Here’s a TV tip. Generally, if the creator and/or executive producer’s name appears in the credits above the show’s title or before the list of the show’s stars, then the show has a very good chance of being a dud. I’ve seen this happen many, many times.

TNT is promoting its new series as the “new Steven Bochco legal drama ‘Raising the Bar'” (9 p.m., TNT), starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek.

I hear bells going off, and they’re not Gosselaar’s credits for “Saved by the Bell.”

“Bar” is set in the gritty world of a city courtroom where low-paid public defenders battle it out with fledgling district attorneys. Make that unusually attractive and sex-obsessed public defenders and district attorneys. The credits barely finish rolling when a chief prosecutor makes a crude, awkwardly written remark (something about whipped cream and raisins) about a subordinate’s breasts.

But that subordinate, Roberta (Natalia Cigliuti), has other problems. She has to prosecute a case against a rapist, and she’s up against Jerry Kellerman (Gosselaar), a brooding and passionate public defender whose very shoulders seem stooped under the burden of holding up the tradition of every “give a damn” TV lawyer going back to E.G. Marshall.

Rosalind Whitman (Gloria Reuben, “ER”) has the misfortune of being Kellerman’s boss, and of having to control his loose cannon. She compensates by looking pretty and slightly shellshocked most of the time. Kaczmarek rounds out the cast as a harsh, throw-the-book-at-’em judge who brooks no nonsense from Kellerman.

If this seems slightly familiar, it’s because Kaczmarek played a similar role on “The Simpsons,” as “Judge Judy” parody Constance Harm. This performance is only slightly more believable. But if fans of “The Closer” are looking for another feisty female, then Kaczmarek’s character fits the bill.

To be fair, “Bar” has some interesting surprises, particularly with regard to various relationships. But these are revealed only at the end of the first hour, during the all-but-obligatory musical montage that wraps up this thoroughly unoriginal effort.

¢ Labor Day marathons include “Dirty Jobs” (8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Discovery); “The Closer” (8 a.m. to 9 p.m., TNT); “Monk” (5 a.m. to 6 p.m., USA); and “Scrubs” (3 p.m. to 10 p.m., TV Land). “Scrubs” will air on TV Land nightly at 8 p.m., starting Tuesday night.

¢ Michael Rapaport, who recently broke out of prison on “My Name Is Earl,” joins the cast of “Prison Break” (7 p.m., Fox), entering its fourth season.

¢ Author Jay McInerney (“Bright Lights Big City”) guest stars as a famous author on the second-season premiere of “Gossip Girl” (7 p.m., CW).

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Dancers complete their training on the three-part documentary “Dance School: Juilliard” (7 p.m. and 8 p.m., Documentary Channel), concluding next Monday.

¢ Lucas’ dream comes true on the sixth-season premiere of “One Tree Hill” (8 p.m., CW).

¢ “Why I Ran” (9 p.m., Biography) profiles participants in high-speed police chases.

Cult choice

A woman’s wartime service leads to work at an aircraft factory in the 1943 British drama “Millions Like Us” (7 p.m., TCM). Happy Labor Day.