After fall fiascos like “Jake 2.0” and “Rock Me Baby,” the folks at UPN find themselves hoping that host Tyra Banks can recapture the magic and buzz of last summer’s surprise reality hit “America’s Next Top Model” (8 p.m., UPN).

I have to give “Top Model” a lot of credit. It consistently makes me do something I’ve never done before: care about fashion models. I haven’t the slightest interest in high fashion. I have no time for the ridiculous clothes, the high-maintenance personalities and, most of all, that horrible, headache-inducing runway music. But I find “Top Model” pretty addictive.

Tonight, we meet Banks’ select group of 12 swans. Some are arrogant, a few are innocent, and most haven’t got a clue about walking in heels, working a runway or showing themselves off to their best advantage. High drama ensues when 21-year-old Jenascia oversleeps and almost misses her first photo shoot. Anna, a wife and mother from Georgia who sees herself more as a role model than a mannequin, refuses to pose — clad only in glitter and paint — next to a male model wearing nothing at all.

I’m terrible at predictions, but if there is a girl to watch, it’s Shandi, a drugstore clerk from Kansas City who wears glasses and behaves like a tomboy. One of the other girls complains that her eyes are too close together and that she doesn’t look like a model, but I’m betting the camera will love Shandi, and that she’ll make it into the top four. I’ll even endure hours of dreadful music to see that.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Mike Myers stars in the 1999 parody sequel “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (7 p.m., WB).
• Nick suffers a serious relapse on “The Guardian” (8 p.m., CBS).
• Chase falls into the wrong hands on “24” (8 p.m., Fox).
• “Reconstruction: The Second Civil War” (8 p.m., PBS) concludes.
• Amy pinch-hits in criminal court on “Judging Amy” (9 p.m., CBS).
• Barry Bostwick guest-stars on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC).
• Police corruption on “Line of Fire” (9 p.m., ABC).

Late night

Jeff Daniels and The Shins appear on “Late Show with David Letterman” (10:35 p.m., CBS) … Jay Leno welcomes Donald Trump, Scarlett Johansson and Dave Matthews on “The Tonight Show” (10:35 p.m., NBC).