“Independent Lens” (10 p.m., PBS) presents “Imelda,” a jaw-dropping profile of the wife of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Director Ramona Diaz set out to rescue Marcos from her status as a shoe-obsessed punch line. She spent years interviewing Marcos, her aides and her friends, as well as Filipino dissidents and victims of her husband’s prisons.

The figure who emerges is fascinating, complex and hideous — a crafty woman who played the good wife with Machiavellian skills, as well as a powerful politician buffered from the often-ugly truth by layers of comforting delusions about love, beauty and God.

• “Frontline” (9 p.m., PBS) offers a grim look at how America’s prisons have become mental health centers of last resort in the documentary “The New Asylums.” Fewer than 55,000 Americans receive treatment in psychiatric hospitals today. In stark contrast, there are approximately 500,000 mentally ill inmates in America’s prisons.

Season finales

• The scrambling, scheming and screaming stops on a two-hour season finale of “The Amazing Race” (8 p.m., CBS).
• Long-term relationships are put to the test on the season finale of “Scrubs” (8 p.m., NBC). A repeat, featuring Julianna Margulies, airs at 7:30 p.m.
• Veronica puts her life in danger to discover who killed Lilly Kane on the season finale of “Veronica Mars” (8 p.m., UPN).

Other highlights

• Only four remain on “American Idol” (7 p.m., Fox, TV). And one of them is Anthony Fedorov?
• Good press and bad press on “Gilmore Girls” (7 p.m., WB).
• House prepares for a date on “House” (8 p.m., Fox).
• A new ex-smoker joins the house on “Cold Turkey II” (8 p.m., PAX).
• Extreme sports loom large on the 100th episode of “According to Jim” (8 p.m., ABC). A clip show follows (8:30 p.m.).
• A sad case of elder abuse on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC).
• Dog gone on “Blind Justice” (9 p.m., ABC).