With the immense success of Disney’s adaptation of their theme park ride Pirates of the Caribbean into a mega-blockbuster film franchise, it’s no surprise that Hollywood studio and network execs are all about adding some swashbuckling and adventure yarns to their development slates. NBC is even going back to classic literature, yes actual books, for programming inspiration as evidenced in their lavish new series Crusoe.
Based on and following the same basic premise of Daniel Defoe’s classic tale, the series follows Crusoe embarking on an adventure by sea from England to his eventual shipwreck on a remote island for more than two decades. Weaving together his remembrances of home and family with his current life escaping cannibals and pirates, Crusoe is actually the first UK commissioned production for the U.S. network in 40 years. The 13-episode series debuts October 17th at 8:00 p.m. and stars Philip Winchester (Flyboys) as Robinson Crusoe, Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) as Jeremiah Blackthorn, Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings) as James Crusoe, and Tongayi Chirisa as Friday. |
