Watch it
“Pioneers of Television” (8 p.m., PBS). Season premiere. A look at the creators of three groundbreaking sc-fi series: “Star Trek’s” Gene Roddenberry, “The Twilight Zone’s” Rod Serling and “Lost in Space’s” Irwin Allen. Sounds like a neat blast from the past. But what, no “Quark”?
“The Space Age: NASA’s History” (9 p.m., PBS). Continuing the space theme, this documentary looks at the Mercury and Gemini programs and NASA’s early efforts to land a man on the moon. It’s cool to look back at this kind of stuff and comprehend just how amazing an accomplishment it was.
“Lights Out” (10 p.m., FX). I really liked last week’s premiere. It’s all stuff we’ve seen before in boxing movies, like “Rocky 5,” but very well done, and I’m curious to see where it goes. Tonight, Lights gets stuck under the thumb of a loan shark and his daughter figures out his premature dementia.
Record it
“Life Unexpected” (8 p.m., The CW). It’s the two-hour series finale, coming exactly one year after its premiere. It supposedly wraps up a lot of loose ends, including Baze and Emma’s future, Lux’s crush on Sam and Ryan’s potential new radio show.
“Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS). “Are We Safer,” Washington Post reporter Dana Priest’s look at the terrorism-industrial complex that’s emerged since 9/11 and the expanding scope of homeland security and data collection.
“Chopped” (10 p.m., Food Network). Ingredients include marrow bones and something frozen.
“Southland” (10 p.m., TNT). Ben wants revenge after his mother’s rapist is freed from prison. Meanwhile, Sammy deals with his own domestic problems.
“White Collar” (10 p.m., USA). Season premiere. After being wrongly accused by the FBI, Peter teams up with Neal to clear his name and find whoever shot Mozzie. And Tiffani Thiessen has had her baby, so maybe she won’t be in front of so many awful green screens any more.
“Onion Sportsdome” (10:30 p.m., Comedy Central). I laughed a lot during last week’s premiere. Tonight’s headlines include Tom Brady getting doused with acid by his coach and NHL commish Gary Bettman faking his own kidnapping.
Skip it
“Biggest Loser: Couples” (8 p.m., NBC). The identities of the trainers are revealed. Ugh, whatever.
