A decade or so ago, “must-see TV” meant Thursday nights with Seinfeld and Friends. Times (and channels) have changed. In today’s economy, the TV that matters most comes in documentary form.

Take The Ascent of Money, an extraordinary four-part series which begins tonight on PBS (9 p.m. EDT). It features Niall Ferguson, the world-famous historian who specializes in the study of finance and economics.

Ferguson, who is just 45, has enjoyed an impressive ascent himself. Harvard University professor, senior research fellow at Oxford University and Financial Times contributing editor are among his resume highlights. Earlier this year, he and Paul Krugman engaged in a high-profile and spirited debate on treasury bill interest rates that re-emphasized just how prominent the two have become in discussions about today’s economy.

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World began as a book that Ferguson published in 2008. It was first broadcast in doc-form by PBS in January. This new full-length, four-part series presents us a comprehensive history of the global economic system. As he says in the introduction to tonight’s episode, “I want to reveal financial history as the essential back-story behind all history. From ancient Mesopotamia, right down to the present day, the ascent of money has been an indispensable part of the ascent of man.”

Ferguson is a controversial figure. His views about imperialism and colonialism are, to put it mildly, sometimes unfashionable. But there is no denying his intellectual firepower and the effort he’s made in The Ascent of Money to tell a well-researched, detailed story. Its greatest contribution is the historical context in which it recasts our current financial crisis.

As Ferguson says, “[M]oney’s rise has never been a smooth upward ride … Financial history has repeatedly been interrupted by gut-wrenching crises, of which today’s is just the latest.”