The sad slide of a TV network is a little like the gradual decline of a shopping mall. Nobody likes to talk about it when the big magnet store moves away, leaving the place a lot less popular. Then some of the smaller stores relocate or just go under, replaced by less elegant retailers, or not replaced at all. Soon, a once-vibrant shopping area becomes just another sad mall.

NBC has become a sad mall where good shows seem to be withering away, replaced by the ersatz storefronts of video-clip shows, two-hour helpings of well-worn game shows, and repeats, three-peats and four-peats of a cop-series franchise that’s been around 20 seasons.

If NBC were a shopping mall, it would be the place where you’d park carefully so as to avoid the potholes in the lot and then lock your car on the way to the dollar store, or to the place where you make payments on the furniture you rent by the week. It’s a sad and shabby little strip, a place you visit more out of habit than desire.

Check out the NBC schedule this week. Thursday night features all original shows, but that’s the only night. Tonight’s offering of an original “Medium” (9 p.m.) is preceded by two hours of “Deal or No Deal” (7 p.m.). Tuesday, we get a half hour of “Most Outrageous Videos,” then a repeat of a Chris Farley “SNL” tribute from 1998. That’s not a typo. It’s from 1998. An original “Law and Order: SVU” follows. Wednesday night, it’s another two hours of Howie Mandel, followed by a “Law & Order.” Friday brings more “Outrageous Videos” followed by that all-purpose programming caulk, a two-hour “Dateline.” Saturday night, it’s three consecutive repeats. Sunday night, we get another chance to watch “Law & Order,” preceded by repeats of “Monk” and “Psych,” shows that have already aired several times on cable.

¢ “American Experience” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) profiles baseball superstar Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash on Dec. 31, 1972, while overseeing a humanitarian effort for Nicaraguan earthquake victims. The hourlong documentary discusses his pioneering role as a Latin player at a time when neither the game nor the sports media were terribly sympathetic to Spanish-speaking athletes. A portrait emerges of a serious, even melancholy man given to mysticism and forebodings of an early death.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ The kids’ show “The Wonder Pets!” (6 p.m., Nick Jr.) salutes the Fab Four with “Save the Beetles!”

¢ Hoop dreams dashed on “Bones” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Competition continues on “Dancing with the Stars” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ “Heavyweights” (7:30 p.m., Food) looks at the competition between Kellogg’s, General Mills and Post.

¢ A newlywed’s collapse may be linked to her old lifestyle on “House” (98 p.m., Fox).

¢ A vigilante targets cyber-sickos on “CSI: Miami” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ A series of visions puts Allison at risk on “Medium” (9 p.m., NBC).

¢ A bloke among blondes on “The Bachelor” (9 p.m., ABC).

Cult choice

A young man tries to promote his cousin as a New Wave rocker in the 1982 Australian musical comedy “Starstruck” (8 p.m., IFC).