‘Secrets’ probes small-town murder

“Desperate Housewives” may have lost a bit of its luster, but it still inspires imitators. The new 15-episode true-crime series “Suburban Secrets” (10 p.m., Court TV) features an unseen female narrator with a droll delivery and a credit sequence that hints at the graphic techniques of the show set on Wisteria Lane.

The first “Secret” takes place in the small town of Conway, S.C., a place where everybody knows his or her neighbors. This becomes obvious when we hear the taped voice of the 911 operator interrupting a concerned caller to introduce himself and to inform the hysterical mother that he not only knows her missing daughter but was in fact her piano teacher.

In a grim sequence of events, the girl is found brutally murdered, and everybody in town becomes a suspect. Was it her shadowy, much older boyfriend? An anonymous fly-by-night construction worker? Or her oldest friend, a football star who served as her pallbearer and comforted her grieving mother?

Heather Locklear stars as the sole survivor of a restaurant massacre trying to rebuild her life in the 2007 melodrama “Angels Fall” (9 p.m., Lifetime), based on a novel by Nora Roberts. “Angels” is the first of four Roberts novels to be adapted for the small screen and to air on Lifetime tonight through Feb. 19.

Tonight’s other highlights

Michael, Lincoln and Kellerman face the media on “Prison Break” (8 p.m., Fox).

Chris goes on a power trip on “Everybody Hates Chris” (8 p.m., CW).

Mario Lopez (“Dancing with the Stars”) hosts the 2007 Miss America Pageant (8 p.m., CMT).

George Takei beams up on “Heroes” (9 p.m., NBC).

A very special Bauer family reunion on “24” (9 p.m., Fox).

A safe yields photos of missing women on “CSI: Miami” (10 p.m., CBS).

Love on a rooftop on “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (10 p.m., NBC).

Cult choice

Arguably the ultimate cult movie, Director Tod Browning’s 1932 shocker “Freaks” (6:30 p.m., TCM) was released by the prestigious MGM studio.