Beau Bridges shows off two different sides of his wide-ranging acting capabilities this coming week — as the university provost who is concerned about the risk of bad publicity over the work of sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson in Showtime's "Masters of Sex," premiering Sunday (Sept. 29), and as the wayward dad in Greg Garcia's latest comedy, "The Millers," which debuts on CBS Oct. 3. Each presses the boundaries of propriety in its own way. It's something that the well-liked Hollywood veteran, who comes off as an avuncular sort with a bit of an impish twinkle at 71, seems to get a kick out of.

First, ripping through convention, there is "Masters of Sex." The jaw-droppingly graphic series called upon Bridges' dramatic capabilities as a character that is an amalgam of real-life personalities — the friend and mentor of William Johnson's who becomes increasingly unnerved over his and Virginia Johnson's sex experiments. Bridges' character also has a secret of his own.

The three-time Emmy winner tells us his is not a very large part, but he enjoyed it, and sees the acting of stars Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan as something special. "They couldn't have picked two better people to carry this show."

The "The Millers" pilot dares to potentially offend in an entirely different way. The pilot contains bathroom humor, a matter discussed during a panel with Garcia and his cast this past summer at the Television Critics Association press tour. Garcia promised that most episodes of the show will be fart-joke free. However, he defended his comedic choice saying, "I started to think about this a little bit, because I was lucky enough to go to the Mel Brooks' Lifetime Achievement Award, the AFI thing. And I'm sitting by Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese and Morgan Freeman and just all kinds of people. And they put the 'Blazing Saddles' farting scene up on the screen and everyone is dying, laughing. So farts are funny."

As Bridges sees his "The Millers" character, "He's a very interesting guy, a man who has worked hard all his life and he wants to enjoy himself. He comes to visit his son and tells him and his wife that he's getting divorced from his wife, and this is very upsetting." Subsequently, he packs his bags and goes to move in with his daughter (Jayma Mays), while his wife (Margo Martindale) decides to move in with their son (Will Arnett). "And we just go in and totally destroy their lives."

He feels that his and Martindale's characters "down deep are two people who love each other. I think that the audience will understand that, by their bantering. It makes for good comedy."

Bridges' long-standing relationship with Garcia could make for good comedy in itself. Until Bridges' recent move, they were neighbors. They tell the story of the time Bridges' wife Wendy was out walking their dogs, and Garcia came careening around the corner in his car and nearly hit her. Bridges complained to Garcia about that the first time he guest starred on Garcia's "My Name is Earl." Garcia, a self-described "terrible driver," felt awful about the incident and sent Wendy a giant bouquet of flowers with a note that said, "I'm very sorry. Beau told me I almost hit you and it caused you some distress. ... But if I'm being honest, I need you to know that Beau gave me $10,000 to run you over and I chickened out at the last minute."

After that, they became fast friends.

Bridges has met Garcia's father — the role model for his character. "It was fun, though I didn't get a chance to talk long. Greg patterned a lot of stuff after his family in the show, you know. His mom, his dad, his sister. And I said, 'Gee, you've got to be careful because, you know, you take a few shots at them,' and he said, 'Yeah. I gave each of them a car.'" He laughs.

The show represents Bridges' first crack at a multi-camera comedy in front of a live audience, and he is enjoying the fresh challenge. "You really need to cover all the bases."