Attractive strivers hang out poolside at a rundown Hollywood motel while awaiting their big break in the new series “The L.A. Complex” (8 p.m., CW). Don’t worry. It’s not located on Melrose Place. “The Lux” motel is located in a much more down-market neighborhood.

”The L.A. Complex” may not be cinema verite, but it marks the CW Network’s belated acknowledgment that things like poverty and desperation exist. So it’s kind of a big deal.

Aspiring actress Abby (Cassie Steele) is first seen being evicted by a violent landlord and having the engine overheat in her old and unfashionable car. Not to give too much away, but Abby later vomits into a piano during a crucial audition. Did I say “gritty”?

Her co-tenants and newest best friends include Alicia (Chelan Simmons), an ambitious dancer who is always this-close to being cast, and Tariq (Benjamin Charles Watson), who toils as an intern for a hip-hop mogul. Nick (Joe Dinicol) is a hungry stand-up comic who has a thing for Abby but is too nice to realize that she’s already stuck on Connor (Jonathan Patrick Moore), the good-looking Australian actor who just landed a leading part in a new TV show. This enables him to leave the Lux behind. But things at his fancy new digs just don’t seem the same.

Presiding like a sad den mother over these Hollywood hatchlings is Raquel (Jewel Staite), a 30-ish actress recognized by everyone for her work in the old series “Teenage Wasteland.” Her neighbors frequently remind her that “they grew up watching her.” Ouch.

• Nearly four years after the economic meltdown of 2008 and the unpopular bailouts that followed, “Frontline” (8 p.m., PBS) presents “Money, Power and Wall Street,” a two-part, four-hour documentary miniseries. The second part airs at 8 p.m. May 1.

Tonight’s other highlights

• The gang of “Glee” (7 p.m., Fox) performs the music of Whitney Houston.

• The 43rd annual GMA Dove Awards (7 p.m., GMC) honor the year’s best gospel and devotional music.

• Jess worries that she and Russell lack a certain something on “New Girl” (8 p.m., Fox).

• Live eliminations on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC) and “Dancing With the Stars” (8 p.m., ABC).