Two nights after HBO’s “The Pacific” brought an old-fashioned war drama back to prime time, a newfangled Western appears in the form of “Justified” (9 p.m., FX). While technically not a Western, “Justified” stars Timothy Olyphant (“Deadwood”) as Raylan Givens, a gun-slinging U.S. marshal who just happens to wear a cowboy hat.

Born and raised near the coal mines of western Kentucky, Givens gets reassigned to his home county after landing in hot water in Miami. Apparently, his methods, including shooting a drug lord in a posh restaurant, don’t sit too well with the powers-that-be.

His old friend and new boss, Art Mullen (Nick Searcy), isn’t so particular. He assigns Givens the unpleasant task of hunting down his old friend Boyd (Walton Goggins, “The Shield”), who has left the coal mines for more profitable work as a drug dealer and leader of a neo-Nazi underground. Residents of Kentucky may not look too kindly on the stereotyping of their people as a lawless bunch of tattooed, fried-chicken-loving racists, but Boyd makes for a memorable bad guy.

“Justified” wastes little time in echoing familiar cowboy-movie themes. Based on a recurring character in Elmore Leonard novels, Givens is catnip to the ladies and a bringer of justice to the disturbers of the peace.

Episode one begins and ends with slow, suspenseful gunplay, as tense as anything that happened at the OK Corral. Givens doesn’t sling lead because he wants to. But in his mind, at least, the shootings are always “Justified.”

• A paean to poultry that approaches poetry, the 2000 documentary “Natural History of the Chicken” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) looks at the path from egg to the dinner plate in ways that are at times whimsical, profound, eccentric and inspiring. A beautiful and thoughtful film.

Note: Given PBS’ pledge schedule, “Chicken” may not air tonight in all markets, but it is on the national PBS feed. It’s well worth looking for.

Tonight’s other highlights

• The top 12 perform on “American Idol” (7 p.m., Fox).

• “Titanic” co-stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio reunite in the 2008 adaptation of Richard Yates’ novel “Revolutionary Road” (7 p.m., Cinemax), about a couple’s miserable adjustment to the 1950s suburbs.

• A shooting links gang wars and warriors on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (8 p.m., CBS).

• For a show that began with a plane crash, “Lost” (8 p.m., ABC) has a lot of scenes on submarines.

• Alicia takes on an insurance company on “The Good Wife” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Max needs a new school on “Parenthood” (9 p.m., NBC).

• “Food War” (9 p.m., Travel) looks at a chicken rivalry in Kansas.