Cartoons have a great deal of liberty when it comes to gender roles and body issues. But will young girls identify with an adolescent fly? That’s the test of the new slapstick animated offering “The Buzz on Maggie” (7 p.m., Disney).

Maggie Pesky (the voice of Jessica DiCicco) is a ‘tween-age resident of Stickyfeet, a suburban town in fly world complete with junior high schools and shopping malls.

The insect aspects of “Maggie” offer plenty of opportunities for gross asides about curdled milk and decomposing food, but don’t go looking for the fashion-conscious Maggie to fly around sewers or just any rotten old thing.

Maggie’s bug-like features include large, round eyes that may remind some viewers of “The Powerpuff Girls.” In fact, Maggie’s voice has an uncanny resemblance to that of Buttercup, the tough tomboy Powerpuff voiced by Elizabeth Daily.

Like many Disney offerings, “Maggie” wears its message on its sleeve. The show’s theme song, “Just the Way I Am,” offers kids an anthem of pride, acceptance and (I always use this word as if holding it with surgical tongs) “empowerment.”

“Maggie” strikes a decent balance between cartoon anarchy and Disney’s you-go-girl sermonizing, and Maggie’s inherently bugged-out status keeps the stories from getting too cute. In the end, we learn that even fly girls just want to have fun.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ “Dateline” (7 p.m., NBC) presents a hidden-camera investigation of garment factories in Bangladesh.

¢ Several Lakota mingle with the white settlers in the second episode of “Into the West” (7 p.m., TNT).

¢ On back-to-back episodes of “Jag” (CBS), Baghdad intrigue (7 p.m.), an accidental drowning sparks a homicide charge (8 p.m.).

¢ Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore star in the 1998 comedy “The Wedding Singer” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds star in the 2001 racetrack drama “Driven” (7 p.m., UPN).

¢ Ronnie Milsap and Los Lonely Boys perform together on “Crossroads” (7 p.m., CMT).

¢ A sniper (Lou Diamond Phillips) helps catch a sharpshooter on “Numb3rs” (9 p.m., CBS).