You know the economy is terrible when Donald Trump wants to put America back to work one “Apprentice” (8 p.m., NBC) at a time. Few people better represent the zircon values of our recent illusory prosperity than Trump. Real estate speculation, gambling casinos, bankruptcy as a career move, reality television: He seems to operate a shell game inside a Potemkin Village. But I digress.

All 16 contestants of the new “Apprentice” have been victims of the recent hard times. Most have lost prestigious jobs and large incomes and now find themselves underemployed or out of work. One hopeful, who speaks a lot like Andy Bernard from “The Office,” has lost his family to boot.

But after a perfunctory introduction and a focus on our lean and hungry players, “Apprentice” gets down to its usual ridiculousness. For starters, we spend about five minutes watching the two competing groups — divided by gender — come up with their team names. The woman chose “Fortitude,” while the men call themselves “Octane.” After this brief spasm of creativity, we never hear the team names mentioned again. Trump calls them, “The Girls” and “The Men,” respectively.

Their first assignment is no less absurd. Each team gets to redesign a new office space in a Soho building. There are few spectacles less entertaining, instructive or realistic than watching former managers, VPs, marketing hotshots, lawyers and district attorneys trying to pass as contractors and interior decorators. It would be like asking the gang on “Project Runway” (8 p.m., Lifetime) to rebuild your car’s transmission. Challenging but pointless.

I’m no business tycoon, but even I know that when faced with this task, a smart manager would simply hire a professional. I was waiting for one of Trump’s would-be employees to put in a call to HGTV’s “Design Star.” But I waited in vain.

In his magnanimity, Trump promises to use his clout and expansive Rolodex to help the contestants land on their feet. The winning team leader is promised an interview with one of the world’s greatest executives. Who just happens to be named Donald Trump.

If you think about it for more than a second, even the feel-good recession-era spin of this “Apprentice” doesn’t pass the smell test. After all, Trump has assembled 16 unemployed people, and he will have to say “You’re Fired” to 15 of them before the season’s out. How can you be fired when you don’t even have a job? Donald Trump has found a way.

• “X PRIZE Cars: Accelerating the Future” (8 p.m., National Geographic) follows a competition of engineers, gear-heads, eccentrics and visionaries as they try to build a car capable of exceeding 100 miles on 1 gallon of gas.

• The strenuously raunchy “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (9 p.m., FX) sends up marriage, gay marriage and domestic partnerships in its sixth-season opener.

• “The League” (9:30 p.m., FX) puts the fantasy in fantasy football when Chad Ochocinco shows up for the draft on the second season premiere.

Tonight’s other highlights

• On four episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS), deception (7 p.m.), a special sleepover (7:30 p.m.), memory lane (8 p.m.), dating profiles (8:30 p.m.).

• On two episodes of “The Office” (NBC), Dwight spies (7 p.m.), bad publicity (7:30 p.m.).

• The team crosses over to the other side on a two-hour episode of “Fringe” (7 p.m., Fox).

• “The Fence (La Barda)” (7 p.m., HBO) looks at the social, economic and political impact of the 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexican border.