Tom Fontana has contributed to some of TV’s best, most probing dramas (Homicide: Life on the Street and Oz). Now the Emmy Award-winning producer returns to TV with the best pilot of the season — and it’s not even on the fall schedule.

The Philanthropist premieres Wednesday on NBC (Channels 7 and 10). Here’s hoping that the hour earns a place on the slate in the future.

Inspired by the story of Bobby Sager, real-life entrepreneur turned Third World benefactor, the drama weaves a tale for the times about a heroic billionaire/playboy/vigilante/

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Consider The Philanthropist Fontana’s post-boom reckoning, a narrative ripe for a time of changing priorities.

The hour’s initial appeal is its eye-catching look: a fast-moving mix of cool graphics, action, drama, flashbacks and emphatic but not distracting direction, with the camera underscoring unexpected moments. But it’s the central, self-deprecating character who carries the show.

James Purefoy (Rome) is magnetic as Teddy Rist, a clearly wounded tycoon who impulsively devotes himself to helping those in grave need.

Along the way to doing good, he does well at landing supermodels. He recounts his adventures with a literate, English style. “Bacchanalia,” he explains, “is a Greek word for just way too much of everything.”

He denies being the hero, preferring to see himself as a reckless, impulsive man-child. Of course, he’s both.

When he runs into a comely barkeep in a remote part of the world — after trying to get a shipment of cholera vaccine to a Nigerian village — she doesn’t believe he’s Teddy Rist, thinking he’s just a pickup artist.

“I will give you $1,000 to keep listening and pouring,” he says. By this point we’re hooked on his tale, even without the thousand bucks, and so it’s easy to buy in as Teddy unspools his back story, introducing the characters in his globe-trotting life.

Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order) plays Philip, Teddy’s business partner and friend. Neve Campbell (Party of Five) plays Olivia, Philip’s wife, who runs the company’s charitable foundation. The firm is so connected that it can get prime ministers, ambassadors and the Obamas on the phone instantly. Customs agents relent, armies stand down, DEA thugs are called off, and helicopters appear when Teddy needs them.

Teddy has a complex history with his ex-wife (played by Krista Allen of The Starter Wife), still to be explored. He admits to having “more than my share of demons.”

But the wild and high-living tough guy has a very real soft spot. We learn that the as-yet-unexplained loss of the couple’s young son is Teddy’s motivating force. The pilot involves his saving a young Nigerian boy — but, “in an odd way,” he says, “he saved me.”

Given a lesser actor, the combination of machismo and vulnerability might have come across as trite, but the charismatic Purefoy makes it credible.

The supporting cast is also eminently watchable, distinguished by Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar on The Wire) as Dax, Teddy’s driver/bodyguard.

Fresh cinematography, a score infused with African music and smart direction by Peter Horton (Grey’s Anatomy) contribute to the charm of this international co-production (with Britain’s Carnival Films), refreshingly set beyond the usual U.S. workplace.