Theme
Music: "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," by George Wyle &
Sherwood Schwartz
Broadcast History:
September 1964 - September 1965,
Saturday 8:30-9:00 on CBS
September 1965 - September 1966,
Thursday 8:00-8:30 on CBS
September 1966 - September 1967,
Monday 7:30-8:00 on CBS
Cast
Gilligan.....
Bob
Denver
Jonas
"The Skipper" Grumby..... Alan Hale, Jr.
Thurston
Howell, III..... Jim Backus
Mrs.
Lovey Howell..... Natalie Schafer
Ginger
Grant..... Tina Louise
Roy
"The Professor" Hinkley..... Russell
Johnson
Mary
Ann Summers.....
Dawn Wells
SYNOPSIS
The small charter boat,
Minnow, had been on a sight-seeing party when it was caught in
a storm and wrecked on the shore of an uncharted South Pacific island. Marooned together on the
island were: the good-natured Skipper; a somewhat blustery millionaire and his
vacuous wife; a sexy movie star named Ginger; a high-school science teacher known as The Professor; a
sweet, naive country girl named Mary Ann; and Gilligan. Gilligan was the
boat's
sole crew member, aside from the skipper. He was well-meaning but inept in his
attempts to find a means of returning to civilization. As a result, and
perhaps even more because this simple-minded farce became a top hit, the
little band
was stranded on that island for three full seasons. One question that never
got answered, however, concerned the luggage. In the first episode, and in
the theme song, it was pointed out that the cruise was only supposed to be
for three hours. How, then, did the passengers have enough clothing to last
three years?
Gilligan's
biggest fans were kids, and when the series finally went into repeats on local
stations they made it one of the biggest rerun hits of the 1960's and 1970's.
An animated cartoon version called The
New Adventures of Gilligan
was produced for ABC, and ran on on the network's weekend daytime schedule from
1974-1977. A second cartoon version,
Gilligan's
Planet, aired on
CBS' weekend daytime lineup from 1982-1984.
Then in 1978 NBC had the
bright idea of bringing the original cast back together for a reunion special,
in which they were finally rescued. All agreed to appear except Tina Louise
(who wanted too much money, and so was replaced by Judith Baldwin). "Rescue
from Gilligan's Island"
aired in October 1978 as a two-part special, and was a phenomenal hit. They
did finally get off the island, and returned to a triumphant homecoming. But
they made the mistake of going on a reunion cruise on the Minnow II,
only to wind up stranded back on the same island - the result of another freak
storm! "Castaways on Gilligan's Island," a follow-up special
aired in 1979, had them converting the island into a tourist resort. And in
still another sequel in 1981, The Harlem Globetrotters dropped in.
There was talk of reviving the series, but audiences for the 1979 and 1981
sequels were not very large, and the idea never materialized.
One of TV's
great bits of trivia is Gilligan's first name. None was ever revealed on
the show, but years later on a talk show Bob Denver claimed that he had
talked the matter over with the show's creator/producer Sherwood Schwartz, and
they had decided that if Gilligan ever did need a first name, it would
be "Willie".
