Veteran documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee likes to talk about himself and the South, roughly in that order. And for the patient viewer, his epic-length movies are invariably fascinating, maddeningly self-involved and whimsically profound. “P.O.V.” (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings) presents McElwee’s latest work, “Bright Leaves,” a meditation on the filmmaker’s roots in the tobacco country of North Carolina.

According to McElwee family lore, their ancestor returned from the Civil War and developed the bright leaf tobacco plant that flourished in North Carolina soil. But the elder McElwee fell victim to the financial and legal machinations of the Duke family, and while the Dukes became the Rockefellers of the South, establishing cigarette empires and founding Duke University, the McElwees fell into obscurity.

Early in the movie, McElwee’s cousin, an obsessive film buff, informs him that Hollywood once chronicled his family’s fallen fortunes in a 1950 potboiler called “Bright Leaf,” starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal. So McElwee sets out to learn as much as he can about the film, his family’s tobacco-growing past, and the impact of tobacco on the lives and lungs of Southern smokers.

McElwee has a knack for finding interview subjects who are as eccentric and articulate as himself. His films are not for everyone, but if you don’t mind spending time with a very thoughtful storyteller who has a very long tale to tell, pull up a chair and lend an ear.

Other highlights

¢ Ashley Judd and India.Arie lend their celebrity to the cause of ending AIDS in Africa in the special “Tracking the Monster” (7 p.m., VH1).

¢ “Taste of America with Mark DeCarlo” (7 p.m., Travel) celebrates the cuisine of Charleston, S.C.

¢ “Real Sports” (8 p.m., HBO) profiles controversial NFL receiver Randy Moss.

Late night

Billy Bob Thornton and Jermaine Dupri appear on “Late Show with David Letterman” (10:35 p.m., CBS) … Jay Leno is host to Owen Wilson and KEM on “The Tonight Show” (10:35 p.m., NBC) … Kathy Griffin, Dr. Drew Pinsky and Relient K appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (11:05 p.m., ABC).