Better Dressed Than the Competition

The Series: “Hard Copy”; airs weeknights at 7:30 on NBC.

The Setup: The personal woes of America’s favorite tabloid fodder--Tonya, Michael, Burt and Loni--vie with celebrity romances and movie-of-the-week crime news for air time on the magazine-format series.

The Look: Anchors Barry Nolan and Terry Murphy (both pictured) dress neither as corporate as CBS news anchors Dan Rather and Connie Chung nor as unrelentingly zippy as news-entertainment hosts John Tesh, Mary Hart and Leeza Gibbons of “Entertainment Tonight.”

Nolan wears dark jackets, white shirts and bold, abstract-print ties. Murphy leans toward jackets, open-neck blouses and an occasional turtleneck.

This duo is far better turned out than their competition on “A Current Affair.” There, host Maureen O’Boyle inhabits the cocktail-attire zone, while field reporters favor jeans and no neckties.

The Palette: Color me loud. Although Murphy certainly has her muted moments (lots of olive greens), it’s her sizzling orange blazers that reverberate in one’s brain.

We Could Live Without: Nolan’s and correspondent Doug Bruckner’s fancy, puffed up, shiny pocket squares. We don’t fancy such ornamentation, even when Peter Jennings does it.

Hit: From the Michael Jackson beat, reporter Diane Dimond dresses completely against type. Her sorority-girl image--butter-yellow crew-neck sweaters, pearls and unsprayed hair--buffers an aggressive delivery style.

Bad Hair Day: Murphy’s top-layered, teased hairdo is surprisingly similar to Gibbons’, but in a much lighter shade of blond--quite similar to Loni Anderson’s.

Sources: For Murphy, Lillie Rubin (although we hear she may soon be switching to another label). For Nolan, Perry Ellis and the Greif Cos.