“Chasing UFOs” (7 p.m., National Geographic) promises to do just that. But it’s so numbing in its repetitive nature and similar to a thousand other programs that by the time I was finished screening it, I was convinced that aliens had indeed arrived and destroyed all signs of intelligent life in the National Geographic organization.

There was a time when the words National Geographic stood for something: science, research and a commitment to discovery. For National Geographic to lend its name and logo to something so tawdry, unoriginal and dull deeply saddens me.

For the record, “Chasing UFOs” sends a team of photogenic experts to locations known for strange sightings and phenomenon. There is a lot of Mulder-and-Scully-type chitchat about believing versus skepticism. We meet locals who speak in varying degrees of inarticulate wonder. We meet a grizzled “expert” whose revelation is “dramatic” and meaningless. There is shaky footage. We spend a lot of time looking at monotonous nonaction through night-vision goggles. Our hosts shout out vague, bleeped-out obscenities as they wonder, “Did you see/hear/feel THAT?”

Again, “Chasing UFOs” is not the worst program ever, nor the stupidest. And if it were part of some “Ghost Hunters” nonsense on Syfy, it would seem perfectly normal. But to associate an organization known for science with a program promoting superstition and popular gullibility is profane.

Sure, it’s disappointing to see the History Channel churn out vulgar anti-intellectual programming that has nothing to do with the study of the past. And let’s not even think about how Lifetime has morphed from vague feminism to shows celebrating spunky hookers in massage parlors. But those are mere cable outlets. National Geographic has been around for more than a century. The desecration of its “brand” is corporate vandalism at its thoughtless, shortsighted worst.

Tonight’s other highlights

• U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials (7 p.m., NBC). Gymnastics (8 p.m.) follow.

• Crises abound on “Whale Wars” (8 p.m., Animal Planet).

• Therapy calls for role-play on “Common Law” (9 p.m., USA).

• An abandoned New Mexico prison offers bumps in the night on “The Dead Files” (9 p.m., Travel).