What to Watch Monday: Sherri Shepherd, Mo’Nique and James Earl Jones

The ubiquitous Sherri Shepherd — a host of “The View,” a recurring cast member of “30 Rock,” a serious actress in “Precious” — becomes even more inescapable with the premiere of her own sitcom, “Sherri” (Lifetime, 7 p.m.). She plays a recently divorced woman who’s working as a paralegal but wants to be an actress. Any resemblance to her own very public break-up with the comedian Jeff Tarpley will be purely coincidental.
Another star of “Precious” — the one who’s getting all the Oscar buzz — also has a new television show starting Monday night. “The Mo’Nique Show” (BET, 11 p.m.) will put its host in head-to-head competition with David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, although on a much smaller network. Her first guests are scheduled to be Steve Harvey, Jeremih and Shirley Franklin, the mayor of Atlanta.
On “House” (Fox, 8 p.m.), James Earl Jones guest stars as an African dictator and accused war criminal who checks in to Princeton Plainsboro.