User reviews

I enjoyed this one. Not as much as I hoped I would, but it is still enjoyable. The island is wonderful to look at and the two main characters are great, and it's wonderful to see Sam Neill on screen again. The Pirates of the Caribbean like humor makes this more of a family show, which we don't get a lot of times. Yes, it is slow pacing, but it is still entertaining to watch. I hope it gets better.I can see why some were a bit disappointed in it. I, myself, was a little bored in the middle, but it picked up. Some of the comedy in it is great, and the action is good. So is the acting. And the flashbacks gives a nice feel to it. And I loved Crusoe narrating. I hope this sticks around for at least a season. I honestly have no idea why no one is commenting on this show yet. It's definitely worth watching. If they can keep Lost going this long and Gillians Island last as long as it did I'm hoping that Robinson lasts for a season or 2.

I admire any network that puts this much work into a series. I mean it is beautiful to watch and manages to keep your attention for the hour. Both Crusoe and Friday are easy on the eyes and their arboreal condo is envy-worthy to say the least. The writing is not too bad either which is a relief in this day and age of shows having regular people gagging on spiders and calling that entertainment.

On two slight criticisms: why the whole MacGyver thing? Sure, we get to know that Crusoe and Friday are surviving because they are saavy, adaptable and quick. But, I draw the line on the coconut shell orange press thingy. Sure, it was fun to see but it undermined the reality of the situation. And, since he is soooo clever, why the heck does Cruose walk and climb around the tropical island wearing heavy leather boots that come up past his knees? If you can make an orange press... you could make foot protection that would not be unbearable under the local conditions, right? Well, I will continue to watch for the acting, the writing, the scenery. Maybe an episode where Crusoe is losing it would be welcome... just to add realism into the series.

It's a good enough family series.

A bit clichéd pirates, shipwrecked sailors, treasure Island.

Tough nut girl pirate is the real brains whilst the men are a bit dim wits.

Quite good fun.

If you like this kind of thing, you'll like Crusoe but you have to get over the "cheese".

Its predictable, and the acting isn't the greatest.

The sets are incredible.

All of these things can be said exactly the same for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (which I own the first season on DVD so I obviously like it) and Xena: Warrior Princess.

Since I liked both those shows, I guess it remains to be seen whether I'll like it for this one.

I find the show passable, and amusing if you're looking for something light and fluffy thats obviously not meant for anything serious.

Stuck at home on a Friday night, I saw a trailer for this way back in the summer and thought "oh this is gonna be sweet!!!!" so I popped the popcorn and began to watch it. The second the character Robinson Crusoe started talking, I thought "What the hell? Is that supposed to be a British accent?" Phillip Winchester did terrible, I thought, and the Friday character wasn't very interesting either. The pirates sucked. In all, the acting is god-awful. I felt like the whole time i wanted to just scream at them to get off the set. Hopefully, throughout the season, the acting and the plot will be more sophisticated and enjoyable.

This show is well worth the effort to watch. It's "Horatio Hornblower" meets "Castaway" meets "Pirates of the Caribbean." It has plots and a sub plot that will keep your attention and make it difficult to wait a week for the next episode! It's clean and Crusoe has exemplary integrity through very difficult odds. Each week you will learn a new piece of information about how Crusoe got to the island, and how he and Friday became inseparable. Unless you are a hyper-critical couch potato that has nothing better to do than rip apart well-rounded TV shows, you'll love this show! It definitely beats those shows full of social drama, immorality, and graphic psychos. If I wanted to see that I could walk outside and look around.

I really wanted to like this show. I was hoping for a cross between "Castaway" and "Lost" but set a couple of centuries in the past. After watching the first four episodes, in hindsight I should have stopped after the pilot, I can report that it is nothing like what I had hoped.

Both lead actors are miscast and wooden but Philip Winchester is just totally annoying. His English accent is simply unbelievable and he looks like he belongs in a Vogue fashion shoot with the blow dried hair, the freshly shaved beard and perfect teeth.

