It was the Pussycat Dolls vs. (mostly) middle-aged TV critics at the press tour Friday morning during a panel for The CW's "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for The Next Doll" (9 p.m. March 6), a show that seeks a singer/dancer who looks good in tight, skin-baring clothes and sings songs like "Don't Cha (Wish Your Girlfriend Was a Freak Like Me)." It's all in the name of empowering women, according to those who make the show.

It started out well enough, but after a while critics began asking questions like, "In no way did I say I don't find the Pussycat Dolls entertaining. I think hot girls are tremendous. I'm just totally baffled at how you get from 'Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?' to celebrating other women."

Or: "My daughter's almost 17, and just to be devil's advocate, she just sees this all as like a giant step back for women. Why should young girls aspire to dress up like skanks and sing "Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me?"

Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin protested, "There's nothing slutty about it. There's nothing skanky about it. Their clothing is cute. Of course it's sexy, but there is --"

"It's a philosophical question, not to go into Jean-Paul Satre here for a second," executive producer Ron Fair interrupted, "but there's a lid for every pot. Not everybody's going to respond to it in the same way. We're in the entertainment business, and we've made great strides and been very, very careful to not make this into a burlesque show."

Executive producer McG pointed out that the show isn't "a giant backwards step for women" because that would suggest it's serving men.

"Under no circumstances is this in the service of men," McG said. "You see women having fun and applauding, and really at the end of the day, should we have to apologize for having fun? Not everything is going to solve the crisis in the Middle East."

After more questions along these lines, McG took his gloves off.

"You must understand the fundamental paradox of a gentleman of your age demo asking that very question," he said. Oh no, he didn't! Oh yes, he did!

McG went on to essentially say the critics are a bunch of old farts who just don't get it and aren't the audience for the show, which is entirely true. But it wasn't just the male critics who felt that way. When asked what she thought of the Pussycat Dolls after the session, one prominent female critic said simply, "Whores."

I'll reserve judgment until I see the show, but the fight between the critics and the Pussycat Dolls was certainly entertaining.

Keep an eye out for The CW's "Hidden Palms," a new teen drama from Kevin Williamson ("Dawson's Creek") that doesn't yet have a premiere date. I've had time to watch only one episode so far and I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it and was interested to see more. It's not a great new drama, but has the potential to be a fun piece of entertainment for fans of sudsy teen dramas.

Oops: It was just brought to my attention yesterday that the Jan. 12 TV Q&A never got posted even though I wrote it. Sigh. I'll incorporate those Q&As into the Jan. 26 column. Apologies to those who have been waiting a month now for answers.