Raven-Symone (“That’s So Raven”) and friends return in “The Cheetah Girls 2” (7 p.m., Disney). Not too many made-for-TV musicals for kids rate a sequel, but the 2003 “Cheetah Girls” was a smash for Disney’s audience of children and ‘tweens.

The Disney Channel has become the place for youth musicals. This marks a corporate evolution of sorts. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Disney Studio revived the musical with its animated hits “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King.” When Disney bought ABC in 1997, the network began broadcasting big musical-production numbers, most notably an adaptation of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” starring Whitney Houston (who also produced) and Brandy. Houston was also a producer of the first “Cheetah Girls” movie.

This year, the Disney Channel struck gold with “High School Musical,” a hit cable movie that has spawned a best-selling soundtrack and subsequent stage productions.

“The Cheetah Girls 2” is directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega of “High School Musical” fame. Like the original, “Cheetah 2” concerns four teenage friends and would-be divas who break into harmonies at the drop of a hat. While the original followed their rise to teen stardom at a “Fame” type high school in Manhattan, tonight’s film follows them as they enter a musical competition in Barcelona, Spain.

Shot on location in Spain, “Cheetah Girls 2” offers viewers a gorgeous backdrop to the musical numbers and sightseeing montages. The Iberian locale allows the teens to flirt with handsome flamenco guitar players and other would-be lovers. Spain is also home to Ortega’s family. And he does them proud. Look for tourism to Barcelona to flourish after this “Cheetah” visit.

This being a musical, “Cheetah Girls 2” is short on story and conflict. Cheetah girl Chanel (Adrienne Bailon) is a little put out by her mother’s romance with a rich and debonair Spaniard. And for a split second it seems that all is not well among the Cheetahs. But for the most part, the Cheetahs are all about singing, enthusiasm, shopping and sightseeing. And who can blame them?

¢ “Explorer: Drowning New Orleans” (9 p.m., National Geographic) chronicles the Katrina disaster from the hurricane’s arrival to the devastating floods. “Drowning” includes exclusive footage shot by a New Orleans fireman of the 17th Street canal levee breach shot at 11:11 a.m. Aug. 29, 2005. This footage is the earliest known visual documentation by city authorities of the levee breach that allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to flow unimpeded into the Crescent City.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Scheduled on “Dateline” (7 p.m., NBC): Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

¢ Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Frank the Pug return in the 2002 sequel “Men In Black II” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ The owner (Dean Cain) thinks a paintball outing would be a good idea on “Las Vegas” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ Tom and Declan scope out Tom’s apartment on “Kyle XY” (8 p.m., ABC).

¢ Scheduled on “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC): Insurance claims after Hurricane Katrina.