The first episodic series from the TV Guide Network, “Making News: Texas Style” (7 p.m., TVG), presents a documentary-style reality show about a local news program in Midland/Odessa, Texas.

As TV markets go, Midland is pretty small, ranked somewhere around 130th in the nation. The small-town atmosphere and some of the local Texas color are what make “News” so enjoyable.

Small-market newscasters can be beloved figures, the voices of their hometowns. Yet for some broadcasters, these stations can be career purgatory. Some are starting out, working their way up or finding themselves at a dead end.

Bill Warren has been the face of Channel 7 for years. But the station manager thinks Warren’s cerebral approach and “dry” humor “slow down” the broadcast. Fellow anchor and former Miss Texas (1998) Tatum Hubbard admits she doesn’t “always get his jokes.”

The station manager decides to demote Warren and replace him with Jay Hendricks, a more affable anchor and a former sports reporter who had been the face of their top-rated rival Channel 9 news. Warren takes this badly. “I’ve changed my antidepressants,” he admits.

Another story follows rookie Melissa Correa. She’s delighted to get an on-air assignment. Unfortunately, it involves her enrolling in a local dance academy, where she will be “dancing off the pounds.” Yikes.

Young reporter Kara Lee knows she isn’t taken seriously when she rushes to accidents and crime scenes. “Being blonde doesn’t help,” she admits. “Even if it’s fake.”

TV Guide has a real winner for its first show. “News” makes the most of its local setting, providing funny and sympathetic portrayals of these on-air characters. Think “Mary Tyler Moore” for the reality-TV era.

Unfortunately, the series follows the tiresome basic-cable trend of endlessly repeating clips within the show as “teasers” for the next segment. It mirrors the annoying tendency of local news broadcasts and gives you the impression that they have about 12 minutes of material for a 22-minute program.

¢ Bill tries to recover from Barb’s public gaffe as the polygamy soap opera “Big Love” (8 p.m., HBO) moves to Monday nights.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ TNT airs a 12-hour marathon of “Law & Order” (1 p.m. through 1 a.m., TNT), featuring actors from “The Sopranos.”

¢ Jerry Springer and Sharon Osbourne join “America’s Got Talent” (7 p.m., NBC) as judges.

¢ On two episodes of “Hell’s Kitchen” (Fox, TV-14), contestants meet and clash (7 p.m.), if you can’t take the heat (8 p.m.).

Cult choice

An anti-terror squad stumbles on a government plot in the 2006 futuristic animated thriller “Ghost in Shell: Solid State Society” (10 p.m., Sci Fi). This is the first in a series of anime favorites to air weekly on Sci Fi at this time.