Prime time awash in sudsy themes

The second day of 2011 seems to be time for second helpings. To commemorate Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Golden Globe Award nomination, Lifetime Movie Network re-airs “The Client List” (6 p.m., Sunday, LMN). Hewitt stars as a former Texas homecoming queen faced with money woes after she and her husband lose their jobs. Little does she know that when she takes a job at a massage parlor that the business is really a front for a prostitution ring.

• On a similar theme, look for original episodes of ABC melodramas with strong soap opera appeal. On “Desperate Housewives” (8 p.m., ABC), Susan clings to life after being trampled during the riot on Wisteria Lane. How many cataclysms must that quiet street endure? Meanwhile, on “Brothers & Sisters” (9 p.m., ABC), Kitty’s new romance becomes the subject of Internet scuttlebutt. Perhaps one of the reasons the afternoon soap opera has declined is that most of their viewers have migrated to ABC’s prime-time lineup.

• Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, National Geographic rebroadcasts the powerful documentary “Restrepo: Afghan Outpost” (7 p.m., National Geographic). The film follows a 15-man unit in the hostile Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The outpost Restrepo is named after a platoon medic killed during an ambush (and seen early on in this gritty little film). Hand-held cameras capture combat at its most brutal and tedious. Moments of quiet give way to sudden firefights. Offered without narration or expert overview, “Restrepo” is a short dose of “reality television” that is all about the soldiers and what they endure. It may be too much for some viewers to bear.

Today’s other highlights

• Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): a drug industry whistle-blower; on the road with Wynton Marsalis.

• The Seahawks host the Rams on “Sunday Night Football” (7:15 p.m., NBC).

• A cruise director is required to get down and boogie on “Undercover Boss” (8 p.m., CBS).

• “My Fair Wedding with David Tutera” (8 p.m., WE) enters its fourth season, followed by the premier of “Rich Bride Poor Bride” (9 p.m., WE).

Cult choice

A critical failure for star Ben Stiller, the 2007 comedy “The Heartbreak Kid” (8 p.m., Comedy Central) is a remake of the 1972 comedy starring Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd. While the film did not find a big U.S. audience, it was a hit overseas, grossing more than $125 million.