With so many hit shows that appeal exclusively to women, ABC must be suffering from “guy” guilt. How else do you describe the odious Thursday-night mess that is “Big Shots”? And tonight we get “Carpoolers” (7:30 p.m., ABC), about four guys who share space every rush hour in a nondescript sedan. While not as dreadful as “Big Shots,” it shares that show’s bizarre attempt to portray what “real men” talk about.

“Carpoolers” strives to be an old-fashioned sitcom. The show is filled with repetitive sight gags. Aubrey’s (Jerry Minor) wife is never shown, except as two feet at the end of a recliner. Gracen (Fred Goss) has a slacker son who is only seen wearing the unflattering combination of a T-shirt and tight white underpants. His look is so wretchedly unattractive that it might just catch on.

The quartet – including bitterly divorced dentist Laird (Jerry O’Connell) and new father Dougie (Tim Peper) – are always in the only car in the carpool lane, zooming past acres of stalled traffic. When parking, they must contend with their sworn foes, the “fancy” carpool guys who arrive with sushi and chopsticks in hand.

Tics and quirks are not enough to redeem a show with so little to say about what men are really talking about. “Carpoolers” seems to have sat on the shelf too long. In the pilot, Gracen’s wife, Leila (Faith Ford), makes a small fortune flipping houses. “In this market, I can sell anything,” she chirps. In what market, or rather, on what planet is “Carpoolers” set?

¢ Inspired by 30-second Geico ads, “Cavemen” (7 p.m., ABC) tells the story of Neanderthals trying to cope and the snooty Homo sapiens who have looked down on them for 750,000 years.

The original pilot for “Cavemen” raised many concerns about scenarios that cut a little too close to prevailing and hurtful racial stereotypes. The network has reworked the pilot, and it is not available for review. Not a good sign.

Review-proof and potentially offensive series have a mixed record. “The Beverly Hillbillies” was critically lambasted but remained popular for nearly a decade.

“Hogan’s Heroes,” a sitcom set in a Nazi prison camp, proved that bad taste and good ratings could go together.

But in 1998, “The Secret Diaries of Desmond Pfeiffer,” about President Lincoln’s black servant (Chi McBride), was a controversial critical flop as well as a ratings disaster.

¢ Family, police and media scramble to action when a mother abandons her children by the highway under very mysterious circumstances in the five-part series “Five Days” (7 p.m., HBO). This complex drama wastes little time confronting viewers with a large number of characters and relationships. As such, it is extremely demanding – and rewarding.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ A fateful score for a soccer mom on “Bones” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ An astronaut has perception problems on “House” (8 p.m., Fox).

¢ Sam’s latest target proves shocking on “Reaper” (8 p.m., CW).

¢ A virus spreads on the season finale of “Eureka” (8 p.m., Sci Fi).

¢ Alex irks his brother on “Cane” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ Game over on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC).

¢ Gail O’Grady guest stars on “Boston Legal” (9 p.m., ABC).

¢ “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” (9 p.m., Bravo) enters its fifth and final season.

¢ The three-part series “The Runaways” (10 p.m., MSNBC) follows kids surviving on the streets of three cities.