I just watched the ep where a mad scientist takes the castaways to another island and switches their minds in each other bodies.
Ginger gets switched with the mad scientists mook. That was very disturbing thinking the Mad had done it until it’s revealed the mook did it himself. “In here. Feels good.”
Thent theres the dream sequence episodes such as the vampire episode.
“Sherlock Holmes? We called for you three years ago”
“Well it was terribly difficult walking across the English Channel. Take one step, come up for air. Take another step…”
It gets a “bad rap” because it deserves it. It was a piece of shit. That’s not a judgement; frankly 95% of all TV back then was crap, and the only reason anyone watched any of that shit was because they really only had like 3 choices at any given time. Pieces of shit with at least some entertainment value, but still-- pieces of shit.
It was a pithy, cogent examination of the Human Condition that utilized classical archetypes and commedia dell’arte stylings to channel the existential gestalt of 20th century American angst.
Even when it was on, it was clearly second rate. I had to watch all the episodes (it was a treaty with my brothers, since we only had one TV: I had to watch it; in return, they had to watch Get Smart).
Seeing it after, it still seems pretty lame (and far to broad for my tastes). It is better than The Brady Bunch, but that’s setting the bar down on the floor.
It was crippled by its time and its premise. The island might have more visitors than the Plaza Hotel, but none of them ever told the authorities or took the castaways away.
Because of restrictions on what TV could do back then, no sexual tension, no story arcs, and the worst that happened to Gilligan was that the Skipper swatted him with his hat.
It’s only legacy was the ongoing debate of whether you’d prefer to bonk Ginger or Maryanne. Pretty feeble. So, crap.
And I’ve read Professor / Ginger and/or Maryanne slash better than any of the shows.
Yup, I don’t think it was any worse than its contemporaries, take a look at its contempories particularly in the sitcom genre. The main reason it gets trashed is that it is more memorable, than say Green Acres. And so the disdain for all sitcoms of that time are focused on it.
This is a better article, and includes The Monkees and* The Andy Griffith Show*, which your page is inexplicably missing. Also* The Smothers Brothers*, although that wasn’t a sitcom. The Dick van Dyke Show had just finished its run. Good tv existed.
Gilligan’s Island was terrible and deserves its reputation. The cast was lucky it’s remembered so fondly, even if the nostalgia is largely for the badness.
Individually, there were some great episodes. (The aforementioned Hamlet done to the music from Carmen, the Rashomon episode, the B&W art film episode had its moments, as the one with Agent 014 (he’s twice as good as 007)).
Collectively, it was crap. And I watched every episode about 10 times.
Gilligan’s Island was an example of a ‘high concept’ sitcom. Not to be confused with ‘high brow’, high concept shows were an odd format that became rather popular in the 60s. They used the idea of an extremely unusual setting while still containing ordinary, often very archetype characters. Examples included:
[ul]
[li]The Munsters[/li][li]The Addams Family[/li][li]I Dream of Jeanie[/li][li]Hogan’s Heroes[/li][/ul]
Essentially they were all flash and little substance. The producers would put all the effort into creating a weird, unusual but still easily graspable premise, then the writers just phoned it in every week. By the 70s the genre had run its course. Given the format they were very popular with us kids in afterschool reruns thru the early 70s. I first realized how dumb Gilligan’s was when I watched their reunion special in '77 or '78. I hadn’t seen the show in years and was now almost a teenager and was amazed at how unwatchably silly it was. Although their first reunion special did get huge ratings (all of us had to tune in to see them finally get rescued*!*)
I liked the episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy wants to be in show business, but Ricky won’t let her.
I liked the episode of Breaking Bad where Walt cooks meth and tries to hide it from his family.
I liked the episode of The Sopranos where Tony killed someone, cheated on his wife, then sat around with his pals breaking balls and talking about Italian food.
