After airing the miniseries “John Adams,” HBO honors the author of the biography upon which it was based with “David McCullough: Painting with Words” (6 p.m., HBO).

McCullough’s popular biographies of Adams, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman have been so popular that it is difficult to imagine a time when McCullough was not a fixture on the bestseller lists. But the author wrote his 1968 history, “The Johnstown Flood,” while he and his wife were under considerable financial pressure.

The success of “Flood” would be followed by definitive and popular books about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal. President Jimmy Carter praised “The Path Between the Seas” as an important book and one crucial to the understanding of the Panama Canal and to the passage of the Panama Canal treaty in 1978. Of course, opposition to that treaty would prove galvanizing to the forces supporting Ronald Reagan, who would go on to defeat Carter in the 1980 election. So you could argue that McCullough’s one book changed history twice.

In addition to the “John Adams” miniseries, HBO also adapted McCullough’s 1992 biography “Truman” for premium cable in 1995. Gary Sinise starred in the title role. McCullough has also provided narration for the PBS series “The American Experience,” as well as Ken Burns’ “Civil War” saga. He also narrated the 2003 movie “Seabiscuit,” a glossy, predictable film that seemed to lean on the authority of McCullough’s voice to give it the gravitas of the “American Experience” profile of Seabiscuit, which was narrated, naturally, by David McCullough.

¢ “Great Performances” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) profiles Valery Gergiev, a Russian conductor with an international resume that’s difficult to equal. He’s seen conducting orchestras in St. Petersburg, Rotterdam, London and New York. Musical performances featured here include excerpts from Igor Stravinsky’s “Petrushka,” Sergei Prokofiev’s “Scythian Suite” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Easter Festival Overture.”

¢ Fans of the recently canceled “Men in Trees” (9 p.m., ABC) will have a chance to watch the final original episodes, starting tonight. While the romantic comedy had a cadre of fans, they did not seem to include any ABC programmers. Over two years, “Men in Trees” was put on hiatus twice and moved around the schedule repeatedly.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ The Penguins host the Red Wings in Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup finals (7 p.m., NBC).

¢ “MonsterQuest” (8 p.m., History) goes in quest of a mega hog.

¢ Carnivores travel from Amarillo, Texas, to Brooklyn, N.Y., in search of “Steak Paradise” (8 p.m., Travel).

¢ Pranks prove deadly on “CSI: NY” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ Shia LaBeouf stars in “Disturbia” (9 p.m., Cinemax), the 2007 adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”

Cult choice

Star Frank Sinatra and director/producer Otto Preminger defied the Hollywood Code to create a film about a heroin addict with the 1955 drama “The Man with the Golden Arm” (7 p.m., TCM). Sinatra also starred in and co-produced the 1962 classic “The Manchurian Candidate” (9:15 p.m., TCM). It’s difficult to keep in mind that this nightmare scenario was written as satire.