Gilligan’s Island (CBS 1964-1967, Bob Denver, Jim Backus)

Wacky sitcom Gilligan’s Island was about a group of people shipwrecked on a desert island.

Whilst on a short sight seeing cruise, the crew and guests of the charter boat The Minnow are caught up in a storm that leaves them stranded on a desert island in the South Pacific.

Gilligan was a dozy crew member, along with Jonas “The Skipper” Grumby. The guests were actress Ginger Grant, teacher Roy Hinkley, usually known as The Professor. The millionaire Thurston Howell III and his wife Lovey and young Mary Ann Summers.

Considering they were only on a short tour the gang seemed to have an inordinate supply of food and clothes during their time on the island. Gilligan’s first name was never revealed although Bob Denver who played Gilligan once said on a talk show that if he did have a name then it was Willie.

Gilligan was very popular with the junior audience and its re-runs were always big ratings grabbers with that section of the audience. Between 1978 and 1981 there were three reunion specials. In the first the gang actually get off the island only to wind up back on it after taking a celebratory cruise, the second saw them turning the island into a tourist resort and the third saw the Harlem Globetrotters turn up. Ginger

There were also two animated versions of the show called The New Adventures of Gilligan (1974) and Gilligan’s Planet(1982).

production details
USA / CBS / x30 minute episodes / Broadcast Saturday 26 September 1964 – Monday 4 September 1967

Creator: Sherwood Schwartz / Theme Music: The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island by George Wyle and Sherwood Schwartz

cast
BOB DENVER as Gilligan
ALAN HALE JR as Jonas (The Skipper) Gumby
JIM BACKUS as Thurston Howell III
NATALIE SCHAFER as Mrs Lovey Howell
TINA LOUISE as Ginger Grant
RUSSELL JOHNSON as Roy (The Professor) Hinkley
DAWN WELLS as Mary Ann Summers