POP CULTURE | TV SHOWS

My 12 Pack of TV Shows for My Exile on Isla Nublar

Another addition to my survivalist entertainment while living out my days on what is turning into a pretty decent island of solitude and death.

Image by author using Bing AI Image Creator.

Before I get into the selection of TV shows I will have on hand when I’ve sequestered myself on the greatest tropical island of them all, I must note that the spinoffs from the original prompt are getting out of hand. I’m talking to you, Paul Combs. In case you are not aware, Paul has gone from a music, book, movie and TV catalogue for his island to, of all things, kitchen appliances.

Not wholly satisfied with that edition, Combs added yet another wrinkle to the sheet by taking 8 Famous Dead People. That’s a lot of ghosts kicking sand if you ask me, but hey, each to their own.

I’m passing on the kitchen appliances, but I might go grave digging.

This list has been sitting in my drafts for a while. I selected the shows, made a few notes, then left for a two-week East Coast vacation and basically forgot how to open my laptop.

As much as it twisted my guts not to write, my brain thanked me for the hiatus, and finally, after getting back to work and the others in the house back to school, I’m diving back in.

Once more, thanks to the overly generous and philanthropic John Hammond and his secret super bunker below Jurassic Park, the shows listed below are all readily available for my pleasure, same as the entire freezer containing only ice cream! So, grab a spoon and let’s dig in!

1. Gilligan’s Island. 3 seasons, 98 episodes, plus 3 made-for-TV movies.

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The castaways entertained everyone in my household with their antics and mishmash of personalities. The hapless Gilligan delivered the most laughs, the posh Ginger made hearts swoon, and the sweetheart, Mary Ann, was the girl every boy would have taken home to Mama.

My favourite character was the Professor. With his brilliant inventions and clever solutions to problem-solving the stranded islanders’ basic living issues, I always found him to be brilliant and up for any challenge.

2. Vikings. 6 seasons, 89 episodes.

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I still haven’t seen season 6 because of the sleazy maneuvers from the streaming services in Canada that switched series from one provider to another, and I won’t pay for yet another streaming service, not even for Lagatha.

Vikings is a brilliant show that gives viewers a look at the history of the world before much of it became civilized. Thankfully, I know John Hammond would have spared no expense in assuring that the entire run of the series would be at hand.

3. Batman. 3 seasons,120 episodes.

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This iconic superhero show is as corny as it is fantastic. Batman was brave and brilliant, the villains superb, and the villainous vixens were as sexy as they were conniving.

A great car, bright costumes, elaborate sets, and solid mysteries made this show a “Bang!” “Pow!” hit. Even with Robin.

4. Friends. 10 seasons, 236 episodes.

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Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Monica and Chandler made struggling in your 20s and living with roommates seem like the best of times, and if you were part of a small group of friends while watching the episodes, it sure helped.

You loved them all, even if you loved to hate one or two, but you did your best never to miss an episode. And, with a ten-year run, Friends will eat up a lot of lonely hours on the island.

5. The Flintstones. 6 seasons, 166 episodes.

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Although I wouldn’t consider my father a caveman, I grew up in a mining town, and there certainly were some prehistoric dads around town. The Flintstones was a highly imaginative animated world blending prehistoric times with modern life and it was all great fun.

I haven’t watched the show in a long while, and I imagine it would quickly be cancelled if they tried to air it today, but hey, I was a kid, it was a cartoon, and everyone in our house laughed. This rare “Papa-approved” cartoon will forever remain one of my favourites.

As a bonus, between the Flintstone’s prehistoric applications toward modern conveniences and the Professor’s ingenious inventions, I have a good chance of living a long life on my island.

6. The A-Team. Five seasons, 98 episodes.

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Faceman, Hannibal, Mr. T, and the rest of those renegade mercenaries showed that anything was possible if you had a plan and believed in each other. A kickass van also helps.

Disguises, bombs, car chases, babes, and bad guys made for a good show, and it was great to root for a team of down-and-outers fighting for justice.

