Crusoe is a new lighthearted action take on the Robinson Crusoe tale. It airs on Friday, which probably makes him really mad.
I really don’t have much in depth to say about it. It’s about a shipwrecked man on an island, and really, I have to look at it through the Gilligan’s Island glasses. They make Crusoe into the Professor; apparently he spends every moment that the camera’s not on him building fabulous inventions from the available equipment, including things that seem to only be of use if he predicts the events of the episode. And while the island has its native population, the first episode brings not one but two groups of Europeans – pirates and soldiers – to the island, which suggests that this show will also have the Gilligan Island tendency of presenting the character with a potential escape from the island, just to be foiled. So it’s best not to take this show too seriously, and the show presents itself with enough of a grin and a vein of humor that you’re allowed not to take it seriously.
It tackles the problem of Friday, Crusoe’s native right-hand-man, by making sure that Friday is smarter (in non-inventing terms) , wiser, and more interesting that Crusoe; otherwise, it becomes a Wise White Man with his black servant show, which is problematic. I’m not sure they make it work, in that we don’t have good enough reason for Friday to be so supportive of Crusoe, but again, they can get away with having us not take the question too seriously.
Not a must see, but a pleasant diversion.
