Gilligan's Island

Here are some random thoughts on "Gilligan's Island":

--Great fun watching as a kid. As the previous person commented, the show was incredibly hokey, but that was part of its appeal.

--I always wondered why the castaways never tried some of the same escape schemes again after they were ruined by Gilligan.

--The show was remarkably prolific, having produced over 100 episodes in only 3 years.

--A lot of people don't realize that Russell "The Professor" Johnson was a Army Air Corps bombardier (on the B-26 Mitchell?) during WW II and had been in dozens of movies before "Gilligan's Island". Russell's book is the best "Gilligan's Island" book out there, in my opinion.

--Mary Ann, in my opinion, is a hands-down winner in a Mary Ann vs. Ginger debate. Dawn Wells was nice enough to send me an autographed picture after I wrote to her.

--At least one researcher has prepared a paper showing how the seven castaways represented the Seven Deadly Sins.

--Trivia Time--an actress named Judith Baldwin played Ginger in the "Gilligan's Island" movies

--Dawn Wells, bless her heart, threw the others off key when the castaways sang on the show--they had her just mouth the words during the singing scenes

--Of all the cameos the stars of "Gilligan's Island" have done on other shows, my favorite is Russell Johnson appearing on a "Newhart" episode saluting "Gilligan's Island"; his was kind of a "hidden" cameo--they didn't identify him as "The Professor"

--I have to agree with the previous reviewer--the Mosquitoes episode was my favorite

I am amazed that this series only lasted three years. It's one of few that I will watch without having to worry about bad language. Here's a review of the castaways: Gilligan is the first-mate of the S.S. Minnow. He can be aggravating at times, but often it is him that comes up with good ideas, only to foul them up unintentionally.

The Skipper, whose name is revealed only once as Jonas Grumby, is a little overweight. Whenever Gilligan begins to annoy him, the Skipper just hits him on the head with his hat. I also love it when the Skipper looks directly at the camera at times.

Mr. Thurston Howel III is a multi-millionaire. All he ever does, it seems, is lie around and talk about his money. Though he denies it, he is obsessed with money. His one weakness: his teddy bear.

Mrs. Eunice "Lovey" Howell III is the wife of Mr. Howell. Of the seven, she's the oldest. (I think she is, anyway.) She comes up with some amazing ideas at times.

Professor Roy Hinkley. THough his name is never revealed, that's his name. He's the smartest one of the lot, and sometimes his ideas are often messed up by Gilligan. Whenever you want or need something made, the Professor often can find something to make it out of.

Ginger Grant is a movie star, and the movies that she was in have bizarre titles. None of them sound good, but hey, you can't win 'em all. Ginger is someone who can seduce men into giving her information. She's really good at it, and often gets carried away.

Mary Ann Summers is the only one of the seven who seems normal to me. A farm girl from Kansas, she likes listening to the radio a lot. Nothing wrong with that, right? Well, not if it's a soap opera she's listening to.

Overall, this is one dandy show you don't want to miss.

This has got to be one of the campiest shows of all time. When you look at all this show you see a stereotype of the different types of people who make up our society. You have the working guys (Skipper and Gilligan), the intellectual (the Professor), the sex pot (Ginger), the sweet girl (Mary-Ann) and the upper crust capitalists (the Howells). Too bad this show didn't last another season. I would have loved to have seen them do a series finale instead of the horrid reunion movies. Maybe if they did it that way we could have gotten another season where Mr. Howell builds a resort on the island and Gilligan was the jack of all trades that really kept things rolling.

Also, the biggest question of all, Ginger or Mary-Ann?

If you're old enough to use the computer, you've probably watched Gilligan's Island. Are you checking to see what other people think about it?

I remember every day after elementary school, I'd come home and watch Gilligan's Island, then Star Trek, the old series. It was the way of the world. I can still taste the cookies and milk I'd wolf down, and occasional apple.

One thing for sure: my parents knew that when I was watching Gilligan's Island, it was clean. Do we even have anything as purely non-sexual and clean as this series? (Ahhh Dawn Wells... siiiigh)

Our local cable provider recently started carrying a channel that replays Gilligan's Island, and I've watched them all again through the eyes of an adult. Even though I knew every line, and what would happen in every episode, I still laughed and felt like a kid again.

Maybe someone would complain that the portrayal of the Japanese sailor who doesn't know the war is over is a horrible stereotype, and did anyone notice how.... white... the cast is? But who cares? It's just fun, like a live action cartoon.

By today's standards, something like this would never even be proposed, let alone produced.

Maybe we need more shows like this!

It's Saturday night circa early 60's and right after The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS comes `Gilligans Island'. When it first aired about the only two well-known members of the cast to the vast majority of viewers were Bob Denver who had appeared as the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on Dobie Gillis and the multi talented Jim Backus. Russell Johnson who played the Professor was one of those actors that would appear on various TV shows. It's run on prime time was three seasons but thanks to re-runs Gilligans Island has in fact never left the airwaves. The 98 episodes play over and over yet they still hold up well today and one can still find themselves laughing at various episodes even though they may have seen it dozens perhaps even hundreds of times. If You're not wrapped too tight then like the theme song said `You're sure to get a smile'