'Tabloid Wars' When: 9 p.m. Monday, Bravo. 'Who Wants to Be a Superhero?' When: 9 p.m. Thursday, Sci Fi Channel.

Newspaper newsrooms are punctuated by moments of drama -- tension between co-workers, loud personal conversations that are overhead by an entire department, fruit flies ruining at-the-desk lunches -- but generally it's just a bunch of not particularly photogenic people sitting at computers, typing. It's not the sort of workplace that makes for riveting TV.

Kudos to Bravo and the producers of "Tabloid Wars" (9 p.m. Monday) for creating a series that's more engrossing than the workplace it chronicles. And if you had to pick a newspaper newsroom in which to set such a show, it's hard to imagine a more extreme, TV-worthy newspaper environment than a New York tabloid like The New York Daily News.

"Tabloid Wars" offers up the expected and the surprising. Among the expected: Editor-in-chief Michael Cooke touts the superiority of the News to rival The New York Post, saying, "We put our foot on their throat every day and press down until their eyes bulge and draw blood and still they won't die. We'll just have to keep at it until they do die, and die they will."

Among the surprising: Diligent, dogged reporter Kerry Burke, who, for a tabloid reporter, is surprisingly respectful of the people he interviews.

Over the years and with the exception of "Lou Grant," viewers have shown a decided lack of interest in TV shows set in newsrooms, and that's unlikely to change with "Tabloid Wars." But it's hard to imagine a more compelling character than Hud Morgan, a young, effete, admittedly smug gossip reporter.

"You don't really need a skill set as much as boundless energy," he says of his party-hopping beat. Morgan, who makes a bigger splash next week than in this week's premiere, is an intriguing character whose coverage area is probably more likely to engage viewers than some of the others.

"Tabloid Wars" may grow old quickly -- there are only so many times you can watch a reporter chase down a story before it grows dull -- but for its first few episodes, at least, viewers' time with these ink-stained wretches won't be a total waste.

'Who Wants to be a Superhero?'

A hoot-and-a-half, Sci Fi Channel's latest reality show, "Who Wants To Be a Superhero?" (9 p.m. Thursday) dresses up a bunch of geeks in unitards to compete to have Stan Lee create a comic book based on their character (Sci Fi Channel will make a TV movie, too).

Thrill as Monkey Woman (Mary Votara of Seattle) shrieks!

Shudder as Fat Momma (Nell Wilson) bounds!

Puzzle as Cell Phone Girl (Chelsea Weld) dials!

Lee hosts the series with utmost seriousness, explaining that "every good superhero has what's really important on the inside."

The contestants are challenged not to stop a speeding bullet, but to do good. In their first task, they have to change from their street attire into their homemade superhero costumes in a public park without being seen. Some execute this more deftly than others. Kudos to Monkey Girl for climbing a tree to execute her change. Unfortunately, she's among the players who fail to notice and help a lost little girl crying for her mommy -- many of the heroes run right past her.

"Who Wants to be a Superhero?" makes the contestants, many of whom also take the contest seriously, look silly, but laughing at reality show stars is nothing new, and "Superhero" is a supremely entertaining good time.