“Strange Days with Bob Saget” (9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., A&E) promises to introduce viewers to some of America’s strangest subcultures. But it’s just another platform for Bob Saget to crack wise and remind folks that he’s “edgier” than the guy who sits around cashing residual checks for “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Videos.”

Over the course of a season, Saget will spend time with a motorcycle gang, “Bigfoot” hunters, an Ivy League fraternity, pro-wrestling fans, lonely summer-camp kids and off-road-vehicle enthusiasts.

The first episode, “Hardcore Bikers,” sets the tone. Bob wants to join a biker gang. Bob meets the tough guys and acts like a potential victim, then he insinuates himself into the group with a couple of jokes. Like many reality series, “Strange” is really a sitcom at heart. It allows Saget to engage in one of the oldest comic routines in the books. Playing a weakling, Bob Hope frequently had to quip his way out of danger at the hands of toughs who turned into lovable lunks. Woody Allen did the same. Perhaps the best example of this tradition is in “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” when Mr. Herman escapes imminent death after charming his biker tormentors by dancing to “Tequila” in platform shoes.

Saget’s routine is hardly as amusing and the presence of a reality-show camera crew defangs the situation. It doesn’t help that most of these bikers seem eligible for another gang: the AARP.

But you can hardly blame Saget for his desire to see America in all its weird splendor. In that way, he’s not unlike Joel McCrea’s character in Preston Sturges’ 1941 comedy “Sullivan’s Travels,” a comic writer out to discover the “real” America only to discover that real Americans are in search of some really good jokes.

• “The Real Story of Christmas” (7 p.m., History) explores some of the peculiar rituals that have evolved into our cherished holiday traditions. Apparently the wholesome practice of door-to-door Christmas caroling got its start when rowdy, inebriated crowds went from house to house in search of food and grog. The German tradition of Santa Claus emerged from a sinister alter ego named Krampus — a grotesque devil figure that punished and even kidnapped naughty girls and boys. And we tend to forget that American Puritans in the 17th and 18th centuries disapproved of the holiday and, in some cases, outlawed Christmas entirely.

• Anyone examining the real story of Christmas in 2010 would have to conclude that Christmas specials air entirely too early. It’s still November, but tonight we have “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” (7 p.m., NBC); the 1964 classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (7 p.m., CBS); the 1966 favorite “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (7 p.m., ABC); and the more recent “Shrek the Halls” (7:30 p.m., ABC) from 2007.

Tonight’s other highlights

• The sectionals near on “Glee” (7 p.m., Fox). John Stamos guest-stars.

• An anniversary celebration derailed on “No Ordinary Family” (8 p.m., ABC).

• On two episodes of “In Treatment” (HBO), Jesse fears abandonment (8 p.m.), Adele questions Paul’s decisiveness (8:30 p.m.).

• Lingerie on display on the “Victoria Secret Fashion Show” (9 p.m., CBS).