Return to Robinson Crusoe Island

On Friday we had a chance to witness the premiere of the Crusoe series on NBC, based on Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. (Please see my post here for a discussion of the original book). I did not manage to catch much of the two hour show, but I probably won't go out of my way to try to catch the parts I missed, or any of the future episodes.

As I suspected from the commercials, the story seems to be a politically-correct, mish-mash of elements of the original story with the Disney Swiss Family Robinson and Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Besides things like a sprawling tree house with anachoristic amenities, various Home Alone-styled booby traps, and sword fights with swaggering, wispy-bearded and bejangled privateers, I also don't remember Crusoe being married or the deserted island having so many visitors. This version also flashes back (ala J.J. Abrams' Lost on ABC) to Crusoe's pre-island childhood and adult life, introducing us to his father, his wife and children, and others.

On its face value, it could be an enjoyable ride. It is certainly a nice looking production.

According to Neilson's overnight ratings, it garnered 4.3% of the households watching television tuning in at some point during its first hour, and 4.7% in the second. During the second hour it had the highest ratings of all shows that hour, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks.

If it is successful, I wonder if he will ever get off the island as the members of Oceanic Flight 815 will (maybe it will have flash-forwards as well), or if he will be perpetually stuck there much as the castaways from the S.S. Minnow were.