Despite critical barbs as sharp as a Maroobi spear, Gilligan's Island has proven unsinkable. Its first season was 1964's top-rated show. The expository theme song is one of television's most quoted, and its characters--the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.), first mate Gilligan (Bob Denver), the millionaire (Jim Backus) and his wife (Natalie Schaefer), a movie star (Tina Louise), "and the rest" (Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells, as the Professor and Mary Ann, wouldn't get their opening credit props until season two)--are pop culture icons. Revisiting the first season's episodes is a not-guilty-at-all pleasure. Some sure and surprising hands piloted these inaugural episodes, including Ida Lupino, Jack Arnold (The Creature from the Black Lagoon), Christian Nyby (The Thing), and Richard Donner (who went on to direct Superman and Lethal Weapon).
The "seven stranded castaways" from the ill-fated S.S. Minnow (slyly named for former Federal Communications Commission head Newton "vast wasteland" Minow) received memorable visits from the likes of Hans Conreid as errant pilot Wrong Way Feldman, a young Kurt Russell as Jungle Boy, and Larry Storch as a Cagney-esque bank robber. But these were mere diversions from the heart of the series; the no-man-is-an-island social microcosm that creator Sherwood Schwartz conceived as an anti-war parable (this courtesy of his optional commentary during the fabled unaired series pilot). In the Christmas episode "Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk," Santa Claus himself drops in to lift the disheartened castaways' spirits. "You could have been enemies," he tells them, "instead of a family group who all learned to get along." This is they key to this series' enduring popularity. That, and the unending debate: Ginger or Mary Ann?
Cast and Characters
Bob Denver as Gilligan
Alan Hale, Jr. as Jonas Grumby (The Skipper)
Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III
Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Lovey Howell
Tina Louise as Ginger Grant
Russel Johnson as Roy Hinkley (The Professor)
Dawn Wells as Mary Ann Summers
Broadcast History, Episode Guide & TV Schedule First Telecast: September 26, 1964
Last Telecast: September 4, 1967
View the Gilligan's Island Episode Guide Number of Seasons: 3
Number of Episodes: 98
Original Network: CBS
Original Primetime TV Schedule:
September 1964- September 1965, CBS, Saturday 8:30-9:00pm
September 1965- September 1966, CBS, Thursday 8:00-8:30pm
September 1966- September 1967, CBS, Monday 7:30-8:00pm
Theme Song Lyrics and Opening Credits
"The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" by George Wyle and Sherwood Schwartz
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.
The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost.
The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan
The Skipper too,
The millionaire and his wife,
The movie star
The professor and Mary Ann,
Here on Gilligans Isle.
So this is the talel of the castways,
They're here for a long, long time,
They'll have to make the best of things,
It's an uphill climb.
The first mate and the Skipper too,
Will do their very best,
To make the others comfortable,
In the tropic island nest.
No phone, no lights no motor cars,
Not a single luxury,
Like Robinson Crusoe,
As primative as can be.
So join us here each week my freinds,
You're sure to get a smile,
From seven stranded castways,
Here on "Gilligan's Isle."
Despite critical barbs as sharp as a Maroobi spear, Gilligan's Island has proven unsinkable. Its first season was 1964's top-rated show. The expository theme song is one of television's most quoted, and its characters--the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.), first mate Gilligan (Bob Denver), the millionaire (Jim Backus) and his wife (Natalie Schaefer), a movie star (Tina Louise), "and the rest" (Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells, as the Professor and Mary Ann, wouldn't get their opening credit props until season two)--are pop culture icons. Revisiting the first season's episodes is a not-guilty-at-all pleasure. Some sure and surprising hands piloted these inaugural episodes, including Ida Lupino, Jack Arnold (The Creature from the Black Lagoon), Christian Nyby (The Thing), and Richard Donner (who went on to direct Superman and Lethal Weapon).
