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Many fans of the show have noticed that Professor Roy Hinkley (Russell Johnson) was the only reason anyone could survive on "Gilligan's Island." Not only was he able to keep a cool head in extreme situations, but he was also the only one with any kind of engineering knowhow. He was able to repair radios, examine mysterious chemicals that washed up on shore, and it was likely he who constructed the island's aqueduct system. While Mr. and Mrs. Howell (Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer) were lying around drinking mai tais and Gilligan (Bob Denver) was bumbling through life, the Professor was getting s*** done on "Gilligan's Island." The fact that he never became angry on confrontational speaks largely to the character's maturity and command largesse.

The original "Gilligan's Island" series didn't have proper closure, but some late-stage TV movie follow-ups did explore what happened to the castaways later in life.

The second of the three "Gilligan's Island" spinoff TV movies was called "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island," and it aired on NBC on May 3, 1979. It arrived one year after the first movie, "Rescue from Gilligan's Island," and 12 years after the final episode of the original "Gilligan's Island" TV series.

The "Gilligan's Island" TV movies were considered dubiously canonical by the show's fans. Tina Louise didn't reprise her role as Ginger from the "Gilligan's Island" TV show for any of them (with Judith Baldwin serving as her replacement), while, generally speaking, they aren't nearly as well-remembered or beloved as Sherwood Schwartz's original creation. The animated "Gilligan's Island" spinoff shows also contradicted what happened in the TV movies, leaving fans to debate which of the "Gilligan's Island" timelines counts as the "real one." Personally, I like to think "Gilligan's Planet" is the canonical path.

In "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island," life...

"Gilligan's Island" isn't exactly known for its sophisticated humor. The show was a light-hearted sitcom about castaways who somehow never managed to escape their isolated locale despite multiple guests visiting them throughout their three-season run. "Gilligan's Island" was nonsense, but it knew what it was and fully embraced its silliness. As a result, it became a beloved TV classic, especially since it became widely syndicated after its final season wrapped up in 1967.

But for all its absurdity and campiness, the show did at least try to provide somewhat of a balance, most notably in the form of Jim Backus' Thurston Howell III and his wife, Natalie Schafer's Mrs. Thurston. The billionaire couple were envisioned as a way to break up the slapstick humor provided by Bob Denver's Gilligan and Alan Hale Jr.'s Skipper, and certainly brought an air of refinement to an otherwise ridiculous sitcom. Much of...

By the late '80s, "Gilligan's Island" had become a pop culture fixture. Though Sherwood Schwartz's sitcom only lasted for three seasons and 98 episodes from 1964 to 1967, it was heavily syndicated throughout the '70s and '80s, ensuring new generations became familiar with Gilligan and his fellow castaways. Not only that, the show produced two animated spin-offs with "The New Adventures of Gilligan" (1974-75) and "Gilligan's Planet" (1982-83). What's more, the original cast returned for three live-action TV movies: "Rescue From Gilligan's Island" (1978), "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island" (1979), and "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" (1981). So, by the end of the 1980s, the "Gilligan's" universe was most certainly etched into the public's collective consciousness.

But you could also argue that it was waning in popularity. The last live-action TV movie, "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" — which almost featured a different team entirely — was not a big ratings success...

Though it only aired for three seasons from 1964 to 1967, all 98 episodes of "Gilligan's Island" were shown in syndication for years, garnering the sitcom a devoted following that spanned generations. But if you happen to belong to the generation that saw the show when it first aired, you might recall the first season debuting in black and white.

A decade before "Gilligan's Island" hit the airwaves, NBC became the first U.S. network to transmit a coast-to-coast color transmission, broadcasting the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, California across the nation on New Year's Day 1954 But the network that would later host "Gilligan's Island," CBS, had beaten NBC to the punch when it came to the first ever color broadcast in the U.S. Though it wasn't a coast-to-coast transmission like the Tournament of Roses parade in 1954, CBS's 1951 broadcast of musical variety special "Premiere" was the first ever commercial color program shown in the U.

