If you live in New York City and have cable TV you pretty much know who Pat Kiernan is. He’s the wry morning anchor at NY1, who (here we betray our own provincial interests) also hosts a daily segment called "In the Papers," which effectively determines whether a reporter at one of the city’s major papers will have a good day or a rotten one. On the segment, Pat selects the Big Important Stories, and so this is a must-watch for the self-absorbed navel gazers of our tribe.

Kiernan also co-anchors CNNfn’s "The Money Gang," the afternoon show that looks at investment strategies. (Not a must-watch for our tribe.)

Now, for something entirely different. Starting tonight at 9, Kiernan becomes host of the first game show in WB history, "Studio 7," and, as such, also becomes a guinea pig for the network’s inaugural effort to attract an older viewer - or as they say in the biz, "to broaden its demographic base."

This is a vital task for the WB because the network had an execrable 2003-04 season. It needs to go broad, and fast.

So, Pat is suddenly one important guy within the vast Time Warner empire.

If all this seems like a lot to put on the shoulders of a New York 1 anchor, and a modest - albeit particularly clever - new game show, consider this: It’s about time. Canadian-born Kiernan, who joined NY1 in 1997, has emerged as the highest-profile anchor at the studiously calm, intelligent and low-profile cable channel.

To call a "Studio 7" gig "hitting the big time" would be - uh-huh - an overstatement. More like hitting the slightly bigger time.

Tune in tonight, and you may have trouble recognizing Pat. He’s swathed in the shadows - a sinister, all-knowing presence who looks like one of the bad guys from "Alias," and who asks contestants some hard questions, and some-not-so-hard ones ("What’s the new European currency?" ... Duh.)

"We all - me, my wife, my agent and New York 1 - asked \ about the content and whether it would be smart enough and whether it would uphold my reputation as someone [viewers] can take seriously," he said in a recent phone interview. "We were all satisfied the show is doing the right thing and something I’ll be happy to be involved with. No one will have a problem watching this on Thursdays and then turning in to watch Friday [morning’s news]."

Indeed, the pedigree’s a solid one. "Studio" was conceived by Michael Davies, the veteran producer who also conceived a little show called "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and ABC’s fall reality show "Wife Swap."

Davies’ charter was to figure out a show that would go broad but also play young - the WB’s audience, after all. "Studio 7" is what’s called a "hybrid" - a new breed of reality show that borrows elements from various genres; this one’s a mix of standard quiz format (as old as the hills) and newfangled unscripted show, with a few generous spoonfuls of "The Apprentice" and "Survivor" DNA added to the soup.

Seven contestants - around college age - spend most of the week together in a New York apartment. Fun, games and booze? Not quite: They have to study hard and memorize trivia they will be quizzed on when the game is taped. The quiz itself has many elements - too many to lay out in this space - but suffice it to say, alliances are forged and broken, and the winner gets a check for $77,000. After seven weeks of this, there will be a championship round.

"The core idea," says Davies, "is when it comes down to money, who can you really trust? When you’re 18 or 20 years old, and often have to work with people you don’t like, life is not only knowing the answer, but social skills and popularity. So if you mess something up, you’re not immediately out of the game."

Besides taping in Manhattan, "Studio 7" generously represents the metro area, too. In tonight’s edition there are three NYC-based contestants - Amadou Doumbia, Christine Mendez and Barry Postrygacz - while next week’s show has more, including North Bellmore native Nick Giglia.

Will "Studio 7" survive? Well ... Marc Berman, programming editor for Mediaweek.com, posted this reasonable assessment in his newsletter from the ongoing Television Critics Association tour: "Airing in the most competitive hour on television ... means ’Studio 7’ is unlikely to put the network on the unscripted map."

Here’s our glass-half-full assessment: It’s cheap to produce, and the threshold for success has got to be negligible. Besides, it’s got Pat!

"This wasn’t something that I went looking for," he says, "and I take my journalism seriously. ... If someone wants me to do a late-night talk show, I’d be happy to talk about that. ... If someone wants to talk to me about the ’Today Show,’ I’m happy to talk about that. [If] Bob Barker retired, I’d consider that." (That’s a joke, by the way.)

"I see myself as a generalist," he says.