“American Masters” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) kicks off its 25th season with “Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides,” a genial salute to one of the best-loved actors of his generation. Filled with clips from an unusual range of films and performances, “Dude” also includes fond recollections from Bridges’ wife and family, including his brother Beau, eight years his senior.

We’re reminded that Bridges received an Oscar nomination for “Last Picture Show” (1971), one of his first big-screen roles, but did not take home the golden statue until last year, for “Crazy Heart.” He was supposed to be the next big thing, until a giant flop named “King Kong” cooled off his career enough for him to follow his own quirky trajectory that would take him through conspiracy thrillers, including “Winter Kills” and “Cutter’s Way,” to blockbusters like “Against All Odds” and both versions of “Tron.”

How versatile is Jeff Bridges? How much do audiences believe in him? Two years after playing the mythic stoner The Dude in the bizarre Coen brothers’ film-noir comedy “The Big Lebowski,” Bridges was cast as the president of the United States in “The Contender,” a role that earned him an Oscar nomination.

Bridges has followed up his “Crazy Heart” accolades with a reinterpretation of John Wayne’s iconic Rooster Cogburn in the Coen brothers’ “True Grit,” a film that has defied expectations to become a bona-fide box-office smash. “The Dude” also explores Bridges’ efforts as a musician and fine artist. Unmentioned here is his extensive body of work as a voiceover specialist.

• What if you cast, or rather cast away, the frisky and photogenic staff of a “Grey’s Anatomy”-type hospital in a tropical locale not unlike “Lost”? You might get “Off the Map” (9 p.m., ABC), a new medical melodrama from the producers of “Grey” and “Private Practice.”

“Map” concerns six doctors who travel to exotic places and needy populations to reconnect with the reasons they decided to enter medicine. Funny, they seem a tad young and pretty for a midlife crisis. As you’ve come to expect from these things, none of the doctors hails from some lower-tier degree-mill medical school. They were all at “the top of their game” before “personal demons” drove them into the jungle, and presumably, or eventually — into each other’s arms.

• Betty White has nothing on actress Luise Rainer. She turns 101 today. “Luise Rainer — Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival” (7 p.m., TCM) includes an interview with the actress who won back-to-back Oscars for her roles in “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936) and “The Good Earth” (1937).

Tonight’s other highlights

• Guerrero faces murder charges on a two-hour helping of “Human Target” (7 p.m., Fox).

• A drug dealer’s wife becomes an enforcer on “Chase” (8 p.m., NBC).

• Mitchell runs into an old friend (Mary Lynn Rajskub) on “Modern Family” (8 p.m., ABC).

• Pete serves jury duty on “The Defenders” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Jeremy Irons guest stars on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC).