-- Despised and disparaged, the new reality showcase "Brooklyn 11223" (11 p.m., Oxygen, TV-14) continues a long tradition of reducing the New York borough to dim stereotypes. A pathetic "Jersey Shore" knockoff that lacks that sad spectacle's sense of irony, "Brooklyn" seems designed for and created by people who have never stepped in Kings County.
The show has already attracted negative publicity for reducing its setting to a cringe-worthy "fuhgeddaboudit"- and "whatsamaddawidyou"-filled cartoon that would have been wildly out-of-date when "Saturday Night Fever" was filmed there 35 years ago. Just a casual look at the neighborhood's census figures would reveal a diversity that's been around as long as pizza parlors and stickball games have been Brooklyn cliches.
The series revolves around one less-than-articulate girl's nasty grudge against another. She suspects the other girl of sleeping with her boyfriend and describes this act and her reaction to it in bleep-worthy detail. The accused denies this betrayal with equally profane gusto. Both girls -- or, rather, young women of indeterminate age -- surround themselves with sets of friends they describe as "crews" in a desperate imitation of tiresome hip-hop slang.
A clip of them saluting each other at a Sweet 16 party years ago is repeated to add pathos to "Brooklyn" and distract us from the women's monotonous fixation on their feud. Common sense would dictate that harboring petty hatreds doesn't provide a salary or pay the rent, but this is reality television, where such mundane matters are forgotten.
To quote the poet William Shatner, these women need to get a life! And if you find yourself watching "Brooklyn 11223," the same could be said of you.
-- Doc and Rebecca believe they are close to revealing the secrets behind the time-traveling prison breaks as the first season of "Alcatraz" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) comes to a two-hour conclusion.
TONIGHT'S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
-- It's a night of duet-or-die on "The Voice" (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
-- The CW bumps its schedule to air the 2009 comedy "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (8 p.m., TV-PG).
-- The gymnastic melodrama "Make It or Break It" (9 p.m., ABC Family, TV-14) enters its third season.
-- Derek recruits Karen in his scheme to steal the show on "Smash" (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
-- A deadly blast leaves five dead on "Castle" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
CULT CHOICE
Viewers who can't wait for next Sunday's "Mad Men" might catch the 1965 drama "Darling" (10 p.m., TCM), starring Julie Christie in an Oscar-winning role as an emotionally detached model sleeping her way through Europe's party set. A thoroughly grown-up movie that Don Draper may have caught after taking the kids to see "The Sound of Music."
SERIES NOTES
An intervention for Ted on "How I Met Your Mother" (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) ... "Dancing With the Stars" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) ... Clipping more than coupons on "2 Broke Girls" (8:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
Walden faces rebellion on "Two and a Half Men" (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) ... Carl aims high on "Mike & Molly" (9:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) ... Murder on the menu on "Hawaii Five-O" (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Shaquille O'Neal is scheduled on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" (11 p.m., Comedy Central) ... Kristin Chenoweth and Liam Hemsworth appear on "Conan" (11 p.m., TBS) ... Mena Suvari, Ross Mathews, Fortune Feimster and Jo Koy are booked on "Chelsea Lately" (11 p.m., E!) ... Dr. David Page sits down on "The Colbert Report" (11:30 p.m., Comedy Central).
Rachel Maddow, Timothy Olyphant and Train appear on "Late Show With David Letterman" (11:35 p.m., CBS) ... Jay Leno welcomes Elizabeth Banks, Carson Daly and Jake Owen on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC) ... Zooey Deschanel, Steven Seagal and Shinedown appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (midnight, ABC).
Sam Worthington, Casey Wilson and Swervedriver visit "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" (12:35 a.m., NBC) ... Craig Ferguson hosts Robin Williams on "The Late Late Show" (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
(Kevin McDonough can be reached at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.)
