Gilligan's Island

[Hudsons81]

Gilligan's Island was a very popular sitcom that aired on CBS between 1964 and 1967, originally in black-and-white, then converting to color permanently in 1965. The show follows seven people who were stranded on a deserted island after their boat, the SS Minnow, drifted off-course during a three-hour tour. Since September 2, 2013, reruns currently air on Me TV. In addition, I happen to own the Complete Series DVD set. Did anyone else beside me ever watch this show?

Anyways, what are your favorite episodes? Who was your favorite character? What was your favorite part of the series overall?

I am typing this thread right as it's airing on Me TV. And let the Ames Fan Club's three-hour tour commence!

[TheFugitive]

Did anyone else beside me ever watch this show?

Seriously?  It is one of the most widely broadcast syndicated shows in TV history.

I always kind of liked the episode where the Russian Cosmonauts crash land on the island.
And the one where Gilligan gets a whack on the head and the fillings in his mouth turn into
a radio receiver.

I guess I am a Mary Ann guy in the great "Mary Ann or Ginger?" debate.
She was Miss Nevada, 1964 and was quite a looker.  She is my mom's age and
not a bad looker even today.

MeTV is currently running Gilligan on Sundays.  This includes the horribly colorized
B&W versions that were produced by Turner Broadcasting in the 80's.

[Hudsons81]

Did anyone else beside me ever watch this show?

Seriously?  It is one of the most widely broadcast syndicated shows in TV history.

I always kind of liked the episode where the Russian Cosmonauts crash land on the island.
And the one where Gilligan gets a whack on the head and the fillings in his mouth turn into
a radio receiver.

MeTV is currently running Gilligan on Sundays.  This includes the horribly colorized
B&W versions that were produced by Turner Broadcasting in the 80's.

Actually, before Me TV picked up the rights, it wasn't seen on any channel in years.

The "Gilligan as a radio" episode is my favorite too. And this is only semi-related, but I wonder how they were able to receive stations like KDKA (yes, that station was heard in one episode) on that radio in the soundstage in Studio City, Los Angeles, California?

And the B&W episodes-they actually did air them in B&W whenever they showed them-the colorized Turner prints from 1991 (not the 80's like you said) were aired from late August to late September, possibly to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary that month.

[TheFugitive]

Did anyone else beside me ever watch this show?

Seriously?  It is one of the most widely broadcast syndicated shows in TV history.

I always kind of liked the episode where the Russian Cosmonauts crash land on the island.
And the one where Gilligan gets a whack on the head and the fillings in his mouth turn into
a radio receiver.

MeTV is currently running Gilligan on Sundays.  This includes the horribly colorized
B&W versions that were produced by Turner Broadcasting in the 80's.

Actually, before Me TV picked up the rights, it wasn't seen on any channel in years.

The "Gilligan as a radio" episode is my favorite too. And this is only semi-related, but I wonder how they were able to receive stations like KDKA (yes, that station was heard in one episode) on that radio in the soundstage in Studio City, Los Angeles, California?

And the B&W episodes-they actually did air them in B&W whenever they showed them-the colorized Turner prints from 1991 (not the 80's like you said) were aired from late August to late September, possibly to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary that month.

Yes, there is an episode where they were listening to KDKA in Pittsburgh.
KDKA-TV is a CBS affiliate, and would have aired this show during its network run.
So likely a little bit of cross-promotion there.

I knew an old guy who was a radio man on a B-17 during World War II.
He said that KDKA came in absolutely perfect at 17,000 feet over England.

I had seen Gilligan's Island running locally before it appeared on MeTV.

I remember an old Mike Douglas show back in the 70's where his guest Jim Backus talked
about making this show.  At the time it was running all over the world.  There was some
particular place in North Carolina where if you had the right antenna you could watch it
for seven hours in a row.  He regretted the fact that under the contracts signed at that
time the cast stopped getting paid after the third rerun.  Today the actors receive a check,
however small, whenever their show is run anywhere.

[Hudsons81]

There was some
particular place in North Carolina where if you had the right antenna you could watch it
for seven hours in a row.

I didn't even know that. Did those seven hours include syndicated airings on stations in the Central Time Zone and airings on overseas networks translated into their respective languages? If so, that would've been pretty interesting. Plus, where was this place in North Carolina?

[Hudsons81]

This includes the horribly colorized
B&W versions that were produced by Turner Broadcasting in the 80's.

Well, that appears to have just been that one time-they're airing the "pilot that actually aired" right now and it's in black-and-white.

[Hudsons81]

Just remembered another favorite episode of mine.

This one was later on in season three (I think it was the second-to-final episode) where a monkey shows up and when he does, the plates and cups that Mary Ann is working on become explosive when the monkey touches them.

I, in particular, like the part at the very end where the monkey returns, throws an incomplete plate and it just shatters instead of creating an explosion.

[Hudsons81]

Me TV started over again today with the very first episode...but, like what they did last year for the show's 50th anniversary, it appears Me TV's showing this Season 1 cycle using the shoddy, colorized Turner versions.

[ynkeesfn82]

I'm not a fan of the show, but TVLAND on cable has begun airing the show again. In the morning and again in the early evening. Of course they're airing them with the extra 6 minutes of commercials crammed into them.

[Hudsons81]

I'm not a fan of the show, but TVLAND on cable has begun airing the show again. In the morning and again in the early evening. Of course they're airing them with the extra 6 minutes of commercials crammed into them.

"Gilligan, please don't pick up those explo...the fruit smoothies are back at Burger King this summer!"

[TheFugitive]

There was some
particular place in North Carolina where if you had the right antenna you could watch it
for seven hours in a row.

I didn't even know that. Did those seven hours include syndicated airings on stations in the Central Time Zone and airings on overseas networks translated into their respective languages? If so, that would've been pretty interesting. Plus, where was this place in North Carolina?

I don't know.  Mr. Backus mentioned it in passing in an interview.