Nbc Crusoe

NBC Crusoe Sam Neill

2009-01-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

"Crusoe" joins our stranded hero (Philip Winchester) in the middle of his journey. When we meet him, he's already washed up on his Island of Despair, following multiple attempts to leave England, rather than become a stuffed suit. He's already befriended his man Friday (Tongayi Chirisa), who is halfway to British refinement—he can recite John Milton and speak 12 languages, but he still gets his clothes from corpses. We learn the tale of Crusoe's path to the island and his estrangement from his true love, Susannah (Anna Walton) in a series of soft-lit flashbacks. Between the tortured heroes stranded on beaches and the flashbacks, it's hard not to think of "Lost." But where "Lost" is a nesting doll, reveling in never being quite what it appears, "Crusoe" is perfectly happy to be all surface. It feels like a cartoon and looks like a perfume commercial, and by the end of the two-hour premiere, I felt about it like I do about my workweek. I wanted more Friday.

NBC Crusoe Cast

2009-01-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

NBC released more casting news for its new fall drama / adventure series Crusoe, and it looks like some more big screen actors are finding a home on the small screen. Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings) and Joss Ackland (Lethal Weapon 2) will join the cast.

Crusoe, based on Daniel Defoe's novel, is due to film in the UK, South Africa, and the Seychelles. The show will follow the title character (played by Philip Winchester) on his island adventures while flashing back to his life before he was a castaway. Sean Bean will play Crusoe's widower father and appear in scenes that depict his tragic childhood. Sam Neill will play Jeremiah Blackthorn, a family friend who keeps a close watch on Robinson Crusoe's business ventures.

NBC Crusoe Review

2009-01-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

In the two-hour premiere of Crusoe, the expensive-looking and silly new 13-part television series NBC adapted from literature’s stranded-man classic, our hero (Philip Winchester) keeps having flashbacks to the civilized world he’s left behind. I have to admit, I kept having flashbacks, too — to the 10-year-old me who was awed and thrilled by Daniel Defoe’s iconic story of ill-fated and exotic banishment, cultural upheaval and self-sufficiency. Although Defoe’s Crusoe wanted to return to society, his predicament seemed hopelessly romantic to my hermitlike youthful self, who preferred a closed-door bedroom hideaway where books flourished, drawing paper and pens were plentiful, the television was like a warming sun, and endlessly replayed LPs were the native sounds. I didn’t want to live on an island, mind you, just my island.

CRUSOE | NBC | Fridays, 8 p.m.