Surf and sand have provided the backdrop for teen soaps since the days of “Gidget.” The 20-episode teen tale “Beyond the Break” (7:30 p.m., The N) mixes music, surfing action and romantic intrigue with a few darker-than-usual story lines.

For starters, the show’s main character, Birdie Scott (Tiffany Hines), is a teenage runaway. When we first see her, she’s being hounded by her drunken mother and abusive stepfather to run to the liquor store and buy them some more vodka. Pretty rough stuff. But this isn’t “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.”

She takes her creepy stepdad’s credit card and makes her way to Hawaii, where she knows that Justin (David Chokachi) is working for a professional surfing outfit. He’s a former wave legend and pipelines master champ who has fallen on some rough times.

He used to live with Birdie’s mom, and he’s the one who taught our heroine to surf.

Unfortunately, the big corporate outfit sponsoring Justin isn’t interested in a troubled teen like Birdie, even if she can surf better than the three Barbie-doll surfers Justin has been hired to train and promote. But we soon learn that even these three beauties have their troubled pasts and dark sides. So there’s plenty of angst to go around.

“Break” relies on too many visual tricks and musical interludes, particularly in the show’s opening moments. It has story enough to stand on its own without gimmicks.

¢ “Beyond the Break” follows the 100th episode and part one of the fifth-season finale of “Degrassi” (7 p.m., The N). This also happens to be the high school graduation episode of the Canadian-produced cult favorite. Part two airs in a week.

¢ “Storm on the Horizon” (7 p.m., History Channel) examines a little-known engagement that opened a new chapter in military history. On Jan. 29, 1991, a scattered group of lightly armed U.S. Marines found themselves facing three Iraqi armored divisions, considered Saddam Hussein’s best. This two-hour special looks at how high-tech weaponry and new tactics turned this possible disaster into what has been called the first battle of the Smart Bomb age.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ A spectral mother speaks to her troubled son through his white-noise machine on “Ghost Whisperer” (7 p.m., CBS).

¢ Angelina Jolie stars in the 2001 videogame adaptation “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Key evidence about kidnapping is ruled inadmissible on “Close to Home” (8 p.m., CBS).

¢ The Pussycat Dolls guest star on “Las Vegas” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ Faith ties the knot on the series finale of “Hope & Faith” (8 p.m., ABC). This series will not return next season.

¢ The discovery of a relic on a reservation is linked to a murder on “Numb3rs” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ A minor charged with killing his brother is tried as an adult on “Conviction” (9 p.m., NBC).