Will viewers get back to basics with “Crusoe” (7 p.m., NBC)? Tonight’s two-hour pilot asks viewers to recall a time when movies and TV shows were based on literary works and not theme-park rides and video games. Not that tonight’s “Crusoe” doesn’t owe a thing or two to “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“Crusoe’s” debt to the Daniel Defoe novel also winds backward through more recent entertainment history. The tale of a castaway whose story unfolds in flashbacks may seem familiar to fans of “Lost,” a TV show inspired by the Tom Hanks movie “Cast Away,” a 2000 variation on “Robinson Crusoe.”

Philip Winchester stars in the title role, a part that requires a great many shirtless scenes, a swashbuckler’s way with the sword and a Tarzan-like ability to swing through trees, or rather treehouses. NBC’s Robinson Crusoe is a kind of 18th-century MacGyver, a man who uses the technology of his period to fashion all the comforts of home and deadly booby traps to boot. You should see how this guy makes fresh-squeezed orange juice!

Flashbacks arrive with a needless visual flourish. Many of Crusoe’s happy memories of his marriage to Susannah (Anna Walton) seem like spliced-in discards from a Hallmark Channel romance. A backstory also involves a shady mentor and patron, Jeremiah Blackthorn (Sam Neill, “The Tudors”). We also see how Crusoe rescued Friday (Tongayi Chirisa) from certain death at the hands of cannibals.

Most of the present-day action in this debut involves pirates, who come ashore seeking gold and arrive straight out of central casting.

Viewers could certainly do worse than watch a big-budget remake of a classic tale featuring two underdressed and handsome men living and fighting by their wits. In another TV universe, “Crusoe” would be a natural fit for Saturday or Sunday evenings, nights when parents and children watch television together.

One wonders how much the flashbacks of two main characters can sustain a story over 13 episodes. And how many hostile visitors can “Crusoe” entertain before it becomes as unbelievable as “Gilligan’s Island”?

¢ Based on the Oscar-winning 2006 drama, “Crash” (9 p.m., Starz) features an extensive cast as residents of Los Angeles whose lives intersect in ways both surprising and violent. This 13-part series is dominated by star Dennis Hopper, who turns in a memorable role as an arrogant and repulsive music producer whose inability to keep a dependable driver leads him to several eventful encounters.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ An angry poltergeist haunts the Internet on “Ghost Whisperer” (7 p.m., CBS).

¢ Jeff Foxworthy hosts a two-hour episode of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Based on a popular magazine, “Real Simple. Real Life” (7 p.m., TLC) offers lifestyle advice.

¢ A burglary brings a new old flame to Bella’s quest on “The Ex List” (8 p.m., CBS).

¢ “True Hollywood Story” (8 p.m., E!) profiles Oprah Winfrey.

¢ A shooter has eight victims and counting on “Numb3rs” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ Scheduled on “20/20” (9p.m., ABC): John Stossel looks at political promises.

¢ An Internet Romeo suffers a dismal fate on “Life” (9 p.m., NBC).