-fighting agency, MI6, to stop Islamic radicals. The history lesson comes in the form of this six-hour miniseries' genuine efforts to look at all aspects of the world's political situation.

Maren Jackson (Julianna Margulies) leads the American team as deputy director of the NSC. Max Canary (Dylan McDermott) is an FBI agent, and Raza Michaels (Piter Marek) is a CIA analyst of the Middle East who happens to be Muslim. Over on the British side, MI6 director of operations Emily Tuthill (Jemma Redgrave) and MI5 senior director of counterterrorism Derek Jennings (Bernard Hill) are distrustful of the Americans and each other.

(Don't glance away during "The Grid" because it takes close attention to keep track of all the characters.)

In the opening, a group of terrorists has bungled preparing sarin gas, and a dozen London residents are dead. The American and British teams begin to follow a trail leading to Muhammad (Alki David), a criminal who wants to impose fundamentalist Islamic governments throughout the world.

Directed by Emmy-winning director Mikael Salomon ("Band of Brothers"), "The Grid" is fast-paced and a fairer look at world affairs than viewers might expect from a miniseries. Muslims from all walks of life are shown as characters in the movie -- from CIA analyst Michaels, who talks about the radicals being only a minority of Muslims around the world, to Egyptian doctor Raghib Mutar (Silas Carson), who anguishes about poor Egyptian children dying of diseases American medicines could cure but which remain too expensive for the Egyptian government to buy. While the American government continues to investigate the interagency rivalries between the FBI and CIA, "The Grid" brings up the issue of rivalries between countries' intelligence agencies. (Now how are we going to overcome that in the face of global terrorism?)

"The Grid" begins Monday and continues at 9 p.m. July 26, Aug. 2 and 9 on TNT.

Casting on MTV's "The Real World" has become so cliche that there's sure to be one drunk and one gay member in every show. Apparently now there also has to be one barroom brawler.

The New York Post reported last week that members from the Philadelphia cast of the show were involved in a bar fight during Fourth of July weekend. Two cast members in the San Diego season, which just concluded, were also arrested after a fight outside a Pacific Beach bar.

Highlights for the week include the conclusion of "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital" at 8 p.m. today on KGTV. Readers have written asking about the show, which earned low ratings. ABC has canceled the series, so tonight all the patients will be checking out.

"Celebrity Poker Showdown" is a guilty pleasure and tonight's game features the legendary Angie Dickinson, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon and magician Penn Jillette. Let's see Dickinson, one of the stars of the original Las Vegas-themed "Oceans Eleven," take on these young guns. The dealing starts at 9 p.m. today on Bravo.

ABC is launching a midseason drama Sunday. "The Days" follows a Philadelphia family through the eyes of its teenage son. It premieres at 10 p.m. on KGTV.

Ann Zivotsky writes about television for the North County Times.