The Baron Watches "Gilligan's Island"

[The Baron]

Having seen my good friend Jeff's latest TV-based discussion, Jeff Watches Torchwood, I thought, "Since Jeff is posting about a current program that he's watching for the first time, I ought to post about an old program that I'd be watching for what would be at least the fiftieth, but which I haven't looked at in quite some time - and what better program to watch than one of the seminal comedies of its generation, one which had a profound impact on American television, and which went on to inspire such varied fare as Dusty's Trail, Far Out Space Nuts, and Lost.

Gilligan's Island is one of the first television programs I ever remember watching - Having been born in 1963, I was a touch too young to watch it in first-run, but I must've caught it in its earliest re-runs - I'm pretty sure that "Happy Birthday to You" and "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" are among the first songs that I knew all the words to.

I debated putting a spoiler warning on this thread - it's hard for me to conceive that there's anyone out there who hasn't seen Gilligan's Island - certainly not in the U.S. Anyway, if by some chance you haven't seen the show, but might want to watch it someday - be forewarned! There will be discussions of plot points, here.

As for the rest of you, "Just sit right back..."

[The Baron]

Herman -  ?

Lily: Joan Bennett

Grandpa: Thayer David

Marilyn:  Nancy Barrett

Eddie:  David Henesy

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Herman - Robert Rodan (Too on the nose?)

[Philip Portelli]

I tried this with Star Trek:

The Skipper-William Shatner

Gilligan-Walter Koenig

The Professor-Leonard Nimoy

Mr. Howell-DeForest Kelly (which I love for some reason)

Mrs. Howell-Majel Barrett

Ginger-Nichelle Nichols

MaryAnn-Yvonne Craig (hey, she guest-starred)

Of course, that leaves James Doohan and George Takei out but it's not like no one else ever visited the island!

Vice Versa:

Capt. Kirk- Russell Johnson (again I love this idea!)

Mr. Spock-Bob Denver (I think that he would love a dramatic role)

Dr. McCoy-Jim Bacchus

Scotty-Alan Hale, Jr.

Uhura-Tina Louise

Yeoman Rand-Dawn Wells

Nurse Chapel-Natalie Schafer

Sulu-George Takei (can't think of a good replacement)

Chekov-Kurt Russell (did think of a good replacement)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

For the Munsters/Dark Shadows, I agree with both Bob and Darrin's choices. (Robert Rodan played Adam, the Frankenstein's monster pastiche, on Dark Shadows.)

I did Star Trek/Gilligan's Island and Gilligan's Island/Star Trek yesterday to post as a follow-up today, but came up with slightly different results.

On the Gilligan's Island side, I cast Grace Lee Whitney as Mary Ann.

On the Star Trek side, I cast Alan Hale as Captain Kirk, Russell Johnson as Dr. McCoy and Jim Backus as Sulu. (No Scotty on my list. Although Alan Hale would make a good one, I prefer him as "Skipper" of the Enterprise.)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

For The Munsters/Gilligan's Island, I’d got with…

Herman – Alan Hale
Lily – Tina Louise
Grandpa – Jim Backus
Marilyn – Dawn Wells
Eddie – Bob Denver

Alternately, for The Munsters/Lost in Space…

Herman – Dawson Palmer (LIS stuntman who played most of the monsters)
Lily – June Lockhart
Grandpa – Jonathan Harris
Marilyn – Marta Kristin
Eddie – Billy Mumy

[ClarkKent_DC]

Some sad news about Dawn Wells. From The Huffington Post: "Dawn Wells of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Says She’s Broke and Asks For Help"

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Apparently, Dawn wells raised $197K in GoFundMe donations.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

It’s time for another round of “Cast a Different Show with the Cast of Gilligan’s Island!” (Hmm… Gotta work on that title.) Today’s show: Deep Space Nine. This one was tough, but here are my choices.

Sisko: Alan Hale
O’Brien: Bob Denver
Dax: Tina Louise
Kira: Dawn Wells
Odo: Jim Backus
Leeta: Natalie Schaffer
Bashir: Russell Johnson

Flipping it around, I’d change things up a little…

The Skipper: Avery Brooks
Gilligan: Cirroc Lofton (but maybe Armin Shimerman or Rene Auberjonois…?)
Mr. Howell: Quark
Mrs. Howell: Chase Masterson
Ginger: Terry Farrell
Mary Ann: Nana Visitor
The Professor: Alexander Siddig

[ClarkKent_DC]

Figserello said:

As I say, I've never seen an episode of this show, although I'd heard of it. It sounds like the sort of 1/2 hour show that would have been on in Ireland after school, just before the news and just after the kids programmes.

The set-up is interesting. I can only think of two other shows that had such a potentially limited starting point, with the cast being islolated from everyone. One is of course Lost, and the other is Red Dwarf. Watching the writers coming up with ways to get around the seeming impossibility of interactions with civilisation is part of the fun. Like Lost there seems to have been much reference to the gangs' lives before the shipwreck, and like Red Dwarf, it has plenty of dream-sequences, hallucinations, imaginary adventures. Even Robots!

I've learned that producer Sherwood Schwartz had to struggle to sell Gilligan's Island to the network, because the bigwigs couldn't grasp the notion of those seven characters being the only seven characters, and that they didn't go anywhere.

One exec, in particular, liked the part about Gilligan and the Skipper running an island tour business, and hated the rest. So much, he commissioned another show to "prove" that was the better idea!

Remember The Baileys of Balboa?* It starred Paul Ford as Sam Bailey (the Skipper analogue) and Sterling Holloway as Buck Singleton (the Gilligan doppelganger). It debuted the same season as Gilligan's Island, ran for 26 episodes, and sank without a trace.

Behind-the-scenes lore from Brian Cronin at Entertainment Legends Revealed: "Did CBS Create An Alternate Version of Gilligan’s Island Where the Boat DOESN’T Get Lost to Show How That Was a Better Idea for a Show?

More here from Wikipedia: "The Baileys of Balboa"

* I don't.

[Dave Palmer]

There was also “The New People” from 1969-1970 about a bunch of American college students who crash landed on a Pacific Island.  The island had been used or prepared for use as a nuclear bomb test site.  The show was 45 minutes long.  It was developed by Rod Serling.  At the time I saw an episode or two.

It had a two issue run by Dell.  The art was by Frank Springer.

[Richard Willis]

I remember that whenever they encountered people who went back to civilization there were a few reasons why they wouldn't be rescued. Either they had their own reasons for not telling, they told but weren't believed or (possibly) they wound up with amnesia. Not sure about the last one.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"Today’s show: Deep Space Nine. This one was tough..."

I've had to re-think casting the DS9 actors, starting with...

Skipper: Colm Meaney

Gilligan: Alexander Siddig