Bear Grylls hosts “Man vs. Wild” (8 p.m., Discovery). The cable network describes him as a “quintessential adventurer.” He’s a veteran of the British Special Forces who has climbed Mount Everest.

On “Man vs. Wild,” he survives some of the world’s most unforgiving terrain with little more than a canteen of water and the clothes on his back. Along the way, he shows viewers what to do in extreme climates and locales; what situations and critters to avoid; and how to build a fire, climb out of a narrow crevice, find water and steal eggs from unsuspecting birds.

Tonight’s debut episode takes place in Utah’s Moab Desert. Grylls is helicopter-dropped onto the top of a desert mesa, just like the car in those old Chevy commercials. He then has to clamber his way down without breaking his legs or worse – getting stuck on a point where he cannot go back up or climb down.

Grylls does descend in one piece, and he manages to find shelter, food, fire and water in the space of an informative hour. But 110-degree heat is nothing to sniff at. As Grylls explains, it can give you heatstroke in a matter of hours and kill you after a rather bad day. On the plus side, he can fry an egg on a flat rock. That beats eating them raw, like Rocky Balboa. It would be a drag to survive the desert inferno only to succumb to salmonella. Or Apollo Creed.

At one point, Grylls offers a Special Forces trick that you may not want to try at home. He urinates on his T-shirt and then wraps it around his head, promising us that the evaporating liquid will help him stay cool. I have not seen every “Fear Factor,” but I’m confident that this method of “air conditioning” could be a prime-time first.

¢ Cinemax will air all six “Star Wars” movies in HDTV this weekend, beginning with the 1999 prequel “Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace” (11 p.m., Cinemax).

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ A poltergeist pyromaniac strikes on “Ghost Whisperer” (7 p.m.).

¢ On back-to-back episodes of “Meerkat Manor” (Animal Planet), Flower’s new litter (7 p.m.), Winter kills (7:30 p.m., season finale).

¢ Monsters threaten Elizabeth II’s coronation on “Dr. Who” (7 p.m., Sci Fi).

¢ A cable comedy star takes his act to Brooklyn in the 2005 documentary “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” (7 p.m., Showtime).

¢ A henpecked hubby receives lessons in tough-guy behavior on “Las Vegas” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ Adama and Laura debate weapons and tactics on “Battlestar Galactica” (8 p.m., Sci Fi).

¢ Suspicions arise about a ballplayer’s steroid-related death on “Numb3rs” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ Murder and sleazy videos converge on “Law & Order” (9 p.m., NBC).

¢ Scheduled on “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC): Returning from maternity leave, Elizabeth Vargas shares her view on balancing work and motherhood.

¢ “Women at War: Coming Home” (9 p.m., WE) follows four female soldiers on their tours of duty in Iraq and Kuwait.