Offering an island tour with a sobering twist, PBS? new series ?Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures? kicks off with exploration of the remote but imperilled Northwest Hawaiian Islands archipelago.

In the two-part ?Voyage to Kure?, airing on consecutive Wednesdays, April 5 and 12, the son of famed ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau carried on family tradition by plumbing the seas for details of ecosystems and the creatures within ? and very cool, high-definition photography.

Accompanied by marine scientists and ecologists, Cousteau and his diving teams discovered a diversity of wildlife above and below the water?s surface and learned of the devastating effects of pollution, mining, fishing and development on the distant area.

Cousteau, speaking to reporters in January, said he wants to send a wake-up call to the world.

?The ocean is in trouble, which means we are in trouble. We are using it as a garbage can. ... Ninety percent of all the big pelagic fish are gone,? he said. ?So does that mean it?s too late? No, of course it?s not too late, but there is urgency.?

The 1,200-mile chain of islands and atolls of the archipelago include the vast majority of the coral reefs under US jurisdiction and is being targeted for commercial use, according to the programme.

The next generation of the Cousteau family, Cousteau?s son, Fabien, and daughter, Celine, take part in the series that includes upcoming films in summer and fall about grey whales, sharks and underwater parks. Pierce Brosnan provides the narration.

Tori Spelling stars as Tori Spelling, sort of, in ?so noTORIous,? which has the honour of being VH1?s first scripted comedy. Described as ?inspired? by events and people in Spelling?s life, the series (11 p.m. tomorrow) revolves around a young women who has moved out of her luxurious family home, dubbed ?the Mansion,? and into a high-rise condo she rents from her mom, Kiki (Loni Anderson). Her next-door neighbour: Farrah Fawcett. Fictional Tori has poor-little-Hollywood-rich-girl woes, including dates who tend to ask for jobs or a loan; a busy father who?s reachable only by speakerphone and a career that?s heading south with offers for roles in cable TV melodramas. The cast includes pooch Mimi La Rue, playing herself as Tori?s spoiled pug. Spelling, daughter of megaproducer and mansion owner Aaron Spelling (?Charlie?s Angels,? ?Melrose Place?) is an executive producer on the series.

?Asia Extreme,? which Sundance Channel is billing as a weekly late-night showcase for Asian genre films, kicks off at 1 a.m. Monday with director Jee-Woon Kim?s ?A Tale of Two Sisters.? Based on a Korean folk tale, the horror film begins with the return home of two hospitalised sisters (Soo-jeong Lim, Geun-yeong Mun). All is not well between them and their stepmother, whom the older sister refers to scornfully as ?that woman.? Family dysfunction grows and tensions mount as ghastly apparitions enter the picture. Ahead on ?Asia Extreme?: ?Bad Guy,? ?H,? ?Phone? and ?Memento Mori.?

Lifetime dabbles in film noir with the juicily titled ?Fatal Desire? (1 p.m. on Monday) starring Anne Heche and Eric Roberts. After Joe and Tanya meet in an online chat room, he?s convinced he?s found the woman of his dreams ? which clearly means there are nightmares ahead. Their affair quickly runs into trouble when Joe discovers that his new love is married, a compulsive liar and is about to drag him into scandalous goings-on. Heche, who has a shot at becoming one of Lifetime?s top leading ladies (she starred in the channel?s ?Gracie?s Choice?), is popping up regularly on television with work in series including ?Nip/Tuck? and ?Everwood?.

Here?s a reality show with a premise that must represent a true bummer for any average college kid: ABC Family?s ?Back on Campus?, debuting 11 p.m. today brings four parents to Drexel University in Philadelphia to share a dorm room with their offspring.

While the students study, work, party and date, mom or dad are along for the ride. One parent wants to discover what she missed by choosing motherhood over education; another wants to re-establish his relationship with his daughter and two others, we?re told, are ready to have some fun. ?But will their mortified kids be ready to share their lives and their space?? the channel asks. Gosh, what could the answer be?