Over the years, I have found myself drawn to silly TV shows. I like a certain kind of fluff, and I miss it when it’s gone. Fluff like The Lost World, Xena and Hercules, and even Beastmaster. There hasn’t been a decent stupid show in years.
Until now.
NBC’s, ah, modernization of Robinson Crusoe premiered last night, and it fulfills all of my requirements for fluff TV.
Handsome hero? Check. (In Xena’s case, it was all the supporting characters and villains. Or ex-boyfriends.)
Handsome hero takes off shirt a lot? Check.
Plotlines that you laugh out loud at? Check.
Exotic setting? Check.
Lots of action? Check.
Really stupid things that you get to laugh at every week? Check.
Never mind the changing of the book. Robinson Crusoe is an excruciatingly boring book that was written in the early eighteenth century, when the idea was to pack at least half a page into every paragraph. I’m not sure why. I read it in high school, and though I’m glad I did, I have yet to repeat the experience. So NBC used the concept of a stranded British sailor, a deserted island, and a native he names Friday, and that’s about all that’s recognizable.
They filled the island with gadgets that the Professor from Gilligan’s Island would be proud of. I’m most mystified at the juicer, as I’m pretty sure orange juice wasn’t your average breakfast drink in eighteenth century London. And there was a MacGyver scene that was absolutely hilarious, where Friday and Crusoe worked hard at turning gold coins into sharp little piercing things that they loaded onto this mystifying, multi-level crossbow. Of course, it worked. They killed a pirate with it.
Oh, did I forget to mention that there were pirates? And pirate treasure (in the form of a gold cannon, that you and I both know two men never would have been able to lift, and yet, Friday and Crusoe could lift it and toss it into the sea). And a female pirate. And there’s Sam Neill and Sean Bean and a great cast of supporting actors for the flashbacks, plus a mystery: Is Sean Bean really Crusoe’s father, or could it be “Uncle” Sam Neill?
All this, and a shirtless Phillip Winchester, too.
What’s not to like?
You can watch it here.