In a television landscape that grows more predictable and derivative every day, the six-part travel series “Going Tribal” (9 p.m., Discovery) qualifies as something completely different.

A BBC production, “Tribal” is hosted by Bruce Parry, a former Royal Marine who appears game for just about any adventure. In the first installment he travels to southwestern Ethiopia to visit with the Suri tribe and live according to their customs. This entails sleeping in a crowded grass hut, where he doesn’t even have enough room to roll over or brush the hundreds of bugs off his leg. He also graciously drinks a quart of warm bull’s blood, fresh from the docile bovine’s jugular vein.

Parry is most obsessed with the Suri’s traditional game of donga, which involves two men beating each other with long sticks. Donga matches break out frequently after the harvest has been gathered, when the men are well-fed and have the time to go at it.

Parry does a good job of ingratiating himself with the Suri. The tribal king takes such a liking to him that he forbids Parry from participating in the donga matches, worried that his guest will break a finger or worse. Apparently, the parental admonition “You’ll put your eye out!” transcends language and tradition.

In the next five installments of “Going Tribal,” Parry will live among cannibals in New Guinea and nomadic horsemen in Mongolia; take hallucinogens with witch doctors in Gabon; and spend time with an animist shaman in Venezuela.

Viewers who like television to take them to strange and new places should not miss “Going Tribal,” airing every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. through Sept. 13.

Other highlights

¢ The over-the-top drama “Boston Legal” (9 p.m., ABC), starring James Spader and William Shatner, returns to primetime.

¢ A winner emerges on “I Want to Be a Hilton” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ A candidate’s medical history may doom his campaign on “House” (8 p.m., Fox).