Pleasing the kids is a must on ‘Who Wants to Marry My Dad?’

Let’s see, what might make the perfect gift for Dad this year? Golf balls? A fishing rod? How about one of those oak, brass and green-felt contraptions for his desk?

That might be how the discussion goes around your house, but the four grown children of 48-year-old Don Mueller had something a bit more ambitious in mind for their divorced pop. Like a former Miss America. Or maybe a curvaceous blond with a come-hither look. Or perhaps the raven-haired New Age temptress who boasts of a special healing touch.

Beginning tonight and continuing for the next four weeks, these women are among a gaggle of gals competing for the affections of Mueller and the approval of his offspring in the new reality series “Who Wants to Marry My Dad?” (10 p.m. on NBC).

This guilty pleasure comes with a lofty pedigree, or at least a highly rated one. Bruce Nash of the popular “Meet My Folks” series serves as executive producer along with Scott Satin, and together they exhibit a firm grasp on the ropes of the reality trade. All the stock components are here: the voting off of contestants, surprise stunts, secret strategizing, emotional confessions. The goal: to find out which of the women is best suited for Don, and the final episode is geared to wrap up with a marriage proposal.

To insure the sincerity of everyone involved (and later to ferret out unsavory nuggets from people’s pasts), lie detector tests are liberally administered. Several women of questionable commitment are banished before even meeting dapper Don. Later, Mueller kids Joe, 26; Karla, 25; Chris, 22; and Heidi, 21, ask the fortyish ladies such questions as “Do you like my dad’s hairstyle?” (Don shaves his pate) and “After you’re married, can we move in?”

The family takes to the spotlight smoothly (Heidi and Chris might be fielding casting offers by the first commercial), and the dozen women who open the competition are a nicely mixed bunch. The bounced contestants offer some affecting moments.

“I didn’t expect to be leaving here,” says one stunned and saddened loser on the way out. “I expected this to be the beginning of the rest of my life.” Another woman, getting her first glimpse of Don in his sporty red convertible, makes her best pitch to avoid the same fate.

“Just like your car, I’m street legal and race-ready,” she purrs to a blushing Don.

Let the games begin.