It appears that both Crusoe and Friday have been on the island for a few years when the series starts as they have "built" a condo with a great view in the trees, running water, gunpowder, weapons and food aplenty. A couple of wenches would have made this the perfect holiday destination for most men. Their life is easy and the lack of any real struggle to live is difficult to comprehend. In fact his is what really irritates me about the whole concept.

Just more useless debris in the current crop of rubbish offered by the networks.

I really wanted to like this show, I really did. I willfully suspended disbelief that this show could be running aground during the shallow Pilot, but alas she didn't run hard on the wind, she kinda beached herself in order to prevent more damage to her crew and onlookers.

But no maties, I stuck with them, yes I did, I got myself on that island through episode 3 & 4.

What heck is this? McGyver meets Gilligans island? After all, the fancy gadgets and inventions are all made from shipwreck material mind you, coconut fibers and some moldy pieces from the Castaway set.

I expected to see a clam shell cell phone with all fancy gimmicky crap they had at their disposal, I mean this lad has limitless imagination and talent, but he can't get himself of the damn island nor manage invent a knack for a British accent?

This could have been a refreshingly gritty, somewhat desolate re-imagined RC story, one that brings the worlds of the native and the castaway together through struggles and painful lessons. Alas, Friday is very smart and wise guy, but here he has an Oxford degree in Literature and Philosophy too boot.

Here is hoping that the filming crew didn't eat the writers without an adequate ceremony.

This is one of the best tv series i ever seen . It gives me positive energy . I dunno why producer stopped it . Unfortunately people of these years love blood and sicky stories . Must be worry about new world.

Thought this was a solid show. There is some violence and blood, but not excessive and is certainly family friendly. The friendship between Crusoe and Friday is the glue of the show, and it's done very well. I get a mix of Swiss Family Robinson with some of the fun, lighthearted elements of Pirates of the Caribbean.

I thought the acting was very good by our 2 leads Crusoe and Friday. People dunking on Crusoe's accent - meh I don't care. I thought it was fine. If anything, I thought Friday's accent sounded a bit off. The scenery of the island and the treehouse were outstanding. The sheer number of gadgets that Crusoe had rigged up was a bit much and took out some of the realism.

The show starts with Crusoe already well-established on the island. It then gradually sprinkled in his back story, and that was done really well. But it did result in the show bogging down here and there in the first half of the series...particularly since our 2 guys are living life on easy mode with virtually no issues except for island visitors. In fact, now that I think about it, every "issue" they had came from other people who came to the island. I would have liked to see them struggle with just "island life" a little bit.

The show really picks up in the 2nd half of the series, and the final 2 episodes leaves you with a very satisfying "crisis resolution".

Would strongly recommend watching.

The right story, the good performances. the flash backs . and the humor. few virtues of a serie who could be defined as decent in the sense of old fashion work. because it is not one of serie proposing eccentric new perspectives about a classic book. it is not one of series looking for impress. it represents a good example of well crafted serie. using original lines, proposing smart questions about contemporary problems. being useful. a serie for entire family, embroidery of beautiful performances, adventure in old fashion style and wise pledge for fundamental values.

This TV series is a very solid adaptation of the original classic novel, but with a modern style. Considering there is only (for the most part) two characters, everything relies on the lead actors and they deliver up to standard. The setting is also wonderful to look at and the storyline is gripping.

As a lifelong Robinson Crusoe fan I was excited to find this show. The drama flits between excellent period drama driven by Sam Neill's conniving Jeremiah Blackthorne and the absurd and twee politically correct world on the island.

Robinson Crusoe has set up an Ewok style village in the trees with Ichabod Crane style ingenuity that, just as in Sleepy Hollow, is designed to amuse a modern audience. Phillip Winchester plays a decent role as Robinson Crusoe for the most part but is so much lighter in countenance than Defoe's Crusoe or anyone else marooned on an island for years and is reminiscent of Michael Praed's Robin Hood but Praed's romantically brooding sadness has been replaced with a slightly smug confidence in his own ability and 21st century values.

