It’s no secret. Childhood stardom can mess you up. From Judy Garland to Michael Jackson, the stories are numerous and tragic, and people can’t get enough of them.

“Favorite Child Stars: Where Are They Now?” (9 p.m. E!) looks at some of the child performers who didn’t follow the grim and predictable path, familiar faces from very big pictures and popular shows, who left the scene and settled into careers as varied as their screen roles.

This roundup catches up with the youngsters who played “Forrest” and “Jenny” in the 1994 tearjerker “Forrest Gump”; the dragon-riding kid from “The Neverending Story”; the little sister from “Adventures in Babysitting”; and the adolescent who got sneezed on by a dinosaur in “Jurassic Park.” There are even follow-ups on the youngest tyke from “Charles in Charge.” Who hasn’t been waiting for that?

According to “Child Stars,” one of these actors has gone on to serve his country in Iraq, and another has become a pagan and still another, a lawyer.

But not all of these young faces drifted from the screen. “Child Stars” shows clips of current celebrities, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Hayden Panettiere, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Katherine Heigl, Sarah Chalke and Shia LaBeouf before they had that many candles on their birthday cakes.

• The search for romance is a universal theme. No wonder it has inspired so many cliches. The new series “Holidate” (9 p.m., SoapNet) takes the “change of scenery” approach. Every episode, two single friends from different cities will switch locales and go looking for Mr. Right in someone else’s playpen.

In the premiere, model Christian Cloud and social entrepreneur Tai Beauchamp swap cities and dating pools.

Let’s stop right there. I don’t really know, or care, what a “social entrepreneur” is or does, but Cloud is a model. What is the audience for “Holidate” supposed to make of that? After all, if a model can’t get a date ….

In each episode, the vagabonds will keep in touch with their pals and date men in each other’s social circle. Oh, the drama. After their sojourn, each woman can choose one man from her travels and invite him back to her town to see whether the magic still works. Or is it simply a matter of what happens in Sheboygan stays in Sheboygan?

• The travelogue theme continues with “Locked Up Abroad: Betrayed in Ecuador” (9 p.m., National Geographic) and Zoe’s unhappy story of innocence abroad.

After this happily married freelance journalist and her husband strike up a friendship with a stranger, their new companion insists on buying her a gift. She never suspects that her pricey new luggage contains cocaine, a detail that earns Zoe an eight-year extended stay as a guest of the state.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Performers vie for spots on two helpings of “America’s Got Talent” (7 p.m. and 8 p.m., NBC).

• Competition continues on “So You Think You Can Dance” (7 p.m., Fox).

• Nate’s squad uses a hospital ward to set an elaborate trap on “Leverage” (8 p.m., TNT).

• Gruesome evidence falls from the sky on “CSI: NY” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Good deed doing takes Teddy to Kashmir on “The Philanthropist” (9 p.m., NBC).