“Big Brother” (8 p.m., CBS): It’s hard to believe, but “Big Brother”

“Big Brother” (8 p.m., CBS): It’s hard to believe, but “Big Brother” is kicking off its 10th cycle. This time around one of the guests in the crowded house will be a 75-year-old great grandfather. Host Julie Chen returns to dissect all the sniping and double-crossing.

“Picture This” (8 p.m., ABC Family): Ashley Tisdale (”High School Musical”) stars in the new made-for-TV movie “Picture This.” She plays an unpopular teen who manages to land a date to the biggest party of the year with the hottest guy at school (Robbie Amell). Just one problem: She’s been grounded.

“Miss Universe” (9 p.m., NBC): “Dancing with the Stars” alums Jerry Springer and Spice Girl Mel B are both hosting the “57th Annual Miss Universe” pageant from beautiful Vietnam. Our prediction: A tall, attractive woman will take the crown.

“Generation Kill” (9 p.m., HBO): The producers of “The Wire” leave behind the rough streets of Baltimore and plunge into the battle zone with this gripping seven-part miniseries. Based on an award-winning non-fiction book by embedded reporter Evan Wright (played by Lee Tergesen), it follows an elite battalion of U.S. Marines in the early days of the Iraq War and strives for unflinching realism. So viewers should be braced for particularly coarse dialogue peppered with profanity and racial slurs. The performances, by a mostly unknown young cast, are exceptional.

“Earth: The Biography” (9 p.m., National Geographic Channel): Last year, Discovery Channel presented “Planet Earth,” which was billed as the ultimate portrait of our planet. Not to be eclipsed, National Geographic Channel is unveiling “Earth: The Biography,” which, two years (or several billion years?) in the making, visits all seven continents, capturing a world of beauty in high definition.

With five hours airing over three nights, this “Biography” isn’t exactly a tell-all, but it adopts an interesting alternative to focusing on each land mass in turn. Instead, the series explores the natural forces that have given the Earth its winning personality.

Host Iain Stewart rappels close enough to feel the heat from the lava lake of Ethiopia’s Erta Ale volcano, then reminds us that this is more than a magnificent sight: “It’s a window that allows us to look deep into the Earth.”

“Volcanoes” is followed at 10 p.m. EDT by “Ice,” which investigates a powerful force in carving the landscape and altering the Earth’s climate, but, as Stewart shows us in Greenland, is also melting at a phenomenal rate.