There's nothing particularly original about "Hotel Im possible" (10 p.m., Travel), but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable. Smart, even. Just as Gordon Ramsay shakes up restaurants, "Impos sible" host Anthony Melchiorri goes to dysfunc-

tional inns and lodgings to save them from bad habits, indifferent management and unmotivated staffs. Melchiorri speaks or, rather, lectures viewers, hotel owners and workers in a blunt "I've seen it all" style not unlike Donald Trump's on "The Apprentice."

Although Melchiorri projects a certain head-shaven intensity, he never erupts into angry obscenity like Ramsay or struts with Trump's ridiculously pompous self-regard. He is, in short, a patient teacher and a good manager, someone who recognizes and nurtures talent and potential. You'll walk away from the show wishing you had a boss like him.

First up is Gurney's Inn, located in Montauk, N.Y.

A famous yet faded hotel whose decor and management style appear to be stuck in the 1970s.

---You don't have to be Italian-American to chafe at the mindless stereotyping of the ethnicity that's seemingly everywhere on cable television. "Mama's Boys of the Bronx" (10 p.m., TLC, TV-14) is the latest insult. It follows five larger-than-life guys who conduct a rather brazen bachelor lifestyle and then return home to live with their mothers, who dote on them with bowls of ravioli when not doing their laundry.

The soundtrack consists of antediluvian pizza parlor music.

If these guys only settled down with the vulgar harpies on Oxygen's "Brooklyn 11223," both shows might disappear.

For all of their bluster, the "Mama's Boys" are more than slightly sad. All seem well beyond their 30th birthdays. Speaking of decades, nearly 60 years ago, writer Paddy Chayefsky wrote a teleplay for "The Goodyear Television Playhouse" called "Marty." It was about a lonely butcher from the Bronx who lived with his mother and only found happiness when he dispensed with the macho bravado of his "crew" and fell for a girl as plain as himself. The 1955 film

adaptation of that teleplay won a Best Actor Oscar for Ernest Borgnine. "Marty" was filled with pathos. "Mama's Boys" is played as cheap comedy. And that's the tragedy of our times.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

---Live performances on "The Voice" (8 p.m., NBC).

---Death by couponing on "Bones" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).

---Hockey violence on "House" (9 p.m., Fox, TV- 14).

---"Healthcare Hustle" (9 p.m., CNBC) documents extreme examples of Medicare fraud.

---"Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" (9 p.m., Travel) returns with a trip to Mozambique.

---Max's troubled past resurfaces on "Hawaii Five-O" (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).

---Uma Thurman guest stars on "Smash" (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).

---A sniper on "Castle" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).

---Chance meetings end badly on the new series "Fatal Encounters" (10 p.m., ID).

---The 2012 NewNow Next Awards (10 p.m., LOGO) fete emerging artists and trends.

CULT CHOICE

Mortified townspeople discover that a prim local woman (Irene Dunne) is the author of scandalous romance novels in the 1936 comedy "Theo- dora Goes Wild" (1 a.m., TCM). Based on a story by Mary McCarthy.

SERIES NOTES

---Lost in a far-off galaxy on "How I Met Your Mother" (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).

---Elizabeth Hurley guest stars on "Gossip Girl" (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).

---The gals become human guinea pigs on "2 Broke Girls" (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-14).

---Walden reveals his new business partner to Zoey on "Two and a Half Men" (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).

---Gary Cole guest stars on "Hart of Dixie" (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).

---Not going to the chapel on "Mike & Molly" (9:30 p.m., CBS, TV- 14).

LATE NIGHT

---Tim Weiner is scheduled on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" (11 p.m., Comedy Central).

---Cory Monteith and Matt Kemp appear on "Conan" (11 p.m., TBS).

---Chris Klein, John Caparulo, Heather McDonald and Ryan Stout are on "Chelsea Lately" (11 p.m., E!).

---Bob Lutz on "The Col bert Report" (11:30 p.m., Comedy Central).

---Ricky Gervais, Cobie Smulders and Tennis appear on "Late Show With David Letterman" (11:35 p.m., CBS).

---Jane Lynch, Kevin Hart and Esperanza Spalding are on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC).

---LL Cool J and James Van der Beek appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (midnight, ABC).

---Kevin Kline, Steve Harvey and Pulp visit "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" (12:35 a.m., NBC).

---Craig Ferguson hosts Billy Gardell and Ian Gomez on "The Late Late Show" (12:35 a.m., CBS).

Kevin McDonough can be reached at kevin.tvguy@-

gmail.com.