Thanks to the earworm that is "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," most audiences know how Gilligan (Bob Denver) and the other castaways became stranded. Gilligan and the Skipper (Alan Hale) took five passengers on an intended three-hour tour of the Hawai'ian islands when they hit rough weather and were thrown off-course. The ship set ground on the shore of an uncharted desert isle, and the seven castaways had to learn to survive. Because "Gilligan's Island" was broad and cartoonish, however, the survival was never harrowing or even particularly difficult. There were rarely food or water shortages, and everyone brought huge amounts of clothes and supplies. Life actually seemed okay on Gilligan's Island, the utter isolation notwithstanding.

Series creator Sherwood Schwartz said that he intended "Gilligan's Island" to be an idealized microcosm of a well-functioning American democracy. Seven character, all from different classes, are forced to live together by extreme circumstances,...

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Though there are only three seasons of "Gilligan's Island," the CBS sitcom became hugely popular thanks in part to its frequent showings in syndication. The show debuted in 1964 and ran until '67, but it was shown widely throughout the '70s and '80s, helping establish it as one of TV's most familiar sitcoms.

But it wasn't just the show itself that gave "Gilligan's Island" its cultural recognition. Once the series wrapped up, it lived on in the form of two animated spin-offs: "Gilligan's Planet" and "The New Adventures of Gilligan." Most of the castaways from the S.S. Minnow — named as such for a hilarious reason — also returned in three live-action TV movies: "Rescue From Gilligan's Island" (1978), "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island" (1979), and "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" (1981).

In the latter, the original castaway characters returned to the...

Over the course of several decades, Jim Backus starred in more than 100 films and dozens of TV shows. During that time, the man displayed a unique range that saw him portray the ineffectual patriarch of the Stark family in "Rebel Without a Cause" and voice the beloved cartoon character Mr. Magoo from 1949 to 1989. But Backus' also gained fame by playing another millionaire: the elitist Thurston Howell III in "Gilligan's Island."

The actor was there from the very beginning, when his "Gilligan's Island" casting as Howell caused last-minute rewrites. Backus stuck around for all three seasons of the CBS sitcom before then voicing the character for the animated spinoffs "Gilligan's Planet" and "The New Adventures of Gilligan." But he also reprised the role in live-action for all three TV movies: "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island," "Rescue From Gilligan's Island," and, "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island."

Sadly, his appearance in the...

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There was a time when finding reruns of Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" was incredibly easy. Thanks to a plum syndication deal, Schwartz's 98-episode show remained on the air for literally decades, sometimes playing daily, forming the basis of multiple generations' pop culture education. The show's famed theme song became firmly entrenched in the Jungian subconscious, and the characters became archetypes for many years to come. Gen-Xers can likely tell you all about "Gilligan's Island," even if they didn't like it. We saw the show without really trying. 

For those same Gen-Xers, seeking out and deliberately watching "Gilligan's Island" almost seems bizarre. It's a series that, for many, should just be playing somewhere at all times, like "I Love Lucy" or "The Twilight Zone" or "Law & Order." TV shows that have passively made their way into human eyeballs,...

Alan Hale, Jr. became a performer as part of his family's legacy. His mother was actress Gretchen Hartman who appeared in dozens of films in the 1910s, while his father, Alan Hale (real name: Rufus Edward MacKahan) racked up hundreds of credits in the silent era, typically as a reliable sidekick to Errol Flynn. Hartman retired from acting in 1929, and Hale, Sr. continued to work until his death in 1950. Alan Hale, Jr. first appeared on the screen as an infant, "starring" opposite his mother. Hale made his Broadway debut in 1931, when he was only 10, appearing in a very, very short-lived show called "Caught Wet" (it opened and closed in the same month). In 1933, Hale played uncredited role in William Wellman's Depression-era drama "Wild Boys of the Road," and it may be the first movie a casual observer would recognize him in. 

