Show of the week: American Experience: The 1930s

The current economic crisis has been called the most severe since the Great Depression. So this five-part overview of that era seems particularly timely. The first part, “The Crash of 1929,” reveals inescapable parallels to 2008, when machinations by Wall Street insiders and foolish decisions by everyday investors brought financial ruin to both. Subsequent episodes spotlight FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps; the construction of the Hoover Dam; the plight of the Dust Bowl; and the racehorse Seabiscuit, the decade’s unlikeliest hero. Mondays, Oct. 26—Nov. 23, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings