TVSquad

America's terrorist watch list just hit the 1,000,000 mark. Yay! Sort of. Not really. Jon pointed out that Nelson Mandela was only recently removed from the watch list. He said it in a way like Mandela had no business being on the watch list on the first place, which I thought was a bit unfair. Sure, striking Mandela from the list was a move that probably should have happened over twenty years ago and his motivation was anti-apartheid, but once a guy has been the leader of a sabotage against his own government and military, that kind of makes the big boys of other countries nervous about having him around too. I'm just saying.

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.

Hmmm...a mystery over at TV Land.com.

In the video section, there is a listing for "Remington Steel clips." Now, besides the fact that they didn't spell Remington Steele correctly, I don't remember the show being on TV Land (or Nick at Nite for that matter). The show is not even listed on their show list. So I clicked on the link to see what clips of the show the site had and I found out that there are also clips for Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel! Is this a promotion for the DVDs you can buy (there are links to buy them) and nothing more, or is it a little preview of shows TV Land has added to the lineup.

But this would be a good show for the network to pick up (I'm talking about Remington Steele, not Lost in Space or The Time Tunnel). I remember a cable network (I think it was A&E) ran the show every afternoon a few years back, and I really got into the show again.

Jon seemed to be really honored that he was chosen to host the 2006 Oscars (bwaha! Next... President!). Sure, he may not have been that great in the movies, but I'm sure he'll be brilliant hosting an event about the movies.

Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, suffered a bad stroke and Pat Robertson decided to be a jerk about it, saying that Sharon had a stroke because he divided God's land. Real sympathetic, man. Jon, however, questioned Robertson's reasoning. Dividing God's land caused a stroke? Well, judging by just the pictures of Sharon, the cause seems more likely to be "fat, age, and stress... Unless God was personally force-feeding Sharon knishes".

Here's a bit of James Bond trivia for you. Pierce Brosnan was originally the prime candidate to take over as Bond after Remington Steele was taken off the air due to bad ratings. Once that word got out and got people interested in Remington Steele via reruns, NBC brought the series back for one more season, causing Brosnan to bow out of the Bond race, putting Timothy Dalton into the role. Now that Brosnan is through being Bond himself, he's interested in seeing the 80s television show he started out in come to the big screen. Negotiations are underway.