Rescue from Gilligan's Island

Fanservice hadn't changed
 much in a decade or so.

Rescue from Gilligan's Island
NBC
October 14, 1978
TV-Movie
DVD
C

First of all, I have to say, this was a big deal in '78, and not just to me.  It was a ratings smash, since a lot of people wanted closure for the castaways.  Unfortunately, the script in particular-- written by the three Schwartz brothers with five-time GI contributor David Harmon-- has not aged well.  There's too much emphasis on the slapstick side of GI, which feels weird with an older cast and no laugh track.  There are literally dozens of continuity errors from the original series, and that's not even counting 32-year-old Judith Baldwin as Ginger Grant.  The weakest aspect of the writing though is probably the totally unneeded thread about the Russian spies, Dimitri (Vincent Schiavelli, who'd make a memorable appearance as a creepy Motel Manager in a Who's the Boss? two-parter) and Ivan (Art LaFleur, who'd be an MP on M*A*S*H), which is wrapped up in seconds by previously unmentioned FBI men.  (Or was it CIA?)

There are moments when the cast, notably Johnson, rise above the material, and there's definitely warmth and camaraderie among the characters even after all this time.  It is good to see them.  But I almost wish that, since they were going to make this corny anyway, they'd gone full out into camp, like have Gilligan accidentally win a disco contest or something.  As it is, there are topical references but only the most obvious ones, like Watergate and R2D2.  Completists should watch and even own this, but others should probably stay away.

Snag Werris, who was on That Girl as well as four episodes of The Brady Bunch, is a Cameraman here.  Mario Machado, who played himself on BBunch, is an unnamed Reporter here, while Studio Guard John Wheeler had three roles on BBunch.  Barbara Mallory was Helen on What's Happening!!  and is Cindy Smith here.  Marcus K. Mukai is a Hawaiian Man here and would be on both M*A*S*H and Soap.

Note, this counts as the 100th tag for Gilligan's Island, although it's not an episode per se, and it's also Alan Hale's 100th credit on this blog.  I've seen but don't currently own the second movie, where they actually escape the island for good but then open a resort.  I do have the third and best/worst movie, Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.

The Brady Bunch: My Sister, Benedict Arnold

The Brady Bunch: My Sister, Benedict Arnold
ABC
October 15, 1971
Sitcom
DVD
B

Greg and Marcia date each other's rivals, which the other kids find at least as entertaining as I do.  Meanwhile, there's a dunking booth that the Bradys have constructed in their driveway for the junior high carnival, and filled with water, with no explanation of how it's going to be transported to the school.  And Alice speaks "modern" slang.  From the title onwards, this is a very Brady episode, although we have not yet reached the heights/depths of fashion that the show would prove capable of (which would've boosted this to a B+).

Sheri Cowart would reprise her role as Kathy Lawrence in the very next episode, so I guess Kathy and Marcia become friends after this.

The Brady Bunch: The Winner

The Brady Bunch: The Winner
ABC
February 26, 1971
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the first Bunch episode Reed directed and it manages both to show continuity with the series, as Greg has a trophy for being Student Body President and Peter has one for being a hero, and to have the glitch of Bobby and his parents leaving in one car and coming home in another, which apparently viewers caught even in the pre-VCR days.  We see another example of Bobby's insecurities, in this case that he might be the only loser in the family.  We also discover that Mrs. Brady hates the word "stinker."

Hal Smith previously was Santa and is Kartoon King here.  Kerry MacLane, the Boy who wins the ice-cream eating contest, would later play Eric Parker.

The Brady Bunch: The Hero

The Brady Bunch: The Hero
ABC
February 20, 1970
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Peter is the last of the kids to get an episode centering on him, and it's a motif that would become common: a Brady child does something awesome, receives praise, and gets a swollen ego.  Pitt Herbert returns as Mr. Driscoll and doesn't seem at all worried about a lawsuit or bad publicity.  The Daily Chronicle is still the local newspaper.  And Peter is eleven by this point.  Once again, the Williams-Knight-Olsen commentary is hilarious, but I'm not grading commentaries.

The Brady Bunch: Tiger! Tiger!

The Brady Bunch: Tiger! Tiger!
ABC
January 30, 1970
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Tiger, who we're again reminded has been in the family longer than Bobby (where is this sort of continuity when it comes to things like Carol's math and golf skills?), disappears and the family tries to track him down.  Bobby seems to miss him the most.  This episode is definitely before the days of the expectation to spay and neuter pets.

The Brady Bunch: Vote for Brady

The Brady Bunch: Vote for Brady
ABC
December 12, 1969
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Elroy-Schwartz-written story are some of the motifs that would recur throughout the show: boys vs. girls, with particular emphasis on Greg vs. Marcia (you would rarely see, in contrast, Peter vs. Jan); the parents and Alice trying to stay neutral; a tape recorder; Marcia sobbing when she cries, even about relatively minor things; Marcia thinking Greg is a "groovy" brother; and the junior high stock footage of a girl handing out newspapers outside and of a restless audience in the auditorium.

