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.
I always thought Hogan’s Heroes was campy because Hollywood didn’t really know about the carnage and horror of World War II. Turns out, the Germans on Hogan’s Heroes were all Jewish (Gen. Burkhalter and Sgt. Schultz were both imprisoned in Concentration CAmps for a while, while Cpl. LeBeau survived Auschwitz), while Col. Klink was the son of a famous Socialist conductor who had a Jewish wife. All the “Germans” served in the U.S. Army during World War II. They made the Germans buffoons because that was their way of getting back at the Nazis.
Indeed. Back when many of us were limited to only three network channels, there was often a lot of made-for-syndication fare that didn’t make it to our local tv markets. I always remember how I kept hearing so much hubbub about “Space: 1999,” and it made me anxious to see it. There were comic books to it, and a set of gum-cards. But none of my local channels carried it, so I never got to view the series. Still haven’t, to this very day!
Anyway, as ridiculous as “Gilligan” is, I frankly think a lot of kids would be far better off viewing this kind of good-natured silliness than all those modern Disney/Nickelodeon type kid shows, which seem to convey a weird sort of look-at-me, fame-obsessed, self-absorption vibe.
Yea, pretty corny special effects. When he or Wonder Woman take a gun and bend it in their hands you can sometimes see the joint where they extended the gun with modeling clay.
But the characters and the stories are pretty good.
ME TV has just started showing the old 50s version of “Superman”.
I haven’t seen that in years Does the opening have “......Thruth, justice and the American way” and the train and the American flag?
Yes, they still do.
I noticed in Smallville which was a pretty good series despite the idiocy of casting all the professional and respected people as Black, once had Clark say “Truth, Justice, and other stuff”.
I guess they just couldn’t bear to say “American Way”.
They're even destroying as in re-writing old cartoon characters into newer roles. I watched Bugs Bunny a couple months ago and it was quite different. It was the ones from the Mel Blanc era but rather real recent ones that almost make them all look gay except for Bugs who has a girlfriend. Some of the ones we grew up on I guess are not PC thus not shown anymore.
Col. Klink ( Werner Klemperer) was a real leftie.
You’re right, they portrayed the Germans as buffoons to get back at them.
No, many in Hollywood knew a lot about WW II. It was filmed only 20 years or so after the war.
Fun show.
I never saw or heard of “Smallville”. What years was it on?
I just looked up “Smallville” Thanks anyway.
Yes, they still do
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That’s good. Thanks for letting me know.
Dawn Wells appeared in a video campaign that I directed just last Monday, here in Denver. She is now 75 and just as lovely and charming as ever. We spent about a half hour just chatting while she was getting touch ups. I shared that I have a friend who was a neighbor of Russell Johnson's and she lit up like a marquee; she flatly said she would have married him if given the chance. I told her that most of America would have loved that. I miss her already
Bump.
She is the only cast member that got residuals. Her husband at the time was an agent and got it for her. She got rich off it while the others did not.
Wow - 75 and still looking good!
What I found funny is seeing guest stars showing up on the island and getting off the island yet Gilligan and the gang have a problem getting off the island.
“The professor and Mary Ann,”
My favorite GI story is about that line. Originally it was “and the rest” an Wells and Johnson’s names were not in the opening credits, only at the end of the show. Bob Denver hated that, and without telling the other actors went to the producers and asked that they change the song and opening credits to include them. He was initially told it was too expensive. He then told them that his contract allowed him to decide where his credit would go. If they didn’t include Wells and Johnson in the opening, they would have to move his credit to the end of the show with theirs. The producers finally agreed.
Denver never told anyone else that he did that. Wells said she only heard about it decades later when someone doing a book heard it from one of the producers and told her.
Wow she still looks great!
Always though Mary Ann and Ginger were both sexy. I don’t know any guy that did not think that?
The only debate was who is hotter?
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