Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Letters to the President
8 pm/ET HBO2
When a nation plays it as close to the vest as Iran, it's hard to know what goes on behind its borders, but a trio of documentaries seek to give at least a glimpse of what makes the country tick. The first is Letters to the President, a look at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's correspondence with the populace. It's followed by The Queen and I on June 17 (8 pm/ET), a chronicle of a former revolutionary's relationship with the Shah's widow, and Be Like Others: Transsexuals in Iran on June 24 (8 pm/ET). — Joe Friedrich
Top Chef Masters
10 pm/ET Bravo
Here's food for thought: How will 24 celebrity chefs react when their own famed food is judged? We'll find out in this tasty new reality spin-off in which renowned foodies compete in culinary challenges to score a $100,000 prize for charity. Here's the seasonal menu: The first six episodes feature four cooks in battle; the six winners of those shows then advance to the final four weeks of competition. It's a dessert storm in tonight's premiere when Hubert Keller, Christopher Lee, Michael Schlow and Tim Love create the most delicious of sweet treats. — Dean Maurer
American Masters
9 pm/ET PBS
Back in 1979, on his classic Rust Never Sleeps album, Neil Young sang "it's better to burn out than to fade away." The iconoclastic rocker has stayed true to those words ever since, touring and releasing albums on a regular basis, including this year's Fork in the Road and the mammoth Archives Vol. 1 (eight CDs or 10 DVDs/Blu-Ray discs), a retrospective that explores his early years. This profile is a perfect fit with the latter, and features interviews with Young and his on-again, off-again bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, as well as friends James Taylor and Nils Lofgren (who recently released an album of all Young covers). — Jeff Gemmil
Real World/Road Rules Challenge
10 pm/ET MTV
After hitting a rough patch, Brad and Tori have proved their relationship can survive a Challenge, but can the engaged pair survive their first trip to the Duel? When last week's cliffhanger left off, Tori and Aneesa were neck-and-neck in the "Elevator" game, with Brad waiting to face MJ in the grueling "Pole Dance." Expect the battles to be very intense in tonight's Season 17 finale. The winners will advance to the final challenge — and stay in the running for the $300,000 grand prize — and the losers will pack their bags and kiss the cash good-bye. — Karen Andzejewicz
Mythbusters
9 pm/ET Discovery
In the 2008 Angelina Jolie shoot-'em-up movie Wanted, assassins could "curve a bullet," which is a succinct way of saying a shooter could cause the trajectory of a bullet to arc around an obstacle by moving the gun's barrel while firing. Can a gunslinger really do that without the aid of a special-effects department? Adam, Jamie and Co. aim to find out. — Michael Chant