Watch it

“Modern Family” (9 p.m., ABC). Jay tries his hand at home decor, while Phil lets his kid take the fall when Claire finds some downloaded Internet smut. Ruh-roh.

“Cougar Town” (9:30 p.m., ABC). OK, let’s see if they can maintain momentum from last week’s hilarious episode.

“Leverage” (10 p.m., TNT). Season premiere. The third season of this breezy con-game series kicks off with the gang infiltrating the fashion world in order to take down a sweatshop owner.

“Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” (11:35 p.m., NBC). Assuming NBC hasn’t fired him yet. Ricky Gervais guests, and I think we can safely assume he and Conan will throw a pointed barb or two NBC’s way. Hey, at least Conan’s handling this whole thing with some amount of dignity.

Record it

“Solving History with Olly Steeds” (10 p.m., Discovery). Series premiere. The explorer/journalist tries to track down the Ark of the Covenant. Hope he’s careful, that didn’t work out so well for Indiana Jones.

“Shadow Soldiers” (10 p.m., NatGeo). Host Chris Ryan trains with a group of elite Mexican commandos battling the drug cartels. Based on recent events (commandos killed a drug lord, then the cartel killed a commando’s family), this should be a really interesting look behind the news.

“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . .” (10 p.m., Sundance). It’s a crowd tonight, with guests Lyle Lovett, Ray LaMontagne and John Prine.

Skip it

“Real World” (10 p.m., MTV). There’s at least one good thing “Jersey Shore” has done: It’s made this show totally irrelevant.

“Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura” (10 p.m., TruTV). Jesse “The Body” investigates rumors of secret government bunkers that will protect the nation’s elite when the world ends in 2012. Um, dude, if the world it going to end, what’s the point in building a bunker?