It had to happen. The new series “Parking Wars” (9 p.m., A&E) seems dedicated to the proposition that viewers will watch any program about uniformed folks in positions of authority.

Let’s face it: The parking police, meter maids and the drones at the Department of Motor Vehicles get little respect. In fact, along with baseball umpires and tax collectors, they are among the most popular targets of disdain. On the CW comedy “Reaper,” the Division of Motor Vehicles is shown as a portal to hell. On “The Simpsons,” Homer’s bitter sister-in-laws, Patty and Selma, take sadistic pleasure in the joy-denying drudgery of their jobs at the DMV.

Set in Philadelphia, a city, it seems, with more than its share of hot-tempered and colorful characters, “Parking Wars” follows the people who dole out tickets, put metal boots on tires and who stand behind the Plexiglas windows while irate people wait for hours to reclaim their seized vehicles.

Most of “Parking Wars” is funny. Unfortunately, the folks who edited the show don’t trust our ability to get their jokes, so they show scenes over and over with gimmicky music and sound and visual effects, just in case.

Jeff, a handsome, 20ish parking cop, bestows his tickets with good nature. He likes working outdoors and in short pants. You can tell it’s his first job because he says things like, “It pays my bills” and “It’s better than staying home and playing video games all day.”

Good-natured Jeff becomes the target of a screaming man driven to distraction by a broken meter. Jeff also suffers the slings and arrows of construction workers and other pedestrians who shower him with insults and obscenities. The mildest name they call him is “meter maid.”

If “Parking Wars” is your thing, don’t miss “Street Patrol” (7 p.m.., MyNetwork) followed by two repeat helpings of “Jail” (8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.).

¢ “Frontline” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) addresses a topic that straddles the personal, the political and the pharmaceutical on “The Medicated Child.” The hour-long documentary looks at one of the most crucial and controversial decisions in recent child psychiatry. Before the mid-1990s, bipolar disorders were considered the province of adults. But then, children as young as 4 were being diagnosed as bipolar. They were also being prescribed drugs to treat the disorder, drugs that had never been tested on children.

“Frontline” visits with parents who have wrestled with decisions to medicate or not medicate and young people who have spent their entire lives on strong medications that were never intended to be given to growing children whose brains and bodies were still developing.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ The body of a long-missing congressional aide may have been found on “Bones” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ In one of the greatest narrative leaps in prime-time soap history, the gang on “One Tree Hill” (7 p.m. and 8 p.m., CW) graduate directly from high school to career angst, skipping college entirely. The new season is set more than four years after last season’s finale.

¢ As it has for the past 33 years, the 34th Annual People’s Choice Awards (8 p.m., CBS) will reward the popular over the challenging and the obvious over the innovative.

¢ “The Universe” (8 p.m., History) looks at the many moons of the planets in the solar system.

¢ Mike works with barbecue sauce, big animals and Garden State sludge on “Dirty Jobs” (8 p.m., Discovery).

¢ A couple of cadavers appear to be linked on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC).