# Read this if you want to feel old (older than Gilligan) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551 "2002-10-30T15:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChuckForbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@ChuckForbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChuckForbin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/1 "2002-10-30T15:49:12Z")
So, I’m watching the Dick Van Dyke show, and trying to decide how old Sally Rogers is, and well, I always though she seemed pretty old. I look her up and \ I am OLDER than she is ! I’m 41, realize my death is impending, but wow. She was 38 at the start of the show. So I look closer at some of my other favorite old shows, and realize that all these old farts were not really that old. In order to evenly spread the pain around, see how you fit in with these old codgers from your favorite shows : [all ages are from IMDB,based on series premire date, I may be off by a year as I’m too lazy to check actual month/day] \*\*The Dick Van Dyke Show \*\* Laura Petrie - 25 Rob Petrie - 36 Sally Rogers - 38 Buddy Sorell - 53 **Gilligan’s Island** Gilligan - 29 Skipper - 43 Mr Howell - 51 **Bewitched** Samantha Stevens - 31 Real Darrin - 36 Bogus Darren - 34 **Star Trek** Kirk - 35 Spock - 35 **Leave it to Beaver** Ward Cleaver - 48 June Cleaver - 35 So I’m pretty much older than everyone, now. Time to switch to Matlock. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/2 "2002-10-30T15:55:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I am OLDER than she is ! Well, no. You’re older than she _was_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/3 "2002-10-30T15:59:33Z")
Oh, and I forgot what I really wanted to point out. If you want a shocker, take a peak at how old [_Mrs._ Howell](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Schafer,%20Natalie) was. She’s got Thurston beat by more than 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/4 "2002-10-30T17:27:23Z")
I was watching Robin Williams’s _Popeye_ last night, and the mention (well, infer, really) that he’s 32. One year younger than I am. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/5 "2002-10-30T17:57:55Z")
I knew I was getting old the first time I watched a current sitcom and they mentioned that the main characters were younger than me. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/6 "2002-10-31T03:34:36Z")
:eek: I would have guessed Rose Marie was well into her 50s when the show ran. Although she was playing the “old maid” character. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/7 "2002-10-31T05:09:29Z")
I dunno, I always saw Gilligan as a youngish type, so that’s not so weird. Ward Cleaver always looked so ancient in the later episodes of “Leave it to Beaver.” Was he 48 at the start or finish of the show? (And I’m only 18, but I do have TV Land, so…:)) ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/8 "2002-10-31T09:08:31Z")
I kept having similar crises when I started getting into “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” I’d be watching the show, feeling like I was one of the gang and all, and then they’d pour cold water on me by mentioning that they’re not old enough to drink, or they’d show a character’s headstone with a birth date in the mid-80’s. And I’d just feel old, sad, and lecherous. Then, somebody on this very message board revealed that much of the cast is my age or older! Hooray for teen-oriented television shows starring actors in their late-20’s-to-early-30’s! I’ve no excuse for my current “Smallville” fixation, though… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/9 "2002-10-31T09:14:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > \*\*I was watching Robin Williams’s _Popeye_ last night, and the mention (well, infer, really) that he’s 32. /B] _Imply_. (The viewer infers.) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/10 "2002-11-02T03:35:27Z")
One other thing…it’s bizarre when you watch something and you suddenly realize you’re older than people who were older than you and whom you were attracted to… Er, what I mean, is “Boy Meets World.” I watched that show religiously when I was younger. Now I look back at them when they’re 13 or 14, or even 16…and now being 18, it feels weird. It’s even ickier knowing that in reality they’re older than me, but I’ve been attracted to their younger selves. It just feels so odd. It also feels bizarre to realize that high school age sitcoms are suddenly past me. Okay, not suddenly, but it’s like one day you’re watching a show where the kids are in high school and you are too, and the next you’re in college and they’re still there. Just feels weird. And the kids on “Dawson’s Creek” STILL look older than I do. (In reruns, I mean…) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/11 "2002-11-02T11:36:41Z")
Take Sally Roger’s age when The Dick Van Dyke show first aired. Add nineteen years to it. Believe it or not, that’s how old Goldie Hawn is. ---
**Author:** ![TwungTister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TwungTister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwungTister)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/12 "2002-11-02T19:52:30Z")
My opera workshop was watching _Hansl and Gretel_ (in German) sometime in – golly! do I haveto look up my college records to find out?!? – well, **between** 1995 and 1997. The play was taped in the 1980’s. The bewitched children were being touched on the cheek to wake them from the spell, and one of my classmates noted that those cute children, at that time, were older than he was. ---
**Author:** ![TwungTister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TwungTister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwungTister)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-if-you-want-to-feel-old-older-than-gilligan/134551/13 "2002-11-02T20:14:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoggie \* > > And the kids on “Dawson’s Creek” STILL look older than I do. (In reruns, I mean…) \*\* All adult actors in films from the 60’s - any black & white film - look old to me. I don’t see the “age” their character is supposed to be (young, hot, flirtatious, etc\*); I see their age the same as someone I know of that age when the movie was made (judging by old hair styles.) An actor who played a newlywed when my father was young, _still looks like my father’s age whenever I watch!_ . . . . \*Anybody know a better word for this? Not numerical age, but, uh “stage” in life?