Friday heroines suffer malfunctions

For reasons hard to fathom, Fox has turned Friday nights over to the fembots. On two very different fantasies tonight, central characters who are not quite in control of their minds and emotions suffer software malfunctions that put their missions and colleagues at risk. On “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (7 p.m., Fox), Cameron (Summer Glau), the enigmatic cyborg from the future, suffers technical difficulties at the worst possible moment. A very similar fate befalls Echo (Eliza Dushku) on “Dollhouse” (8 p.m., Fox). Her very malleable mind is “wiped” during a complex art heist.

While she’s certainly a major character, Cameron is not the central focus of “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” a show as much about the travails of single-momdom as it is about fighting killer robots from decades hence.

The same can’t be said of “Dollhouse,” a series that reduces its primary female lead to an exploited plaything acting at the behest of a team of uber-nerds.

In the opening moments of tonight’s “Dollhouse,” the flexible Echo works as a caring midwife. Then her brain is given a little light rinse and she’s transformed into a safe-cracker with lap-dancing skills.

You don’t need to be a feminist to find this a tad off-putting. If the ratings for “Dollhouse” are any indication, many consider themselves off-put, or nonplussed. “Dollhouse” ranked an unimpressive 70th out of 92 shows ranked for the week ending Feb. 22.

Echo seems like a weird variation on the old line from “Working Girl.” She’s got a mind for hire and a bod for sin. This combination seems peculiar coming from the creator of “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” with a spunky female character who never lost her head, or her ability for quotable quips, even when all Hades was breaking loose.

• “True Hollywood Story” (8 p.m., E!) profiles hair-band sensation-turned reality star Bret Michaels. The Pennsylvania native seems all but predestined to appear on “True Hollywood Story.” Short of choking to death on his own vomit, Michaels has dutifully checked off every cliche in the rock-star playbook on his way to living out a reality-star parody of his hackneyed former life. It’s difficult to watch this “Story” and not think you’ve seen it all before. And maybe that’s the point.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Melinda has dramatic and unwelcome news for Sam on “Ghost Whisperer” (7 p.m., CBS).

• Catch seven episodes of “Breaking Bad” (7 p.m. through 2 a.m., AMC) from season 1. Season 2 begins Sunday.

• Connections emerge between a hostage taker and his victims on “Flashpoint” (8 p.m., CBS).

• Jason looks into a new opportunity far from Texas on “Friday Night Lights” (8 p.m., NBC).

• Katie meets a stranger on “Mistresses” (8 p.m., BBC America).

• Scheduled on two installments of “20/20” (ABC): Seigfried and Roy (8 p.m.), consumer scams (9 p.m.).

• Adrian challenges a chess master (David Strathairn) on “Monk” (8 p.m., USA).

• The decade that brought us leisure suits, singles bars and recycling is recycled on “70s Fever” (8 p.m., History).

• A scientist’s killer may not be human on “Numb3rs” (9 p.m., CBS).