It didn’t make sense because it wasn’t supposed to make sense. It was supposed to be funny, and it succeeded at that.
I agree. Back then shows didn’t have story arcs and you could jump in the middle of a series and not feel lost. It did something right because it is still remembered. How many other “better” shows are now completely forgotten?
The smack should be aimed at whoever edited the IMDB page. The official title should have been listed first and biggest.
There’s even an episode where they comment on how Gilligan’s working too hard (he’s doing everyone’s laundry, among other tasks), and then his hair goes white. It’s for unrelated reasons, but they all assume it’s because it’s because he’s pushed himself so hard he’s prematurely aged. He was definitely incompetent, but he was never lazy.
Mrs. Howell would probably be a better representation of sloth.
I forget what it was in, some goofy comedy film I think*, but there’s a clip of Bob Denver as himself but in his Gilligan outfit lamenting about the professor,* “The guy could make a nuclear reactor out of some coconuts but couldn’t fix a two-foot hole in a boat!”* And in the first reunion special the Professor discovers there’s a hurricane coming so they do make a raft (complete with grass huts on it!) and that’s how they finally escape!
Gilligan’s Island certainly deserves its reputation for being a very silly, low brow show, but it never tried to be anything else. So criticizing it too harshly sort of feels like making fun of a retarded kid. IMO a show like Lost in Space is a thousand times more cringe-worthy because it’s just as campy and silly as GI, but took itself completely seriously! It was *Star Trek *meets Batman for Christ’s sake! And when you stop and think about it, GI did effortlessly elevate escapist comedy to an almost absurd level. Consider plots like:
[ul]
[li]They find a crate of movie-making equipment washed up on the island so they use it to try and get rescued by, making a film about them getting stranded?! And each character takes on a stereotypical ole’ time movie-making role and the whole endeavor falls apart because they can’t agree on what ‘theme’ their film should have(!?!) And if that isn’t enough, they hear on the radio that their film was in fact found, but instead of getting them rescued it wins first place in a comedy film contest(!?!) [/li][li]They keep running into famous visitors trying to get away from the world so they have to indulge them in some way to convince them to want to go back to the real world (put on a play, form a musical band etc.) and it inevitably ends with the visitors loving and therefore stealing their ideas and leaving them stranded so they can claim it as their own(!?!)[/ul][/li]
With only a little tweaking these ideas could be presented today as incredibly high brow, intelligent, hipster, meta-humor. Plus Gilligan’s Island does deserve a little respect because, without ever hitting you over the head with it too hard, it ultimately had a soul, a heart. The overall theme became that even though they were separated from the rest of the world they weren’t really missing out on things because they had each other. And because of this, in some ways they were actually better off. This is summed up at the ending of the reunion special when they incredibly find themselves stranded on the island again…
- I looked it up, it was called Back to the Beach
Just listen to the theme song. It’s like they wanted you to know it was crap before the show even started.
To be fair, 90% of everything is crap, so GI doesn’t exactly stand out.
Bugs Bunny, now that’s art.
Brilliant! I can sleep nights again
My friend is a charter boat captain. Poor guy can’t go a week without some doofus thinking that he’s funny by singing the Gilligan’s Island theme song as they’re leaving the breakwater.
…wul, considering that the creator, producer, and nearly all of the cast is now DEAD, it’s a hell of a time to start complaining about it…
One remarkable thing about GI is that it made all its characters so likeable; even rich greedy Mr Howell. It woulda been fun to be shipwrecked with them.
This pretty much sums it up for me, as far as what made it a good show despite everything else.
I remember the first time I saw as an adult the episode were the Russian cosmonauts land on the island. When they met Mr. Howell they call him a* “Capitalist pig!”* and Mr. Howell takes it as a compliment!
Cool, do Green Acres. I always liked that show, it was surreal and charming at the same time.
In plain, non-Vulcan English - crap.
</>Dr. McCoy.
The theme song even called it “The Smothers Brothers Show.”
Has any comedy team ever gone from the depths of their first show to the heights of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in one step? The sitcom wasn’t terrible, just dumb.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think the mate was a mighty sailing man.
Oh my gosh! That was from Giligan’s island?!
I’ve had that and Carmen’s “To be or not to be” rattling around in my subconscious for decades but couldn’t remember where it was from (I thought possibly a Prairie Home Companion). I’ll rest much easier tonight thanks to you.
Yeah, the show is enjoyable because of this quality. Very well-put!
It was. It was…which is why the reunion show was such a heap of garbage. They got all the surviving cast members back, but completely forgot what had made the show good in the first place.