NBC Brings Crusoe To The Small Screen

It’s never a bad idea to remake a classic. Ok, maybe it is sometimes a bad idea as not all film and TV adaptations of great works of fiction are all that noteworthy (and some are complete disasters). Anyway, NBC is going to be taking a stab at turning a classic novel into a series with the production of a TV adaptation of “Robinson Crusoe.”

The complete title to the book, which was written by Daniel Defoe and printed way back in 1719, is “The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates.” NBC has wisely shortened the title to this yet-to-be-produced series to Crusoe.

The novel focuses on Crusoe’s adventures after he shipwrecks on an island full of nasty natives. According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC is teaming up with Universal Media Services and Power to produce the series.

Crusoe, which has been picked up for 13 episodes, will be a period drama so its probably highly unlikely that upon arriving at the island, Crusoe will attempt to make it to the highest point to see if he can get a signal on his cell phone. Modern technology wont be a factor in the series but some modern-day social issues will be addressed. The Reporter also stated that NBC’s version of Crusoe is said to have “MacGyver-like knack for making handy tools and devices out of common items.” MacGyver-like? No offense to the 80’s TV character who could make a weapon out of a paperclip and some chewing gum but the TV version of Crusoe sounds more like Gilligan’s Island’s The Professor, to me. That guy could do amazing things with coconuts.

NBC hopes to premiere Crusoe next fall or mid-season, 2009.