What’s the difference between “reality TV” and the old-fashioned scripted kind? Money. A whole lot of money.

Time was, somebody waltzed into a roomful of TV execs and said, “Let’s make a show about an all-powerful witch who really wants to be an obedient housewife!” Somebody had to pay unionized folks to write scripts and hire actors and design costumes and sets and shoot, reshoot and edit episodes accompanied by artful credits and a catchy score, that in the case of “Bewitched,” some folks are still humming 50 years later.

With “reality,” you get the feeling that networks have cut out all of the professional intermediaries and simply foist a really dumb concept on unsuspecting viewers. Cheaply shot and barely interesting, a series like “Swamp Brothers” (9 p.m., Discovery) has all of the far-fetched wackiness of an old-fashioned sitcom pilot, without any of the professional trappings like acting, developed characters or wit.

Also missing are the documentary film elements that elevate series like “Deadliest Catch” and give viewers the notion that somebody actually worked to tell a compelling story. “Swamp” is more like a half-baked sitcom pitch reduced to “Jackass” production values.

Robbie and Stephen Keszey are brothers, but are supposed to hail from different cultural galaxies. Robbie is a former heavy metal rocker with the lurid tattoos to show for it. After a youth misspent head-banging, he’s decided to invest in Herp Farm, described here as the largest venomous snake breeding facility in the world.

But to make the farm work — or rather make the TV show work — he needs his brother Stephen to help out. Stephen is described as a New York City bartender who prefers pouring Mojitos to wrangling reptiles. In short, they’re one pair of matching bookends, different as night and day.

Except, this being a shamelessly cheap show, they’re not. Stephen does exhibit a certain skittishness around giant venomous pythons. And he expresses some reservations when his brother suggests that he spend time bashing an enraged mother alligator in the snout while Robbie steals her eggs. But there’s very little about Stephen to suggest that he’s some urban sophisticate. And without that contrast established, there’s little comedy, or point, to “Brothers.”

• Michael Rosenbaum returns as Lex Luthor on the series finale of “Smallville” (7 p.m., CW).

Tonight’s other highlights

• A couple go to desperate lengths to raise money for a bone marrow transplant on “Flashpoint” (7 p.m., CBS).

• Coach Taylor tries to explain college recruiting to Vince and his dad on “Friday Night Lights” (7 p.m., NBC).

• I thought “The Hangover” (8:15 p.m., Cinemax) was the most overrated movie of recent years until I saw “The King’s Speech.”

• Frank evades internal affairs to take down the Blue Templar on the season finale of “Blue Bloods” (9 p.m., CBS).

Cult choice

A writer-for-hire (Ewan McGregor) gets more intrigue than he bargained for in the 2010 thriller “The Ghost Writer” (7 p.m., The Movie Channel), co-starring Pierce Brosnan.