Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook 9 p.m., Channel 2
The amiable pop vocalist (pictured) is back to continue his mission to explore the roots of the classic songbook and the ways in which it is being preserved. In tonight’s installment, subtitled “Time Machines,’’ he heads to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles to check out rare footage Hugh Hefner has of the late great Bobby Short. S’Wonderful. Feinstein recently told reporters at the Television Critics Assn. press tour that Hef, a well-known music enthusiast, was a terrific interview subject who confided that he had been interested in going into the arts and music as a young man, and then he “discovered girls.’’
