TVSquad

(S02E03) Well, the Malloys are back in Eden Falls, living life as the Riches. And all hell's about to break loose.

That's the situation we have in this episode. Wayne's trying to keep the big deal Hugh brokered alive while Hugh searches for his mojo. Dale is stalking around Panco looking for a job so he can be in on the deal. Only we know that the lummox has some information and a hell of a lot of muscle behind him. And Dahlia is having yet another crisis involving her sense of place in the world. Oh, and then we have the kids: Cael wants out, DiDi wants to fit in, and Sam wonders why there's blood stains on the stairs.

Looks like we're entering the darkest part of the tunnel in this show, aren't we?

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.

Aidan Quinn, who was last seen in the anti-7th Heaven drama Book of Daniel, has joined the cast of FOX's Canterbury's Law, which stars Juliana Margulies. He will have a recurring role as Matt Furey, husband to Marguiles' character. Elizabeth Canterbury.

Now, if you have seen a preview of the show on the FOX website you're probably saying to yourself 'Wait, doesn't she have a husband already?'. Well, yes. It's Matthew Canterbury, played by Linus Roache. Only Linus, the show's producers and FOX broadcasting know the reasons for the re-casting. So goes television.

Good news for fans of NBC's short-lived series The Book of Daniel. All 8 episodes of the controversial Aidan Quinn/Ellen Burstyn show are coming to DVD on September 26.

It's going to be a 2-DVD set, but it's only 8 episodes, so I'm going to assume there will be some extras in the set.

The show was canceled rather quickly after several NBC affiliates dropped the show due to its subject matter.

Well, they say nothing lasts forever, and they were right. NBC's The Book of Daniel has been cancelled, effective immediately. The Friday 10 pm slot will be occupied this week by a rerun of a Law and Order episode. No word yet on what the network will do to permanently fill the slot.

I have mixed feelings on this situation. IMHO, the episodes were filled with way too many subplots and that the writers and producers were more interested in trying to get away with things rather than developing a story. However, I also thought the show could have evolved into something, given more time. Of course, ratings are everything, and this show didn't have them, plain and simple.

I wonder if The Book of Daniel will be "resurrected" on a cable network, a la HBO or Showtime. It might just find a home and a loyal, albeit smaller, audience if that happens.

In the middle of his sermon, Reverend Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn) poses this question to the congregation:

"If there were no temptation, how can there be redemption?"

The Book of Daniel made its much anticipated debut Friday night on NBC with a two-hour episode. If you saw it, you know there were so many subplots that trying to recap them here will make your (and my) head spin.

In a nutshell, Daniel's life is a complicated one, to say the least. This Episcopalian man of the cloth has to deal with his teenage daughter (Grace) being arrested for dealing pot, to having a gay son (Peter) that causes confusion for him, to having an adopted son from China (Adam) who pokes fun at his Asian features and heritage, to having a neurotic wife taken to having martinis as soon as noon passes, to having a female bishop critiquing his Sunday sermons, to finding out his brother-in-law has embezzled $3.2 million from the church, to dealing with a stiff and wooden father who happens to be a bishop, to his mother suffering from Alzheimer's, to interacting with a Mafia-connected Catholic priest. (I could go further but I think you get the general idea.)

Now that 2005 is behind us, we can look forward to new and returning favorite shows all this month on television. What will you be watching?

South Beach (Wednesdays, UPN) Two hot, New York City working-class bachelors leave the big city behind to follow one of their girlfriends to South Beach, FL, only to discover that she has a new boyfriend. They get mixed up with the rich and famous in the club scene. After viewing a sneak preview on UPN's website, it looks like a guilty pleasure like The O.C., except with more sex and no high school. Jennifer Lopez is the executive producer and it co-stars Vanessa Williams as a club owner and mother to one of the main characters. South Beach premieres on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8 pm.