‘Aliens’ resorts to shallowness

Fish-out-of-water comedy meets contemporary American anxieties in the new comedy “Aliens in America” (8:30 p.m., CW).

Justin Tolchuck (Dan Byrd), a socially awkward 16-year-old, finds his life changed when his family takes in foreign-exchange student Raja Musharaff (Adhir Kalyan) from a remote Muslim village in Pakistan.

In some of the show’s sweeter moments, Justin and Raja become instant buddies, bonding over soccer and engaging in endless bull sessions about girls and stuff. Raja’s warmth, emotional honesty and self-possessed confidence in his own faith and character stand as a strange affront to a teenage scene shot through with mindless consumerism, angry xenophobia, grotesque cruelty and a savagely enforced pecking order.

It seems that the writers of “Aliens” have given Raja all of the noble human qualities and bestowed Justin with all of the funny neuroses and portray everybody else as either witless or monstrously selfish.

Justin’s mother, Franny (Amy Pietz), and sister, Claire (Lindsey Shaw), come off as gruesomely callous shopaholic social climbers.

Two cable series are kicking off tonight:

A figure from the “Jackass” franchise offers to teach mild-mannered men how to be tougher and cooler on the reality series “Dr. Steve-O” (11 p.m., USA). Hey, guys: If you have friends who like this show, it’s time to get new friends.

Finola Hughes hosts “How Do I Look?” (6 p.m., Style), now in its eighth season.

A former district attorney becomes a crime statistic on “K-Ville” (9 p.m., Fox).

Season premieres

Chris gets sent to the guidance counselor (Chris Rock) on “Everybody Hates Chris” (8 p.m., CW).

Aaron faces deployment on “Girlfriends” (9 p.m., CW).

Monique appears on “The Game” (9:30 p.m., CW).