Wives

I have seen the feminist revolution and it is … polygamy? Watching "Sister Wives," TLC's latest addition to its collection of Very Large and Usually Homeschooled families, I found myself thinking not so much of HBO's "Big Love" as Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," in which a patriarchal revolution has left women literally second-class citizens, assigned tasks by the government. The book came to mind not because Kody Brown, his three (and counting) wives and their 13 (and counting)

A bombing at a martial parade in western Iran on Wednesday killed at least 12 people, including a 5-year-old and the wives of two Iranian military commanders. The explosion struck amid a large crowd attending the event, which was intended to underscore the nation's battle readiness. An additional 75 people were injured, at least 12 seriously, in what officials described as a "terrorist attack. " No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, which occurred in the restive ethnic Kurdish city of Mahabad about 40 miles east of the border with Iraq.

Attention 20-year-old men: Look at the people around you. Are most of them women? If so, you're in for a longer life (statistically speaking). On the other hand, if the men outnumber the women, you might want to consider moving somewhere like Hartford, Ga.; St. Joseph, Minn.; Bryn Mawr, Pa.; or Dugway, Utah (all cities where more than two-thirds of residents are female). It may sound crazy, but the preponderance of males in places where men live when they reach marriageable age influences how long they will live, according to a study published in the August issue of the journal Demography.

Get ready for a reality show version of "Big Love." TLC, the cable network behind hits "Jon & Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting," is hoping to strike ratings gold again with "Sister Wives," a series about a polygamist family in Utah that will premiere in September. Much like the HBO drama "Big Love," which follows a polygamist and his three wives, "Sister Wives" is about Kody and his wives Meri, Janelle and Christine and their 13 kids. Unlike "Big Love's" Bill Henrickson, though, Kody is looking to add to his family by taking on a fourth wife, Robyn, who has three children of her own. For TLC, "Sister Wives" will likely generate a little controversy, but the network is no stranger to that.

There's a meta moment coming in Monday night's episode of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" where 19-year-old Bristol Palin talks about being the mother of a toddler. The brief guest appearance came naturally — the acting part, well, that's another matter — because it mirrors her own life. "It was right up my alley," said Palin, daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. "I was pregnant the same time as the character, Amy, on the show, so I kind of felt like we went through the experience together."

It is not often that a book on the financial crisis makes you want to get a big bowl of popcorn. But Vicky Ward's page-turning yarn about Lehman Bros., the failed investment bank, is the closest thing to a bodice-ripper that the 2008 meltdown is likely to produce. Ward, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine, backs up from Lehman's tragic collapse to take a look at nearly three decades of backstabbing and greed. Her book is "The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers," published by Wiley.

President Jacob Zuma is once again testing his contention that South Africans make a distinction between political matters and his increasingly complicated private life. As the country prepares to welcome a global audience this week for the start of soccer's World Cup, the media are filled with allegations and gossip of messy affairs in the presidential family. The storm this time centers around the polygamous Zuma's second wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli, who reportedly became pregnant by her bodyguard.

It's 2010, and women scorned have resources, outlets and marketing plans. Used to be that if you were a high-powered man, you were a target, but now the man is no longer the end; he's just the stepping stone to a multimedia career, mere collateral damage. Not that the women of "Basketball Wives" (VH1, 10 p.m. Sundays) haven't paid a steep price for their ascendant fame. Most of the show's main figures have been cheated on and watched their relationships disintegrate in highly visible fashion.

From the moment Siobhan Esposito heard the words "not guilty," she swore she wouldn't give up until someone was punished for her husband's slaying. The Army said a soldier in Capt. Phillip Esposito's New York National Guard unit in Tikrit, Iraq, detonated a Claymore mine that killed the captain and a fellow officer as they played the board game Risk one night in June 2005. The lone suspect, Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, was acquitted at a court-martial after defense lawyers challenged the incomplete or conflicting forensic evidence and witness statements in a largely circumstantial case.

Five women sit at a dining room table in Camp Pendleton, talking about the dreadful task of saying goodbye to their husbands. Again. As you read this, their Marines, as they call them, are on the way to Afghanistan for seven months, maybe longer. Most of the Marines have already been to Iraq, and Holly Lavely's husband, Patrick, twice injured by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), is fit again and on his 10th deployment. "The second time he was hurt, I was sure that was it -- he was going to die," Lavely says.