Wishful thinking dominates today’s menu with two new cable series with titles that say it all. “Please Buy My House” (7 p.m. today, TLC) marks a departure from the cable real estate fantasy shows in which owners sell their domiciles without effort and investors depart for champagne wishes and caviar dreams by “flipping” real estate for a living.

The housing market is in a funk, and “Buy My House” recognizes that fact. The show documents families trying new approaches to sell homes that have been on the market for too long, draining their resources and causing endless worry.

The very title of the show “I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader Again” (7:30 p.m. today, CMT) should provoke either smiles of recognition or groans of abject loathing in its intended audience.

Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders’ trainer Jay Johnson will train and inspire 10 former cheerleaders to revive the athletic prowess of their teen years by putting them through an Army-style training regimen. At the end of the eight-episode makeover series, one perky winner will not only be able to fit into her old uniform, but she’ll be $50,000 richer. Let the groaning begin.

¢ Don’t go ape, Beav, but you’re about to get a letter from the AARP. Yes, “Leave it to Beaver,” the iconic and beloved sitcom set in an idealized 1950s suburbia, turns 50. TV Land celebrates the golden anniversary with a 24-hour salute, running from 7 p.m. today through 7 p.m. Sunday.

¢ Viewers in search of family programming could do a whole lot worse than “Life is Wild” (7 p.m. Sunday, CW). A remake of a British series, “Wild” stars D.W. Moffett as Danny, a veterinarian and widowed father. He and his new wife, Jo (Stephanie Niznik, “Everwood”), decide to take their blended brood to the wilds of South Africa for a year.

The melding of their two families has not gone well. Jo’s rebellious eldest son, Jesse (Andrew St. John), has run into trouble back in Manhattan. Danny’s teenage daughter, Katie (Leah Pipes), has adjusted to her mother’s death, her father’s remarriage and this exotic uprooting with a serene equanimity. Her brave face and “perfect” behavior saddens Danny and drives Jesse absolutely nuts.

Things get messier when they arrive at their destination and find that Art (David Butler), Katie’s grandfather and the estranged father of her deceased mother, has let the lodge go to ruin. The fact that Katie’s dead mom grew up there only adds to the emotional strain.

Art greets the family with a gruff stoicism fueled by age and alcohol. The younger, cuter and less complicated members of this Brady bunch quickly become enchanted with exotic critters while Katie befriends an African teen and would-be vet from the nearby township. Jesse, in search of intoxicants, insinuates himself with the local white teens, children of the owner of the town’s other, successful lodge.

¢ Ben Stein returns to game shows on “America’s Most Smartest Model” (8 p.m. Sunday, VH1), a spoof reality game show with a ridiculous title designed to demonstrate that not all beautiful people are as dumb as rocks. But some contestants come pretty darned close.

Tonight’s highlights

¢ LSU hosts Florida in college football action (7 p.m., CBS).

¢ UCLA hosts Notre Dame in college football action (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Seth Rogen hosts “Saturday Night Live” (10:30 p.m., NBC), featuring musical guests Spoon.

Sunday’s highlights

¢ The Packers host the Bears on “Sunday Night Football” (7 p.m., NBC).

¢ Eight kitchen wizards compete for the title of “The Next Iron Chef” (8 p.m., Food).

¢ Larry freaks out on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (9 p.m., HBO).