Posted on 09/26/2014 8:50:48 PM PDT by iowamark
In thee 1960s, Americans were faced with civil unrest, a growing war in Vietnam and the potential threat of nuclear annihilation from the Russians.
Perhaps it's no surprise then that "Gilligan's Island" -- with its trippy and light-hearted plotlines each week -- was a big hit with viewers, who may have wanted a diversion from the world around them.
The sitcom first landed on the airwaves on Sept. 26, 1964 on CBS, airing for three seasons for a total of 98 episodes.
It might have had a brief initial run, but the series remains one of the most syndicated shows on TV today. A half-century since its debut, fans of the show are as passionate as ever, although the series almost didn't come to fruition.
Series creator Sherwood Schwartz (who would later go on to create "The Brady Bunch") has said that he was met with a great deal of opposition while pitching his idea for the series the executives at CBS, who considered the premise too unrealistic and boring.
Alas, the execs relented, and a pilot episode was commissioned, to be shot on location in Hawaii.
Schwartz was interested in having Jerry Van Dyke (brother of Dick Van Dyke) star as the goofy first mate Gilligan, who causes the accident that lands himself and his Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.) and five passengers aboard the Minnow stranded on a remote deserted isle in the Pacific.
Like the studio heads, Van Dyke also didn't believe that the series had a chance of making it and instead agreed to star in another series, "My Mother the Car," which ended up only lasting for one season.
Bob Denver, at the time famous for his role as Maynard G. Krebs on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," soon accepted the title role.
During filming of what would become the first pilot episode, cast and crew were notified in Hawaii of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Despite the shocking news, production eventually resumed.
For the entire series run, the opening credit sequence shows the S.S. Minnow (named as a joke after FCC chairman Newton S. Minnow, who actually hated TV) sailing out of a dock that has flags at half-mast because of JFK's death.
The first pilot was initially rejected by CBS, but a new episode was commissioned by the network in the hopes of saving the series.
Several original cast members and characters were replaced, including Bunny (Nancy McCarthy) -- who would later be known as Mary-Ann and played by Dawn Wells.
"I wanted to create a 'social microcosm'," Schwartz, who died in 2011 at 94, said in a 2001 interview when asked about the diverse characters on the series, including a very wealthy couple, an academic (The Professor, played by Russell Johnson), a movie star (Ginger, portrayed by Tina Louise) and a country girl (Mary-Ann).
With the cast now solidified, Schwartz was tasked with coming up with a new theme song (the first pilot had used a calypso-style number from composer John Williams).
"The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle," co-written by Schwartz and his friend George Wyle, still stands as one of the most popular and recognizable TV themes in history.
"We now had the cast, we had the song and off we went to Hawaii to do the show," said Schwartz.
Fifty years later, the three-hour tour continues.
If it’s the right stuff, it isn’t too much. ;-)
Patching the hole was actually one of the few things they sort of made an effort to explain. Not a very good effort but at least they tried.
They did in one episode. The glue only held 24-48 hours. I liked where the monkey got hold of some experimental explosive plastic they found and made into plates.
I must have seen reruns - I don’t think I was only 7 when the show ended. I must have been young enough though to think it was somehow real - so perhaps I did see the originals - but also reruns to remember some of the episodes. I know that I always hoped that “this time” they would get rescued - but they never were.
I have tried to look it up on cable to show my kids, but no luck.
That was sort of an ersatz film culled from the “Dusty’s Trail” series, which was pretty obviously patterned after “Gilligan.” Apparently, “Gilligan” was doing gangbusters in rerun syndication in the early-70s, so to capitalize on that, “Dusty’s Trail” was produced and sold as a non-network, made-for-syndication series. Really low budget. Only lasted a single season, but I remember one of our local stations airing it on Saturday afternoons, around 1973.
Thanks for the ME-TV reference. I’ll set the DVR for some shows.
I just googled “Tina Louise bitch”...about 166,000 results.
LOL
CC
She was born in 1934 so she’s 80. She had too much plastic surgery in her younger days.
I recall watching a documentary on Gilligan’s Island and they had great interviews with the cast with the exception of Tina Louise - they got bupkis from her because she hates discussing the show and becomes irate when people mention it in her presence.
from your link:
During her appearance, Wells referred to her forthcoming book, Mary Ann’s Good Girls Guide to Life. The book is due to be released in 2014 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Gilligan’s Island.
It’s on ME TV
And the Skipper was going to pound some nails but got saved when the chimp tossed the plates and they blew up. Good kids show.
I was too young to have seen the original run, but it was on every day after school in the 70’s.
It’s on METV currently, so I’ve seen them again after a decade or two.
ME-TV has some of the better old ones. I watched a bit of Hogan's Heroes tonight.
I didn't get to see that show. Our locals didn't carry it but did Gilligan's. Island. First time I saw it was by renting the movie.
“...but it was on every day after school in the 70’s.”
I would come home and got to watch TV for an hour after school. Gilligan’s Island and Hogan’s Heroes. My old man would often come in during Hogan’s Heroes, do something for a few minutes, watch for a few minutes, and then leave with a smile and shaking his head ‘Oh those crazy guys!” (Every single time!)
As a WWII vet that was all he would say.
I must have seen the original episodes of Gilligan’s Island also to have the idea that it was real.
Yea really they were. Mr Terrific, Captain Nice, the original B&W Dragnets, My Mother the car, Car 54, Mr Ed, LOL. But in that era Beverly Hillbillies was my favorites and Green Acres as far as sitcoms go.
And yes, Mary Ann.
ME TV has just started showing the old 50s version of “Superman”. I saw the first one and missed a few. That episode had really bad special effects even by 1950 standards.
On the other hand, the story was pretty darn good.
the old 50s version of “Superman”
You mean the one’s where after the bad guy empties his gun as Superman stands there and the bullets bounce off; but he ducks when the bad guy throws the gun at him?
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