"Hey! I thought this was a three-hour tour!"
Written: Apr 02 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Still fun to watch, even in this angry cynical age.
Cons: Extremely dopey.
The Bottom Line: If you're just looking to get away from the real world for a while, hop aboard the Minnow.
|
|
|
| jeff_wilder78's Full Review: Gilligan's Island |
Gilligan's Island was definitely my favorite show when I was about 4 or 5 years old. Of course that is generally the age group that shows of that type are directed at. It's a good bet many other people in the 4-8 group have probably laughed long and hard at the exploits of Gilligan and the skipper too (No, I refuse to do the rest of the theme song here...and the millionaire and his wife and the movie star professor and Mary Ann. Whoops too late).
So Gilligan was on and funny for those years. Then I got older and had less time to watch TV. After a while, many of those shows I used to watch during that time (Leave It To Beaver) didn't seem as entertaining as they once did. Would that same fate befall Gilligan?
Nope. After a long period in which it was hard to find Gilligan anywhere on TV (except at 6 in the morning on TBS), Nick At Nite brought it back during the "Block Party Summer" of 2000. What was ingenious was that Nick did this just as CBS unveiled the first "Survivor". So they were able to provide some decent alternatives for those of us who shied away from Survivor.
For those who have been living under a rock and are wondering if a Gilligan is superglue for a fish that has been impaled on a hook: here's the scoop. Gilligan's Island is about a group of tourists who take a three-hour cruise and wind up getting marooned on a deserted island. There’s the tough take-charge skipper (Alan Hale), Gilligan (Bob Denver) the Bazootyhead (A word coined by Dave Barry) first mate, Professor Roy Hinkley Jr (Russ Johnson), Gazillionaire Thurston Howell III (Jim Bacchus), his wife Eunice "Lovey" Howell (Natalie Schaefer), Movie star Ginger (Tina Louise) and everybody's favorite girl next door Mary Ann (Dawn Wells).
In each episode, the seven stranded castaways would usually wind up in some sort of adventure. Many times the adventure would be brought on by the professor's attempting to come up with a way for them to get off the island. And each time, Gilligan would screw it up. (If they'd offed Gilligan, they would have gotten off the island a lot sooner). Of course, as others have pointed out, all of the characters were rather dim in some ways. I mean: the Professor could probably build a cruise missile out of coconuts. But he couldn't build a decent raft. Of course, after Gilligan screwed everything up, the Skipper would stomp and holler for a while before forgiving him.
A few other questions arise about the show. For instance, if this was really a THREE-hour tour, then where did all the changes of clothes come from? The only logical explanation is the decency code for TV which states "Wearing Palm Fronds is not allowed on broadcast TV". And how many coconuts were there on the island? Considering how much coconut crème pie the castaways ate, it's a wonder they didn't run out.
So Gilligan's Island is an enjoyable if rather silly and ludicrous example of TV escapism. It's more or less a product of its time. But unlike the aforementioned Beaver or the later The Brady Bunch (an example of how low Sherwood Schwartz could go) it's an enjoyable product of its time. If you're looking for intellectual stimulating TV look elsewhere. But if you're just looking to get away from the real world for a while, hop aboard the Minnow.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jeff_wilder78
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Jeff Wilder
Location: Sunrise Florida USA
Reviews written: 852
Trusted by: 194 members
About Me:
The Sage Of Sunrise Florida.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.