Wayne's world

Make way, pilgrim. John Wayne is taking center stage during prime time for the next five nights, starting with four films he did before 1939's "Stagecoach" made him a major star. First up: Raoul Walsh's "The Big Trail," the 1930 western about a young mountaineer trying to get settlers from the Mississippi River to California. 7 p.m. TCM

This is a recording

We wouldn't normally geek out about something as mundane as a recording studio, but when it comes to "Muscle Shoals," we'll make a giddy exception. This excellent documentary, part of "Independent Lens," tells the tale of one of the unlikeliest music institutions in history, an unpretentious hole-in-the-wall in Alabama where such hits as "Kodachrome," "Brown Sugar" and "When a Man Loves a Woman" were birthed. 8 p.m. TPT, Ch. 2

Back to school

Stop watching Lindsay Lohan self-destruct on a soul-crushing reality show and go back and enjoy her hilarious turn in 2004's "Mean Girls," her best work to date. It certainly helps when you've got a screenplay written by Tina Fey. I wonder whatever happened to her? 9 p.m. Nick Jr.

Neal Justin