Stephen Liss, who plays Greg's campaign manager Rusty, would turn up seven years later in my favorite ABC Afterschool Special, "Dear Lovey Hart: I Am Desperate."  Martin Ashe, who's Mr. Dickens, would be a Butler in the first Gilligan TV-movie.  This is the first of two BBunch episodes David Alexander directed.

Gilligan's Island: Topsy-Turvy

As if they don't outnumber the three natives anyway.

Gilligan's Island: Topsy-Turvy
CBS
November 14, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C+

While I like the special effects for the double (and more) vision and that Gilligan is the one to come up with a working plan to free his friends, I am getting tired of all the episodes with head-hunters and other hostile natives.  (Eddie Little Sky makes his third appearance as a native.)  Note that Mary Ann is again the only one to have faith in Gilligan.  And anti-shipping note, Gilligan thinks Ginger's gift of a kiss is the worst of his rewards.

Gilligan's Island: Pass the Vegetables, Please

Uh oh!

Gilligan's Island: Pass the Vegetables, Please
CBS
September 26, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Vegetables grown from radioactive seeds give the castaways (or Mary Ann, Gilligan, and Mrs. Howell anyway) special powers, but may end up killing everyone.  Ginger isn't in this episode much but does say she misses dates, and not the kind that grow on the island.  Both the Skipper and Gilligan wish they could see the beautiful women in bikinis that far-sighted Mary Ann can see.  But there's also the exchange where the Skipper tells Gilligan, "If you were a girl, I'd kiss you," and Gilligan says he's glad he's not a girl.  And the Skipper tells Mary Ann if she had his legs, she couldn't fit into her shorts.

Gilligan's Island: Meet the Meteor

It looks like something from an '80s music video.

Gilligan's Island: Meet the Meteor
CBS
April 28, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This episode has what must be one of the weakest dream sequences, although I suppose there's a certain poignancy in that by the time of the actual 50th anniversary of the castaways' shipwreck, most of the performers would be dead.  Note that Gilligan in the tag scene says something about looking good for a 72-year-old, but I don't know if he means he was 22 when he arrived on the island, or is 22 now.  Furthermore, despite the air date, this is presumably December, since Mary Ann thinks there's going to be a Christmas party.  And Ginger's birthday as well as the Howells' anniversary are also coming up.  Oh, and there's some bad science involving a meteor.  Shipping notes: Ginger and Mary Ann offer to simultaneously kiss Gilligan but neither does.  And Gilligan is calm when Ginger attempts to vamp him earlier.  I guess he's getting used to it by now.

Overall, the second season averages a B-, like the first season did, although it does have those three stand-out B+ episodes.

Gilligan's Island: The Friendly Physician

The Professor has a plan.

Gilligan's Island: The Friendly Physician
CBS
April 7, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

When I was a little kid, I thought this episode was hilarious, with the way people and animals switch voices and personalities around.  It's still entertaining, although as an adult I can't help wondering logistics, like just how close this island is to Gilligan's.  And, yes, Vito Scotti is back, as a completely different character than the Japanese sailor, although also one that he'd reprise.

This is, by the way, the 100th sitcom episode I've reviewed, about two-thirds of them GI.

Gilligan's Island: Seer Gilligan

Gilligan's Island: Seer Gilligan
CBS
January 27, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

While the basic premise is good, with the castaways quarreling because of mind-reading seeds, I have a couple gripes.  One is that Ginger kisses Gilligan when he's asleep, which is a bit creepy.  And the other is that the professor's reaction is inconsistent, one minute doubting the ESP and then believing in it, and then doubting again.  I do like Ginger and Mary Ann thinking insults at each other, and both the Skipper and the Professor thinking of Ginger's measurements.  Note that Ginger tries to psychoanalyze Gilligan here, as she will Don Rickles later on.

Gilligan's Island: You've Been Disconnected

Gilligan's Island: You've Been Disconnected
CBS
January 13, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

My favorite aspect of this episode is not Ginger taking notes for The Ginger Grant Story movie that she hopes to star in once they're rescued, but rather the sights and sounds of people off the island, including a smooching couple with the phone taken off the hook and a quarreling British couple.  (I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say that R. Johnson and T. Louise provided the voices.)  Sandra Gould, who plays the Telephone Operator, is probably best known as one of the Gladys Kravitzes on Bewitched, but she'd also appear on The Brady Bunch.  Note that the Professor thinks the Skipper's birthday is in April rather than May.

Gilligan's Island: A Nose by Any Other Name

Gilligan's Island: A Nose by Any Other Name
CBS
June 12, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B-

One of two GI episodes directed by Hal Cooper, this has some interesting character moments, notably from the Professor and Gilligan.  The former uses psychology to pretend he's giving Gilligan a nose job, but in fact he's just allowing enough time to pass for Gilligan's injured nose to heal. As for the latter, Gilligan actually seems interested in women.  Not only is he happy about the girls flirting with him (to boost his ego), but he says of the clay version of Richard Burton's nose (there's a whole table full of famous schnozzes), "Think how close this has been to Elizbeth Taylor!"