Staring in 1941, Hale began his acting career in earnest,...

Sherwood Schwartz's "Gilligan's Island" was something of a cultural fulcrum for multiple generations. It was panned by critics when it first aired in 1964, but it was also a massive success, raking in money for CBS, hand over fist. Thanks to a plum syndication deal, reruns of the series stayed on the air for decades after its cancelation in 1967, allowing kids of the '70s, '80s, and '90s to grow up watching it.

Over the years, "Gilligan's Island" also enjoyed multiple TV movie sequels and a few animated spinoffs, seeing as the series never quite left the public consciousness. One might have seen "Rescue from Gilligan's Island" in 1978, "The Castaways of Gilligan's Island" in 1979, or "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" in 1981. Saturday morning kiddos may have also caught Filmation's "The New Adventures of Gilligan" in 1974, or the bonkers 1982 spinoff "Gilligan's Planet." 

It's curious, however, that no one...

After Sherwood Schwartz's hit sitcom "Gilligan's Island" wrapped in 1967, actress Tina Louise, who played the glamorous movie star Ginger Grant, was finished. While most of Louise's co-stars would return for "Gilligan's Island" TV movies and spinoffs, she would stay away from the franchise, pursuing other film and TV projects as her whims dictated. Louise's refusal to make more "Gilligan's Island" after 1967 led to persistent rumors that she hated the show and didn't enjoy her time on it. While Louise might have been a little cold to her co-stars, she has revealed that she never resented them for any reason, and actually very much enjoyed her time on "Gilligan's Island."

After "Gilligan's Island," Louise starred in several high-profile films, including the Matt Helm spy spoof "The Wrecking Crew," the sci-fi horror film "The Stepford Wives," and the made-for-tv sequel "Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby." Her most recent performance came...

Some sitcom actors only ever get one really great role, but Jim Backus had several. The actor, who played wealthy Wall Street regular Thurston Howell III on the popular castaway series "Gilligan's Island," had already made a name for himself by the show's premiere in 1964. He'd appeared regularly on the radio before TV was the dominant media of the time, and voiced the nearly blind cartoon character Mr. Magoo beginning in 1949. Backus also played a key role in Nicholas Ray's 1955 teen movie "Rebel Without A Cause," portraying the father who falls short when James Dean's angsty antihero Jim Stark needs him.

A few years before "Gilligan's Island," Backus even got his own show, aptly named "The Jim Backus Show" in the style of the time. In the Backus-led series, which was also called "Hot Off the Wire," the actor played a man named Mike O'Toole, who was attempting...

Gen X kids grew up with a steady after-school diet of Gilligan’s Island, a show that, despite its pop-culture ubiquity, only lasted three seasons. Maybe that was because there were only so many ways for seven castaways to try (and fail) to escape a desert island. But the show’s producer, Sherwood Schwartz, foresaw that shortcoming and had plans to mix it up if the show continued to get renewed.

Only one more season of being stranded was the plan, Schwartz told the Muncie Evening News via MeTV. “I hoped from the outset that the show would go for four years with them on the island,” he explained. “But I’ve had a projected escape in the back of my mind.”

Schwartz’s bonkers plan sounds like a cross between Fantasy Island and White Lotus. “Should they get rescued, or should the ratings go down, or should we feel...

Art Lafleur, a veteran character actor known for The Sandlot and Field of Dreams, died on Nov. 17. He was 78.

Lafleur’s wife of 43 years, Shelley, confirmed the actor’s death on Facebook, writing that he died after a 10-year battle with “A-typical Parkinson’s.”

The actor was born in Indiana and began his career in the 1978 TV movie Rescue From Gilligan’s Island, followed by an episode of Charlie’s Angels. He then appeared in numerous shows from M.A.S.H. and From Here to Eternity to Doogie Howser M.D. and The Incredible Hulk.

Lafleur had roles in a ...