7. Wonder Woman. 3 seasons, 59 episodes.

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The only thing wrong with this TV show is that it didn’t last long enough. Lynda Carter. Oh, my heavens. Lynda Carter. The brilliant blue-eyed fox brought babe and bravado together like no one else before. The dazzling Diana Prince spun herself into the beautiful red and blue-clad Amazon warrior and our hearts.

While I am a big fan of Gal Gadot, who is immeasurably beautiful and very much enjoyed her Wonder Woman films, Lynda Carter remains one of the most loved superheroes to land on TV. She’s definitely on the island.

8. Criminal Minds. 11 seasons, 344 episodes and with Criminal Minds-Evolutions, still counting!

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The world is a creepy place with severely messed up people. Over the years, the team at the BAU (Behavioural Analysis Unit) of the FBI took us into the sick and psychotic minds of the ‘Unsubs’ (Unknown Subjects), unravelling why they committed their heinous acts and what twisted their minds in the first place.

Criminal Minds is a show my wife and I looked forward to each week, but now, thanks to streaming, my wife has rewatched the entire series to help satiate her need for crime shows, murders, and presumably gathering notes on how not to get caught if she if ever needs to “take care of me” in the worst sense of the phrase.

9. Game of Thrones. 8 seasons, 73 episodes.

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Perhaps the most fantastic series ever to hit TV screens. It has epic world-building, treacherous characters, a massively dysfunctional family, double-crossing alliances, dragons and the white walkers. If you’re one of the few who never watched, you truly missed out. Even my wife, who is no fan of medieval fantasies, salivated over each episode. GOT delivered everything and then some, with characters you seriously loved to hate.

10. The Six Million Dollar Man. 5 seasons, 99 episodes.

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USAF pilot and astronaut Steve Austin, played by Lee Majors, suffers horrendous injuries after crashing in a test flight, but he gains a second chance at life when he is remade, at the considerable cost of $6 million, into a part bionic man. His robotic parts give him superhuman strength, speed and vision.

Combining his previous training and skills with his new bionic powers, Austin works as a secret agent for the OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence), where he thwarts supervillains and unravels nefarious plots against America.

It was a great show, part science fiction and part action/adventure, that thrilled audiences and kids everywhere ran around making the “banananananana” sound of activating their bionic powers.

The spinoff, The Bionic Woman, was also a hit, and the two shows had several crossovers along with made-for-TV movies.

11. Quantum Leap. 5 seasons, 97 episodes.

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Continuing with the Sci-Fi theme, Quantum Leap is about Dr. Sam Beckett, who, after experimenting with time travel, finds himself shot into past lives and having to solve the problems of the individuals he inhabits. Once those present issues in the past are resolved, he gets to “leap,” always hoping to end up back in his body in his present time.

Aided by Al, a holographic guide provided by “Ziggy,” the scientific computer system used to help create the time travel experiment, Beckett works to solve each quantum leap.

This was a great show as it took viewers back in time, often coinciding with significant historical events. And much like Paul Combs does with his history podcast, Quantum Leap proves to be both entertaining and educational.

Last on the list.

12. MacGyver. 7 seasons, 139 episodes.

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Ingenious, resourceful, adaptive and mostly non-violent, agent MacGvyer, a Vietnam Vet and all-around smart guy, works for the Phoenix Foundation, a part of a government organization called the DXS (Department of External Services.)

Thrown into all types of conflicts, MacGyver, armed only with his Swiss Army knife, his expertise and skills as a former US Special Forces Bomb Team Technician, relies on whatever is at hand to save the day.

This long-running series never seemed to run out of ideas for solving intense problems practically, showing viewers that it wasn’t always the guy with the gun who won the battle.

Highly inventive and entertaining, MacGyver became not only a pop icon but also a verb, as in, “I’m going to MacGyver the hell out of that box of scrap and make this thing work.”

That should do! A dozen TV series covering various genres, formats and time periods ought to be enough to make my many years on my island home anything but a bore.

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