Turner Classic Movies returns to tradition with its Summer Under the Stars series. TCM dedicates every day in August to a single movie star and spends 24 hours screening his or her movies.

The salute to today’s star, Michael Caine, includes the 1966 adventure “Zulu” (7 p.m., TCM) and Caine’s unforgettable performance in the 1964 drama “Alfie” (9:30 p.m.).

TCM’s day of raising Caine awareness demonstrates how even Turner’s movie vault has its limitations and so does the festival’s focus on starring roles. We get a chance to watch the 1967 shocker “Billion Dollar Brain” (7 a.m.), but quite a few of Caine’s more important films, like “The Ipcress File,” go missing.

“Alfie” demonstrated Caine’s capacity for playing a fully realized, three-dimensional heel. And that very skill guaranteed that many of Caine’s best roles would be in a supporting capacity.

The 1986 Woody Allen movie “Hannah and Her Sisters” marked a huge comeback for Caine, who had been in some subpar features in the early 1980s. Remember “The Hand”? Too bad it’s not on today’s screening list. “Hannah,” not “The Hand,” I mean.

Caine won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Hannah,” as he did for the 1999 drama “Cider House Rules,” but that’s not here, either. Perhaps the greatest omission is the unforgettable 1998 British film “Little Voice,” in which Caine, playing a monstrous cad, sends up his mid-60s swinger image by dancing to Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual” with a boozy Brenda Blethyn. And this was well before “Austin Powers,” mind you.

Look for daylong salutes to Hollywood’s greatest all month long, including Charlie Chaplin (Saturday); Doris Day (Aug. 10); Fred Astaire (16) Laurel & Hardy (23); Henry Fonda (24); and Charlton Heston (28). The month wraps up with two stars linked on and off screen: Katharine Hepburn (30) and Spencer Tracy (31).

¢ Even cartoons get Olympics fever as “The Fairly Oddparents” (7 p.m., Nickelodeon) compete in the Fairy World Games.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Shark Week continues with “Great White Shark Uncaged” (7 p.m., Discovery) and two shark-themed episodes of “Dirty Jobs” (8 p.m. and 9 p.m.).

¢ Tom Welling stars in the 2005 remake of the 1980 film “The Fog” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Jim Carrey stars in the 2004 adaptation of the popular fantasy “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ The doctor’s companions make a stand on the fourth-season finale of “Doctor Who” (7:30 p.m., Sci Fi).

¢ Not even Maybelline’s delicate condition can keep her from battle on “Meerkat Manor: The Next Generation” (7:30 p.m., Animal Planet).

¢ Scheduled on a two-hour “Dateline” (8 p.m., NBC): a tycoon accused of three murders and a Long Island therapist accused of murder by a former patient.

¢ Day Two of “X Games” (8 p.m., ESPN).

¢ “Big Mac: Inside the McDonalds’ Empire” (8 p.m., CNBC) explores plans to have billions served in China.

¢ Adrian plays the lottery on “Monk” (8 p.m., USA).