Art Lafleur, a veteran character actor known for The Sandlot and Field of Dreams, has died. He was 78.

Lafleur’s wife of 43 years, Shelley, confirmed the actor’s death on Facebook, writing that he died after a 10-year battle with “A-typical Parkinson’s.”

The actor was born in Indiana and began his career in the 1978 TV movie Rescue From Gilligan’s Island, followed by an episode of Charlie’s Angels. He then appeared in numerous shows from M.A.S.H. and From Here to Eternity to Doogie Howser M.D. and The Incredible Hulk.

Lafleur had roles in a number of ...

Dawn Wells, who played Kansas-born farm girl Mary Ann Summers on the classic TV sitcom Gilligan’s Island, died peacefully on Wednesday as a result of complications related to Covid-19. She was 82.

Prior to her three-season existence as one of Gilligan’s hapless castaways, Wells — a Reno native who in 1959 represented Nevada in the Miss America pageant — guested on numerous TV series including Maverick, Wagon Train, 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye.

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Dawn Wells, the actress best known for playing Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island,” has died at the age of 82.

Wells passed away in Los Angeles on Wednesday of complications related to Covid-19, according to a representative for the actress.

A native of Reno, Nev., Wells’ lengthy list of TV credits includes “77 Sunset Strip,” “Maverick,” “Bonanza,” “Growing Pains” and “Vegas,” in addition to her role on “Gilligan’s Island” and its various spinoffs and follow-ups. Her film credits include “Winterhawk,” “Super Sucker” and “The Town That Dreaded Sundown.”

Wells got her start in Hollywood after being crowned Miss Nevada in 1959 and representing the state in the Miss America pageant the following year. Her on-screen debut was a guest role in the 1960s ABC series “The Roaring ’20s.”

She landed the career-defining role of Mary Ann in 1964, beating out 350 other actresses for the part. “Gilligan’s Island” ran for 98 episodes and three seasons on CBS,...

The creator of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch

In the 1960s, no one had his finger closer to the pulse of the great American television-watching public than Sherwood Schwartz, who has died aged 94. Schwartz created both Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, two shows that defied critical opprobrium to become hits, and through endless sequels and repeats in syndication have become icons of their era.

Looking back, it is possible to find some cultural weight in each. Gilligan, which, as its theme song, co-written by Schwartz, explained, was the tale of seven people on a "three-hour cruise" who wind up cast away on a lost island, was sold to the CBS network as "a microcosm, but a funny microcosm", and it made its debut in 1964.

As played by Bob Denver, the clumsy first mate Gilligan might be seen, when the show debuted in 1964, as a prototype hippie, interacting with...

Last week, the 'net was abuzz with the news that a new deal was made to finally make a Gilligan's Island movie. It'll be interesting to see what kind of storyline this new film will have and how it'll compare to the original cast movie ideas that never happened.

Gilligan's Island follows a group of wacky castaways that have been shipwrecked on a deserted island. No matter how hard they try, their escape attempts always fail. The cast of the 1960s sitcom is made up of Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells.

In addition to multiple cameos over the years, the sitcom inspired two animated series (The New Adventures of Gilligan, Gilligan's Planet) and three reunion movies (Rescue from Gilligan's Island, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island). Louise is the only castmember who distanced...

Yet another classic television show, Gilligan's Island, may be headed for the big-screen. There've been numerous movie plans in the past will this one actually be made?

Gilligan's Island was created by Sherwood Schwartz (The Brady Bunch) and follows a diverse group of people who've been shipwrecked. Though there are only 98 episodes, the sitcom became incredibly popular in syndication and the characters have become a part of popular culture. The original castaways are Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells.

Most of the castaways reunited for different projects over the years, including three TV movies (Rescue from Gilligan's Island, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island), two animated series (The New Adventures of Gilligan and Gilligan's Planet), and guest-spots on shows like Alf, Baywatch, and Roseanne.

There's been talk of doing a big screen movie version...