dick van dyke

NBC is going classic, with a twist. The network has ordered 13 episodes of a new drama series based on the Daniel Defoe classic Robinson Crusoe. This is far from the first time Defoe's 1719 novel has been filmed. The most recent incarnation was a 1997 Pierce Brosnan feature. In 1964, it was the basis for a French TV series.

This version is going to be a new take on the old story of a man who sets sail from England, his ship is wrecked in a storm and he's thrown overboard winding up alone on a deserted island where he has to fen for himself. In time, he is joined by an escaped slave whom he names Friday. Ben Silverman, NBC's head honcho, described the proposed series in this way: "It's part MacGyver, part contemporary morality tale about race and personal discovery, part comedy and part Castaway meets Survivor." As envisioned, this Robinson Crusoe will need to be clever indeed. It's going to keep the time period 1650's, but when Crusoe finds Friday, he'll presumably be treating him as if it were today with regard to race relations.

A new feature here at TV Squad: Standout Episodes, where we review a great episode of a TV series, one that's a perfect example of how great television can be.

"The Death of the Party"
Filmed: October 27, 1964
Aired: December 9, 1964

Since I mentioned The Dick Van Dyke Show earlier this week, I figured I'd start with an episode from that classic sitcom. But boy, it wasn't easy picking the first one.

I could have picked, well, approximately 156 of the 158 episodes the show had over its five season run, but this one stands out because it truly has everything you need for a great episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

• At 8, ABC has a repeat Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and What About Brian.
• CBS has a repeat How I Met Your Mother at 8, followed by repeats of The Class, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami.
• FOX has a new Prison Break, then a new 24.
• NBC has new episodes of Deal Or No Deal, Heroes, and Studio 60.
• The CW has new episodes of Everybody Hates Chris, All Of Us, Girlfriends, and The Game.
• ABC Family has a new Wildfire at 8.
• There are two new eps of Gay, Straight, or Taken? on Lifetime at 8, followed by the new movie Nora Roberts' Angels Falls, which is rather hard to say.
• Some cool shows on American Life at 8: Harry O, 77 Sunset Strip, and Surfside 6.
• The Science Channel has a marathon of 2057 all night.
• G4 has a new X-Play at 8.
• Also at 8: Mario Lopez hosts the 2007 Miss America Pageant, on CMT.
• At 9, USA has a new Monday Night RAW.
• There's a new Unwrapped on Food Network at 9, about "Texas Snacks."
• Hallmark has a new Murder 101 movie with Dick Van Dyke at 9: College Can Be Murder.
• At 10, NFLNet has a new ep of America's Game, followed by a Super Bowl preview.
• Discovery has two new eps of Stunt Junkies, starting at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

I can't be the only one that sometimes suffers an attack of sticker shock when shopping for TV on DVD. Farscape and The Sopranos, well... anything by HBO for that matter, come to mind. So I was thrilled to find, while walking through my local Half Price Books, the TV Time Comedy Collection.

This 12 disk set contains The Andy Griffith Show (16 eps), Hal Roach's Rascals (9 eps), Dick Van Dyke (6 eps), Petticoat Junction (4 eps), The Lucy Show (19 eps), The Beverly Hillbillies (20 eps), Ozzie and Harriet (18 eps), Burns and Allen (10 eps), and the Rescue From Gilligan's Island movie. All for the low low price of $9.98, new in box. It's a fun collection. While I wouldn't be in the market for season sets of any of these shows, with the possible exception of Dick Van Dyke, it's nice to have them around when the networks go all repeat on us. And finding a twenty-something Dennis Hopper guest starring as a beatnik poet on an obscure Petticoat Junction episode makes it funny in a whole new way.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to track down this exact set anywhere online. Amazon does have a similar set from the same company with a slightly different mix of episodes, and minus the Gilligan movie, new for $23.99, and used for $10.97. Still not a bad deal.

Are you bored? Do you have nothing much to do today? Does the thought of leaving your home and being around other human beings just leave you unfulfilled? Don't worry, that's why I'm here. Instead of stepping outside where you might risk being hit by a car or strangled by a squirrel, why not sit in front of the warm glow of your computer screen and watch some clips from old TV shows like You Bet Your Life, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Lucy Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show? There's also some old Popeye and Looney Tunes shorts, plus movie serials and trailers.

A friend of mine sent me this link to Public Domain Comedy, knowing I'm a sucker for all things cartoony. You can also find a lot of similar clips and full-length videos by poking around the Archive.org site. It's like YouTube, but without the guilt of viewing copyrighted material.

TVShowsonDVD.com reports that the first season of the long-running Dick Van Dyke series will be released on September 12. It will be a 5 disc set, but will not include the pilot episode of the series, which was actually an episode of Jake and the Fatman. So maybe we'll have to wait for that DVD set to see the pilot ep of Diagnosis Murder.

I really liked this show, actually. It was sort of a male Murder, She Wrote, and it was good to see Vany Dyke on a weekly series again.