Beautiful, difficult and scandalous, Shannen Doherty lends her face, name and attitude to “Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty” (9 p.m., Oxygen). In this cheeky, hidden-camera reality show, the former “Beverly Hills, 90210” bad girl helps women without gumption dump bad or clingy boyfriends so they can get on with their lives and their quest for Mr. Right.

In the first episode made available for review, Doherty consults with a former southern beauty queen turned Los Angeles anchorwoman who began dating a man on the rebound from a bad relationship. After a year, she’s certain he’s not “the one,” but she’s afraid of confrontation and frightened that she’s going to break his heart.

Doherty sets up a dinner date, complete with a hidden camera and a “psychic chef.” Now that has to be a reality-show first. Watching via surveillance camera, Doherty can see the boyfriend’s rude, disrespectful and bossy behavior. And so can we. The vain boyfriend doesn’t even seem surprised when Doherty comes up to his table. He wastes no time hitting on her. This makes it easier for Doherty to lower the boom. As you might expect, the cad seems almost relieved.

¢ “Lomax the Songhunter” on “P.O.V.” (9 p.m., PBS) profiles a larger-than-life figure who set out to do no less than “capture the world” with his tape recorder. Alan Lomax and his father, John, scoured the farms, mountains, hollows and prisons of rural America to capture indigenous folk music, work songs and religious hymns.

Along the way, they discovered artists including Leadbelly and recorded more than 10,000 pieces of music for the Smithsonian. Alan Lomax became a champion of the folk-music revival of the 1940s through the 1960s and can be seen in a film set in Greenwich Village touting folk music as “the newest thing.”

After World War II, Alan Lomax traveled the world, capturing songs from Scotland, Spain and far-flung Pacific islands. Dutch filmmaker Rogier Kappers captured Alan Lomax just before his death in 2002 and presents a wealth of footage he shot during his quest to capture the music and folkways of the world before they vanished.

¢ “Egyptian Book of the Dead” (7 p.m., History Channel) looks at the culture that produced elaborate and expensive scrolls to be buried with the dead and become a guidebook to the afterlife. It also unravels the mystery of a Victorian-era curator who purchased such a book for the British museum.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Phil McGraw and Robin McGraw host the “J.C. Penney Jam: Concert for America’s Kids” (7 p.m., CBS).

¢ A former patient turns a gun on the cranky doctor on “House” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ On back-to-back episodes of “Gilmore Girls” (WB), Lorelai reacts to Luke’s big secret (7 p.m.), Luke’s dinner invitation (8 p.m.).

¢ A school official expires mysteriously on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ “Wide Angle” (8 p.m., PBS) looks at tensions between Turkey’s business and religious communities.

¢ The four-hour documentary “When the Levees Broke” (8 p.m., HBO) concludes.