I am also confused at the choice of Tongayi Chirisa as "Friday", a rescued sacrificial victim. He looks and sounds African which would have made no sense for a South American tribesman in the 17th century. Also why he would speak English to his father when the Spanish sailors speak Spanish to each other is a mystery of modern screen writing.

The dialogue between Crusoe and Friday is often trite and primarily involves Crusoe being right about more or less everything yet telling everyone how much he respects Friday as an equal - yet he admits on several occasions that he only calls him "Friday" because he couldn't pronounce his real name, which slightly smacks of racism "a l'indifference".

Crusoe's biggest problem as television is patchy writing and while the finale ticks all the boxes and is genuinely exciting, huge chunks of the show seem to just feature Robinson and Friday playing around and this is not only wasted story time but ultimately meant that ratings dropped beneath the recommissioning level. I would have been far more interested in both characters' backstories in a more detailed way than the barely satisfactory flashback sequences we are given and also just a little bit less smiling and a bit more grit.

Also it drives me crazy how when fighting bloodthirsty cannibals or pirates that Robinson and Friday are happier to kick their foe in the head than kill them...very "A-Team" I am afraid. Also despite Friday being lauded constantly by Crusoe for his warrior skills and intelligence, Friday twice allows captives to play dead and then take him prisoner and fails to realise that when he has his own hands chained that he could easily throttle his captor with his foot long manacle chain.

Visually superb however and a great show for kids, I wanted this to be so much better than it was and it had the cast, crew and writers (based on the bits filmed in England at least) to do so. Sadly not surprised it didn't get a second season. Too bad!

I literally lasted for 2 minutes after the titles. What a load of dog sausage!! As my headline suggests....MacGyver on an island would've been a better title!! Maybe I should have hung on for a few more minutes, then I may have seen the hot showers, launderettes and razors that kept everyone so well groomed and clean ( on ship and island). It was a bit like watching Westerns from the 60's- 80's.....Complete and utter BULLSH*T.....TV for the dumb again!!!

I missed this one when it was first released, no great loss, I'm afraid! Apparently, I've fallen into the same trap as others here who have felt compelled to spend some time and write a review.

For a show that has so few positives, it's been hard to turn off. I believe that if it hadn't been based on a classic, Crusoe might have stood a chance. But it's impossible to watch this and not compare it to the source material.The location and cinematography are pretty darned good. Plus, the tree-house is outstanding!. More than once I felt as if I was seeing a 17th century MacGyver. Instead of duck-tape and a Swiss army knife, it was vines and bamboo.

I mostly agree with the other people about the scripts and acting. It's not very hard to find fault with this one. It does tho, have something that's kept me watching. Judging by the length and quality of the reviews. I'm not the only one!

I won't be searching high and low to find the dvd's for Crusoe. One viewing is enough. In fact, I haven't watched the last episode and I'm not sure that I will. Who knows, with the current revival trend, someone might make a stab at this one again.

If so, keep the tree-house and trash the rest!

The series starts off incredibly badly thus turning off many viewers, however I only review things I've seen in full & it does actually improve a lot to get to a point where I do give it 5 stars ( worth persevering with if you like a light hearted show where you know going in this is very light entertainment ).

Did the show deserve a series 2... no it did not as just too many early mistakes in the pilot that would turn off most people who understandably would not have the time to invest in a show with better shows out there.

Sean Bean has a very minor role ( he is very good, as he must have been disappointed with the Director, script writers & some of the other actors who did not do the potential of this show ( or the book ) any real justice here.

Sam Neill was also in this a lot more in the final episodes of the series but by then the show was dead in the water ( but he did a good actors job still ).

I did feel a bit bad for Philip Winchester as the script was ludicrous & he did his acting as "Crusoe"to the best of his average ability, however I did really enjoy the performance of Tongayi Chirisa as "Friday" as he tried to embrace the show for what it was & he delivered his lines both seriously & amusingly as required by the script each time & made the show in the end a 5 star.