If you insist on creating a new documentary series about a fractured family in the pest-control business, you might as well call it “The Exterminators” (9:30 p.m., A&E) and set the action in rural Louisiana, where exotic bugs, snakes, rodents, gators and colorful characters run wild.

Billy Bretherton sports a thin little beard and flaunts a peculiar sense of style. He acts and dresses like a dandified Confederate war veteran who was decommissioned by way of the circus only to settle down in the critter-control game. When he tangles with a seven-foot-long nest of what might be killer bees, he dons a leather outfit worthy of a “Matrix” movie and protects his head with a feather boa and a monster mask. Billy tries to keep the exterminating to a minimum and is seen trapping and then releasing a mean mother raccoon with gentle words of comfort and encouragement. As one client describes Billy, “He’s an animal person.”

Like many reality series, the work in Billy’s workplace takes a back seat to soap opera and family drama. Billy’s mother, Donnie, is a loving and controlling force under all that Aqua Net. His father, Bill, keeps his own counsel but just may be the brains behind the outfit, known as Vexcon.

Billy’s biggest burden may be his brother, Rick, or rather, Rick’s harridan of an ex-wife, Pam, who has returned to run Vexcon’s books and to insinuate herself into the family. Donnie suspects that Pam doesn’t have her son’s best interests in mind and that she’s scheming to grasp all of Vexcon’s money with her painted press-on nails.

For all of its larger-than-life personalities and demanding tasks (in a future episode, Billy must rid a baseball stadium of 70,000 bats), “Exterminators” has the air of the genuine. Billy doesn’t exude the forced trashiness of “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” and the show doesn’t need the kooky antics of “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” (just to mention two other A&E real-life series). It’s also nice to see at least one show that doesn’t stereotype life in the Deep South as hateful and violent and perverse. “True Blood” writers should take note.

• Kate flees folks who might know Aaron’s secret on “Lost” (8 p.m., ABC). “Lost” continues to amaze. It’s one thing to present as complex and elaborate a plot ever concocted for network drama. It’s quite another to do so for a large and growing audience. According to the network, more than 20 million people watched the season premiere.

Just when you think one character is the center of the action, a peripheral figure becomes paramount. It seems to be Faraday’s (Jeremy Davies) show right now, but that’s impossible to determine, particularly when the meaning of “now” has become so relative.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Tiki Barber (“Today”) guest stars as a drill sergeant on “Knight Rider” (7 p.m., NBC).

• Hollywood week continues on “American Idol” (7 p.m., Fox).

• An astronaut does not survive his flight as “Life” (8 p.m., NBC) returns to the schedule.

• A judge becomes a murder suspect on “Lie to Me” (8 p.m., Fox).

• Elvis Costello talks music and more with jazz pianist/composer Herbie Hancock on “Spectacle” (8 p.m., Sundance).

• The source of radiation remains a mystery on “CSI: NY” (9 p.m., CBS).