As its name implies, “The Rerun Show” (8:30 p.m., NBC), presents line-for-line re-creations of classic sitcom episodes. But they are given a decidedly raunchy spin by an ensemble company that performs many of the characters in drag. In tonight’s adaptation of a “Diff’rent Strokes” episode, and in a “Facts of Life” episode also made available for review, Paul Vogt plays Mrs. Garrett as a breathless, obese and sexually desperate character.

“Rerun” recalls the popular theatrical re-enactments of “Brady Bunch” episodes that inspired a decade of “Brady” mania and two big-budget films. But “Rerun” manages to transcend mere sitcom nostalgia and reach back half a century to the very origins of television when Milton Berle used drag and other burlesque tricks to attract viewers to the fledgling medium. It was an era when Groucho Marx could define TV as “terrible vaudeville.”

Like burlesque, “The Rerun Show” probably would best be appreciated live, in a small cabaret, preferably one where alcohol is served. Its broad parodies and lewd re-creations of well-known characters almost rupture the confines of the small screen. By sticking to the “text” of such banal comedies as “The Partridge Family,” “Brady Bunch,” “One Day at a Time,” “What’s Happening,” “Bewitched” and “Saved by the Bell” episodes, “Rerun” subverts our safe “Nick at Nite” memories and asks us to re-experience these insipid stories as bawdy theater. “Rerun” is a weird and nasty little show one that I could really grow to love.

Here’s a talking point. Bill O’Reilly is a jerk. He’s a very rich jerk who has made a fortune pretending to be the voice of the working man, but he is really a tawdry tabloid huckster. On tonight’s edition of “The Pulse,” (8 p.m., Fox), O’Reilly is outraged by attempts to popularize pornography. So what does he do? He invites porn star Jenna Jameson on his show. Fox publicity breathlessly promotes her as “the hottest porn star in the industry.” Hey, Bill, if you don’t want porn to go mainstream, keep the porn stars off network television during primetime! You’ve been hanging around Geraldo too long.

Tonight’s other highlights

Jonathan Frakes hosts “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction” (7 p.m., Fox)

Kurt Russell stars in the 1996 thriller “Escape From L.A.” (7 p.m., ABC).

A Cambodian filmmaker examines the lingering affects of the genocidal Kmer Rouge regime on “Wide Angle” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings).

Scheduled on “Primetime” (9 p.m., ABC): an interview with Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.