A hybrid of reality competition and video games, “Cha$e” (9 p.m., Sci Fi) is one of those high-concept ideas so bad and so obvious you have to wonder why it hasn’t been tried before. A dozen or so players try to survive for an hour to win a $50,000 prize. As in a video game, they have various obstacles to overcome in order to obtain various tools and means of immunity. As the game progresses, the host, Trey Farley, releases an increasing number of “Hunters” out to catch and eliminate the players. For all of the gadgetry, it’s basically an hour-long game of tag. Make that a game of tag you’re not playing.

And it’s not like “Survivor,” where you have nice scenery and the time for melodrama to develop between players. The first episode of “Cha$e” is shot in some industrial section of Los Angeles that looks like the kind of place a body might get dumped in a Quentin Tarantino movie. And that would be 10 times more exciting than “Cha$e.”

¢ Shot in high definition and hosted by conductor Matt Brown, “Extreme Trains” (9 p.m., History) profiles great locomotives of the past and present. Tonight’s debut looks at the history of some of the great coal trains of Pennsylvania that weighed more than 1,400 tons when loaded. The trains and their cargo were so crucial to America’s economy that they became the targets of Nazi saboteurs during World War II.

¢ “Frontline” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) offers “Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story,” a revealing profile of the late, larger-than-life campaign manager who helped George H. W. Bush win in 1988.

A mass of contradictions, Atwater traded in incendiary race-baiting commercials while playing with an integrated blues band. A notorious cynic, he linked his party to God, flag and country. Stricken with brain cancer at 40 years of age, he made public peace with some of his political victims. But some of his confidants suspect that even his death-bed conversion may have been one last spin.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ The documentary “Body of War” (6 p.m., Sundance) looks at wounded veterans of Iraq.

¢ “Nova” (7 p.m., PBS, check local listings) explores the discovery of the remains of “Hobbit”-sized humans.

¢ Returning veterans discuss their experiences on “Heroes at Home” (7 p.m., My Network).

¢ Dana Delany hosts “Vietnam Nurses” (7 p.m., WE), a series of moving profiles of young woman changed by their experiences in a field hospital.

¢ Agoraphobia limits options on “House” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Murder places a bet on “The Mentalist” (8 p.m., CBS).

¢ A parasite spreads from an FBI agent to a community on “Fringe” (8 p.m., Fox).

¢ A bank manager withdraws himself from view on “Without a Trace” (9 p.m., CBS)

¢ A high school pact of secrecy on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC).

¢ The firm’s breakup proves trying on “Eli Stone” (9 p.m., ABC).

¢ Vanessa Marcil hosts “Blush: The Search for the Next Great Makeup Artist” (9 p.m., Lifetime). Nine contestants compete for the title over six episodes.

¢ Corrine becomes a conduit on “The Shield” (9 p.m., FX).