LJWorld.com

A live-action series with a cartoony background, “The Fresh Beat Band” (11 a.m., Nickelodeon) combines songs and hijinks from a quartet of well-scrubbed musicians named Kiki (guitar), Marina (drums), Twist (turntable and electronic ephemera) and Shout (Keyboards). They all dress in bright, colorful fashions that mesh perfectly with backgrounds that resemble a Target commercial as conceived by the set designer for “Pee Wee’s Playhouse.”

It’s sobering to think that “Fresh Beat” is a show for the children of an audience raised on “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” created for a “High School Musical”-besotted entertainment culture that has jettisoned all of the goofy irony that made “Pee Wee” possible. On the other hand, it’s easy to see “Fresh Beat Band” as so straight, so squeaky clean and condescendingly chirpy that it might quickly become a camp classic.

Parents should be aware of this program’s potential for milestone status. It may be the first show your children grow to hate.

• wouldn’t be surprised if kids latched on to “Fresh Beats”’ catchy songs. But the band members may end up boring the audience. They’re all uniformly cheerful and enthusiastic. All four shout at each other and at the camera, as if to announce that “FUN!” is just around the corner.

The creators seem to have forgotten that even the youngest viewers can see through characters without character. The “Powerpuff Girls” had four distinct personalities to match their talents. Sure, “Sesame Street” was uplifting, educational and didactic, but even that show had a Grouch who lived in a trash can. Heck, even the Seven Dwarfs had a Grumpy. As personalities go, the members of “The Fresh Beat Band” seem less well developed than “The Teletubbies.”

• The documentary “Which Way Home” (8 p.m., HBO) offers a remarkable account of young runaways from Honduras — some as young as 10 — riding freight trains through Mexico in the hopes of crossing into the United States.

While illegal immigration is often discussed in terms of politics, legality and economics, “Home” explores an emotional component. Scorned by their parents and step-parents, some of these boys talk about being “reborn” in Los Estados Unidos. More than one pines for the day when “someone will adopt me.”

“Home” may remind some film buffs of “Wild Boys of the Road,” director William Wellman’s 1933 drama of gangs of homeless teens riding out the Depression in freight cars.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Meat Loaf appears on “House” (7 p.m., Fox).

• The Baltimore Ravens host the NY Jets on “Monday Night Football” (7 p.m., ESPN).

• The season ends on “Dating in the Dark” (8 p.m., ABC).

• WPA murals loom large on “History Detectives” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings).

• Homicide evidence points to a Ninja on “The Closer” (8 p.m., TNT).

• Archaeologist Kara Cooney hosts the new archeology series “Out of Egypt” (8 p.m., and 9 p.m., Discovery).

• The season ends for “Nurse Jackie” (9:30 p.m., Showtime).

• Tony samples menus in Montana on “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” (9 p.m., Travel).

Cult choice

A burger run turns into an odyssey through central New Jersey in the 2004 comedy “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” (7 p.m., Comedy Central).