How much fashion can America take? “America’s Next Top Model” (7 p.m., UPN) enters its fourth season only a week after “Project Runway” wrapped up its much-talked-about freshman year. Both shows culminate on the catwalk, and famous models are hosts of both shows.

But there the similarities end. Tyra Banks is clearly the force behind “Top Model” –she’s a den mother, advice giver and big sister rolled into one. Heidi Klum was more of a figurehead at “Runway.” She let the talent and her fellow judges do most of the talking. Except for her signature “auf wiedersehen,” Klum might have been forgotten entirely.

“Top Model” remains highly addictive, but for very different reasons than “Runway.” “Runway” showcased winner Jay McCarroll as well as contestant Austin Scarlett, two of the most unique, witty and creative TV characters of this or any season. “Model” doesn’t rely so much on clever banter as it does on tear-jerking life stories. Throughout the seasons, we’ve lived through contestants’ bulimia, lupus and adultery. But that, folks, was nothin’. Tonight’s cattle call is a parade of stories fit for a 21st-century “Queen for a Day.”

Two girls return for second auditions. Fans of the show may recall one hopeful, a girl from one of Miami’s tougher neighborhood who blew her chances last year by getting into a bar fight on the eve of her audition. One model wannabe confesses to having been in a gang when she was young and messed-up, while another young woman speaks tearfully of the miracle of having a baby after being told that she suffered from a rare disease that should have kept her from bearing children.

Another contestant puts her faith in God; a lapsed Mormon, alienated from her family, confesses that she doesn’t believe in God at all. A contestant from the Bronx talks of bearing her boyfriend’s baby only to be turned out into the streets on a snowy February day, and of living in a homeless shelter with bedbugs.

A Latvian beauty relates how her life changed utterly when her hard-working father broke his back and she was reduced from a life of riches to waiting tables. And a quiet beauty who was stigmatized as “special” as a young student has a lot to prove. Tyra gets misty and comforts her with the observation that she knows many artists, models and musicians “who had to ride the short bus” when they were kids.

Not all of the girls are hard-luck cases — some are simply exotic. A hopeful with a Mohawk haircut says she was named after a John Coltrane ballad. Another, slightly scary contestant believes she’s been reincarnated from a cat. Then she gets down on all fours to prove her case, giving a whole new meaning to the word “catwalk.”

Of course, not all of these characters will make the final 12. If you want to see who does, you’ll just have to tune in tonight.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): widespread addiction to over-the-counter drugs; a pilot re-educates wayward whooping cranes.
• Scott Peterson’s sister speaks on “Dateline” (7 p.m., NBC).
• Hurley takes to the bush to find the mystery French woman on “Lost” (7 p.m., ABC).
• Stem cell research is debated on “The West Wing” (8 p.m., NBC).
• The top 20 face the music as the votes are counted on “American Idol” (8 p.m., Fox).
• Sark drives a hard bargain on “Alias” (8 p.m., ABC).
• Lorne Michaels (“Saturday Night Live”) receives the Mark Twain Prize on “On Stage at the Kennedy Center” (8 p.m., PBS).
• The final three perform on “The Road to Stardom” (7 p.m., UPN).
• “World Poker Tour” (8 p.m., Travel) enters its third season.