Blessed with memorable characters, an underdog setting and heart-stopping climax, the sports documentary “Prayer for a Perfect Season” (8 p.m., HBO) has all the stuff of great drama.

Fans may have become cynical about the NBA and even college hoops, but high school basketball remains one of the last enclaves of pure sport. “Perfect” follows the 2010-11 season at St. Patrick’s High School in the industrial, or post-industrial, city of Elizabeth, N.J.

Coached by Kevin Boyle, a man for whom the word “intense” seems inadequate, the team has dominated the Garden State’s competitive basketball world, but had yet to go undefeated. Its star player, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (now playing for Kentucky), faces numerous distractions. Followed, scouted and celebrated for his talent since at least eighth grade, Gilchrist can count on his family to keep his head on straight, as they have done since his father was murdered when Michael was only 2. Now he faces his senior year after the death of his surrogate father. Another player must compete as his brother faces prison for aggravated assault. Coach Boyle, too, is reeling from family tragedy.

”Perfect” uses St. Patrick’s season as a means to examine the decline of the urban parochial school system, an enduring institution buffeted by demographic changes as well as the huge legal fees arising from the clergy abuse scandals.

And, like “Hoosiers,” this documentary comes down to a single game. The St. Patrick Celtics (26-0) and Jersey City’s St. Anthonys (29-0) compete before an overflow crowd, excited by the prospect that only one squad can leave the gym undefeated.

• The new series “Flip Men” (9:30 p.m., Spike) takes on real estate sale and speculation with a certain Spike flair. Don’t go looking for the posh locales featured on Bravo and HGTV. This “Flip” is closer to those peculiar and perverse televised storage locker buying sprees.

Utah-based real estate agents Doug Clark and Mike Baird bid on properties at auction, sight unseen. Sometimes they get more (or less) than they anticipated. In the first installment, they’re stuck with a home that housed an illegal meth lab.

• Josh Duhamel narrates the 10-episode series “Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan” (9 p.m., G4), made with the cooperation of the U.S. Navy.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Hopefuls warble to survive on “The X-Factor” (7 p.m., Fox).

• “History Detectives” (7 p.m., PBS, check local listings) examines a strange comic book from the segregation era.

• “Frontline” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) examines the case of a Texas man executed for a fatal arson despite exonerating evidence.

• The search for an heiress’s past grows cold on “Unforgettable” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Unarmed and in danger on “Prime Suspect” (9 p.m., NBC).

• Death stalks the equestrian set on “Body of Proof” (9 p.m., ABC).

• An internal vote gets sidelined by danger from without on “Sons of Anarchy” (9 p.m., FX).