Chasing UFOs" (9 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 non-action 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 "brand" desecration is corporate vandalism at its thoughtless, shortsighted worst.

For the record, the National Geographic Channel is a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and Fox Cable Networks. If I were making a show about that

arrangement, I might call it "Deal With the Devil."

---TCM rings out June, a month known for brides, with three movies about women fleeing their homicidal hubbies. Ida Lupino stars in the 1950 shocker "Woman in Hiding" (8 p.m.). Long before she became the Technicolor consort to Rock Hudson, Doris Day played a terrorized stewardess in "Julie" (10 p.m.), co-starring Louis Jourdan as the husband who is obsessed with her demise. Humphrey Bogart stars in the 1947 mystery "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" (midnight) as an artist whose idea of a masterpiece is murdering Barbara Stanwyck.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

---U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials (8 p.m., NBC). Gymnastics competition (9 p.m.) follows.

---Crises abound on "Whale Wars" (9 p.m., Animal Planet).

---An abandoned New Mexico prison offers bumps in the night on "The Dead Files" (10 p.m., Travel, TV-PG).

CULT CHOICE

A full generation before "Glee," a giddy subculture of irrepressible

theatrical types would attend midnight screenings of the 1975 horror musical spoof "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (7 p.m., Logo) to

interact with the onscreen shenanigans. Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick star.

SERIES NOTES

---A hotelier becomes an

"Undercover Boss" (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).

---A nun contemplates a change on "House" (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).

---A child's designs on "Shark Tank" (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).

---Michael is of two minds on "Nikita" (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-14).

---A victim appears to have been burned in a cage-fighting match on "CSI: NY" (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).

---A storm chaser catches more trouble than he can handle on "Bones" (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).

---A town feels a witch's wrath on "Supernatural" (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-14).

---Therapy calls for role play on "Common Law" (10 p.m., USA, TV-PG).

---A violent crime tests family bonds on "Blue Bloods" (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).

LATE NIGHT

---Zach Wahls, April Richardson, Heather McDonald and Loni Love appear on "Chelsea Lately" (11 p.m., E!, r).

---Bill Murray and the Temper Trap appear on "Late Show With David Letterman" (11:35 p.m., CBS).

---Jay Leno welcomes Andrew Garfield and Of Monsters and Men on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC).

---Anderson Cooper, Scott Caan and Metric appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (midnight, ABC, r).

---Blake Lively, Seth MacFarlane and R. Kelly chat on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" (12:35 a.m., NBC).

---Craig Ferguson hosts Tyler Perry on "The Late Late Show" (12:35 a.m., CBS).

Kevin McDonough can be reached at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.