What if Bridget Jones had a time machine? That is as good a way as any to describe the 13-part scripted series “Being Erica” (9 p.m., Soapnet). A strange hybrid of romance and science fiction-fantasy with a heavy overlay of therapy and self-help, this Canadian series is unafraid to be deeply neurotic in the most interesting ways.

As the show begins, Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk) is an overeducated and underemployed 32-year-old entering a shaky new relationship with a handsome dentist. Within moments, she’s fired (for being too smart); ditched by the dentist (he’s more into the gym than her); and suffers a near-fatal allergic reaction.

Enter Dr. Tom (Michael Riley), a therapist who looks like a mix of Mephistopheles and a Vegas magician — for reasons that soon become apparent.

Erica’s friends and family are worried. Why isn’t she married? A mother? Successful? On a sitcom, we could sum up her woes in the theme song (“Your job’s a joke; your love life’s DOA …”). But “Erica” is not afraid to present Erica’s troubles as something deeper.

After a quick session with Dr. Tom in which she catalogs the moments in her life she most regrets, he challenges her to confront these “mistakes” by sending her back in time.

Erica’s return to high school unfolds as an unending nightmare. Easy laughs (bad clothes, dated music, the effort to remember her locker combination) are quickly dispensed with before Erica settles down to feeling like an elderly outcast among overgrown babies with raging hormones. Old friends say she’s acting strange, and a faculty member worries that she’s suffering a nervous breakdown. And maybe she is. Or was.

Neither Dr. Tom nor “Erica” offers Erica easy solutions to her welter of hang-ups. Every week promises a new trip down bad-memory lane, all in an effort to stop Erica from fearing life and start “Being Erica.”

Karpluk does a good job in a challenging role. Erica is frazzled enough to be sympathetic but not so wounded as to seem damaged. The show also features characters just complicated enough to be believable rather than merely “quirky.” While back in high school, Erica catches her dad getting high on the living-room couch in the middle of the afternoon. Is this an explanation for his present-day split from Erica’s mom? Or just an excuse to play Steely Dan’s “My Old School”?

On the whole, “Erica” is a smart alternative to formulaic romances and the soul-deadening “chick-lit” features that dominate “women’s” programming.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Danny Glover guest stars as Darnell’s dad on “My Name Is Earl” (7 p.m., NBC).

• Tragedy unfolds at a fantasy convention on “Bones” (7 p.m., Fox).

• Fashion week frazzles nerves on “Ugly Betty” (7 p.m., ABC).

• New evidence undercuts Langston’s testimony on “CSI” (8 p.m., CBS).

• The eight-part documentary series “Sin City Law” (8 p.m., Sundance) follows cases in Las Vegas.

• Liz and Jack leave town on “30 Rock” (8:30 p.m., NBC).

• A pilot suffers mysterious blindness mid-flight on “Eleventh Hour” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) returns to “ER” (9 p.m., NBC).

• Michael uncovers a corrupt official on “Burn Notice” (9 p.m., USA).