Nick (Peter Krause) works overtime to keep the frisky behavior of the Darling family out of the headlines on “Dirty Sexy Money” (9 p.m., ABC). One of the smarter offerings of the new season, “Dirty” has some things in common with some of the fall’s less stellar shows.

Isn’t it odd that two new shows have major characters named Darling? Kelsey Grammer plays Chuck Darling on the rather obvious Fox sitcom “Back to You,” while Donald Sutherland is the patriarch of the mega-rich Darling clan on “Dirty.” And it’s even stranger that both “Dirty” and the dreadful “Big Shots” have stories about characters involved with men passing as women and efforts to cover up the resulting scandal.

¢ “Special Investigations: The Minds of the D.C. Snipers” (7 p.m., CNN) revisits a series of murders that were terrifying in their random brutality. For several fearful weeks during the fall of 2002, residents in and around the Nation’s Capitol were shot dead while engaged in routine daily chores like pumping gas, mowing their lawns or reading a book outside a store in a shopping center.

Hosted by Soledad O’Brien, “Minds” presents, for the first time, interviews with the father and aunt of Lee Malvo, one of the D.C. snipers. We also hear from Malvo’s therapist, and all three make it clear that the bright but impressionable teen was seriously abused by his mother.

Neither sniper agreed to be interviewed for this special, but Malvo wrote a letter expressing his deep contrition. He is serving a life sentence. John Allen Muhammad appears in a video statement he made from death row.

Charles A. Moose, the former Montgomery County Police Chief and the public face of the search for the killers, appears here, too.

Moose took much of the heat for the mistakes made during the investigation, most notably the decision to look for a white van, when it turned out the two killers were doing their sniping from a modified Chevy sedan. Moose now serves as a beat cop in Honolulu.

¢ Every family loves its pets. But how much is too much? “Taboo: Pets” (9 p.m., National Geographic) looks at owners who have filled their homes with hundreds of snakes. Others go to macabre extremes to hold on to a departed companion, including having a deceased dog skinned and stuffed.

Tonight’s highlights

¢ Chuck needs a little explanation on “Pushing Daisies”

(7 p.m., ABC).

¢ The songwriters invade New York’s Times Square on “The Hitmen of Music Row”

(7 p.m., GAC).

¢ A killer exploits his victims’ worst fears on “Criminal Minds” (8 p.m., CBS).

¢ Scheduled on “Wired Science” (7 p.m., PBS, check local listings): a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean; new ways to fight fires; plant growth and global warming; mind-reading machines that can catch you in a lie.

¢ Jaime does some high-powered baby-sitting on “Bionic Woman” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ Newlyweds need help on “Private Practice” (8 p.m., ABC).

¢ The arrival of an orphan triggers intense paranormal behavior in a Seattle home on “Ghost Hunters” (8 p.m., Sci Fi).

¢ A felon goes wireless on “CSI: NY” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ The husband of a carjacking fatality seems too cozy with the lead suspect on “Life”

(9 p.m., NBC).

¢ The eight-episode series “Pageant Palace” (9:30 p.m., MTV) follows three pageant winners as they reign and live together for one year in a New York City high-rise apartment.