This finishes off the first season, which averages out to a B-.  (Even including the pilot doesn't change the series' average so far.)

Gilligan's Island: Diamonds Are an Ape's Best Friend

Gilligan's Island: Diamonds Are an Ape's Best Friend
CBS
February 27, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This is the first of Janos Prohaska's appearances as an ape on GI.  (He was Clyde in Bikini Beach and often portrayed animals.)  His impression and costume are pretty good by the special effects standards of the show.  (The Kurt Russell episode had a lot of really obvious wire-work.)  But I have to say that the whole thing of an ape choosing Mrs. Howell, and then a perfume-soaked Gilligan as his mate, is pretty twisted, even for the time.  When the Professor urges decoy Ginger to be "sexier" for the ape, it's even more bizarre.  I do like how Mr. Howell puts his love for Lovey above his love for money.  ($10,000 is left sitting on the table and no one takes it, despite their sometime greed.)

Gilligan's Island: X Marks the Spot

Gilligan's Island: X Marks the Spot
CBS
January 30, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B-

I think this is the first episode to include scenes that aren't on or near the island, in this case the Pentagon.  (And we get some nice mid-'60s aerial shots of Washington, D.C.)  We discover before the castaways do that a missile is aimed at the island.  There are some nice character moments, as the castaways prepare for what they think will be death.  Shippers will note that Mary Ann bakes two pies for Gilligan, but then she also bakes two for the Skipper.  More significant I think is the heart-to-heart talk between the Professor and Ginger about how they each believe that their lives have been wasted.  It's not romantic, but it does add depth to their so far very shallow relationship.  (They honestly haven't interacted much in the first half of the first season, until this point.)  Luckily for the castaways, the missile is actually unarmed.

Three days drifting 100 miles from 140 degrees latitude,
10 degrees longitude.  No wonder it's uncharted!

Gilligan's Island: Plant You Now, Dig You Later

Gilligan's Island: Plant You Now, Dig You Later
CBS
January 16, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Although not a bad episode, there is, less than halfway through the first season, a sense of de ja vu setting in.  Once again, Gilligan discovers a treasure while helping/ working for Mr. Howell, this time a treasure chest.  So greed is a factor again.  Ginger again vamps Gilligan to get something that Mr. Howell wants.  The main difference is that this time the Professor spends the first part of the episode on the other side of the island and then presides as judge in settling the property dispute.  He decides that they should share the chest, like all the other island resources.  It seems like an obvious choice, and the trial is unnecessary, although it does confirm that Ginger is the Skipper's favorite woman on the island, since he's distracted by her legs when she testifies.

Sherwood's brother Elroy this time collaborates with Oliver Crawford, who didn't return, while Lawrence Dobkin would direct one other episode.

Gilligan's Island: Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk

Gilligan's Island: Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk
CBS
December 19, 1964
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This is both a Christmas episode and a flashback episode, and doesn't quite work as either, although it's interesting to see how S. Schwartz salvaged what he could of the pilot at that point (mostly scenes of Gilligan, with or without the Skipper).  As on the premiere episode, the discarded cast(aways) can be spotted sleeping on board.  There's a nice moment when Gilligan says the Skipper has been like a father to him, and a Skipper-looking Santa shows up at the end.  Also, when the girls simultaneously kiss a very reluctant Gilligan on the cheeks, he says he feels like he's on fire.  (Yes, he's just stepped into a campfire.)  Further notable for the idea that there's a nearby island with castaways who are getting rescued after eleven years, which of course at the time seemed outrageously long.  Rod Amateau gets credited for the pilot footage, but John Rich directed the new scenes.

Gilligan's Island: Voodoo Something to Me

Gilligan's Island: Voodoo Something to Me
CBS
October 10, 1964
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Although filled with slapstick (including a trap that sends Gilligan once and the Skipper twice into the air), this also has some interesting early insights into character.  The generally level-headed Skipper turns out to believe in voodoo, as does Mary Ann (and of course Gilligan), while not only the Professor but Ginger are skeptical.  After a week or two on the island, Ginger is eager to meet the "intruder" who's breaking into the supply hut, not caring that he may be a vicious killer, and she's designed a clam-shell compact with berries for cosmetics in order to make a "trap" of her own.  The intruder of course turns out to be, as any student of '60s pop culture could tell you, a chimp.  (See The Monkey's Uncle, How to Commit Marriage, and/or The Barefoot Executive on my movie blog.)

The girls obviously didn't pack any sleepwear, although the Howells did.

Gilligan's Island: Marooned

"As Captain, I'm voting you all off the island."

Gilligan's Island: Marooned
CBS
November 1963 (filming)
Sitcom
DVD
C

This is the pilot that launched the series but was not aired complete until almost 30 years later.  As such, it's more historically interesting than entertaining.  I can completely understand the recasting of "the other tourists," i.e. the two secretaries and the Professor (actually a high school teacher in this incarnation).  The Howells seem to be the closest to their eventual personalities.  Well, and the radio, which has already taken up its uncanny function of broadcasting only castaway-related news.