The four-part series “Pioneers of Television” (7 p.m., PBS, check local listings) takes a reverent look at the medium’s history. The fact that this wistful elegy kicks off just as the strike-shortened TV schedule limps into 2008 with game shows and domestic reality gimmicks only accentuates the notion of television’s decline.

“Pioneers” begins with sitcoms and glances back at the birth of “The Honeymooners,” “I Love Lucy,” “Make Room for Daddy,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Andy Griffith Show.”

The “Honeymooners” segment is set up with a black-and-white re-creation of a studio right out of “Good Night and Good Luck,” complete with grainy cinematography to accentuate the ever-present cigarette smoke.

Fans of these series and students of television will probably not learn very many new things. The tone tends toward the gushing, and words like “genius” are thrown around a tad too often.

We’re told that Desi Arnaz was a great producer as well as a womanizer. Barbara Eden, a guest star on the show, says she spent a good deal of time hiding from the bongo-playing lothario. So while we get a juicy tidbit amplified by personal anecdote, “Pioneers” simply forgets to mention that Arnaz and Ball virtually invented the multiple-camera sitcom format, or insisted upon filming their productions or how film and kinescope allowed CBS to air something called repeats. And how repeats allowed for syndication, etc. Hey, folks, this is PBS. Give your audience a little more credit for curiosity. We can handle a little history that isn’t sugarcoated with gossip.

In a similar oversight, the introduction of Andy Griffith completely omits his performance in Elia Kazan’s “A Face in the Crowd,” one of the most prescient and powerful satires of television, politics and publicity ever made.

“Pioneers” also slights the escapist sitcoms of the 1960s by ignoring them completely and leaping from the early comedies to the “relevant” comedies of 1970s.

Short on insight, “Pioneers” is rich in clips and presents a wealth of archival and new interviews with talent from Mary Tyler Moore and Jay Leno to Jerry Stiller and Phyllis Diller.

Future installments of “Pioneers” will cover late-night shows (Jan. 9), variety (Jan. 16) and game shows (Jan. 23).

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ BBC America repeats two of its documentaries about body-image issues, “476-Lb. Teenager” (7 p.m.) and “Super Skinny Me” (8 p.m.).

¢ The indulgent mother of a pageant-obsessed teen trades homes with a feminist home-schooling mom on “Wife Swap” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Oklahoma and West Virginia clash in the Fiesta Bowl (7:30 p.m., Fox).

¢ On two helpings of “Supernanny” (ABC), three free spirits (8 p.m.), a role reversal for three teens (9 p.m.).

¢ Martin Sheen narrates “Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil and the Presidency” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings).

¢ Lupo returns to confront a possible terrorist situation in his own family as “Law & Order” (8 p.m., NBC) returns with a two-hour episode.

¢ One last dance on “CSI: NY” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ The search for eye candy on a new installment of “Project Runway” (9 p.m., Bravo).

Cult choice

TCM celebrates the movies of James Cagney every Wednesday night in January. Tonight’s offerings include “Sinner’s Holiday” (8 p.m.), “The Public Enemy” (8:15 p.m.) and “White Heat” (9:45 p.m.).