Gilligan's Island: The Hunter

Gilligan's Island: The Hunter
CBS
January 16, 1967
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is a darker than usual plot for Gilligan's Island, with the title character trying to hunt down Gilligan.  As usual, Mr. Howell tries to appeal to the visitor's greed, and Ginger to his lust, but he doesn't care about money, and Gilligan drinks the sleeping potion she tries to give the hunter.

This is the only GI episode for either Ben Gershman or Bill Freedman, but they'd write eight and eleven respectively for The Brady Bunch.

Gilligan's Island: The Invasion

Gilligan's Island: The Invasion
CBS
November 21, 1966
CBS
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the middle of three GI scripts Sam Locke and Joel Rapp cowrote.  It's one of the episodes where the Professor is the unofficial leader, in this case making the unilateral decision that they can't open the top secret government briefcase.  This of course makes everyone eager to see what's inside.  When Ginger tries to seduce him into a moonlit walk, he suspects she's not just out for romance.  In Gilligan's dream sequence, Dawn Wells wears a very Swinging London kind of mod outfit, while Ginger is Gilligan's fiancee who has lethal lipstick that he resists with fake lips.

Gilligan's Island: Man with a Net

Gilligan's Island: Man with a Net

CBS

October 24, 1966

Sitcom

DVD
B

The last of Budd Grossman's GI episodes, this has one of the better guest appearances, John McGiver as obsessed butterfly-collector Lord Beasley.  (To literally underscore that he's British, a piece of "Rule Brittania" plays off and on, like the Russian-sounding music when their visitors were from the USSR.)  It's a funny episode, not on the level of "The Producer," but not unlike it in that part of the fun is in seeing the castaways deal with their guest.  (Not surprisingly, Mr. Howell tries bribery, and Ginger tries seduction.)  Eventually, the castaways all get drunk enough to pass out for two days, but Beasley is unaffected by "the tea."  (And, no, "tea" did not yet have the connotation of marijuana, at least not in the mainstream.)  One of the better maps of the island is featured prominently in this episode as well.

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: Ghost-a-Go-Go

Gilligan's Island: Ghost-a-Go-Go
CBS
March 24, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Another Russian lands on the island, this time disguising himself as the title character and played by Richard Kiel.  We don't know if he heard about the place from Ivan and Igor or if it's just coincidence.  The main shipping note is that Ginger teases the Professor that he's naughty to want to see her undress the mannequin based on her, so he covers his eyes.   Equally naughty is Gilligan's embarrassment about the Skipper wanting the girls to bring their "bare essentials" on the boat the ghost has given them.  This is Roland MacLane's fifth of seven GI scripts.

Gilligan's Island: Feed the Kitty

Gilligan's Island: Feed the Kitty
CBS
March 3, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C

This episode irritates me.  Not only does Gilligan persist in refusing to cage his lion friend and in training him for a circus, but nearly everyone on the island (Mary Ann is the exception) plays along with the idea, despite understandable reservations.  Notable for Mr. Howell and Ginger flirting in front of his wife.

Gilligan's Island: Ship Ahoax

Gilligan's Island: Ship Ahoax
CBS
February 24, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B

While there are definitely some funny moments here, this is also a good character-driven episode.  We see how the castaways are quarreling with each other and how the Professor and Ginger team up to raise morale, even if it does involve fraud, as she pretends to be psychic.  Gilligan is the most gullible, and Ginger jokes that she could convince the sailor that he's President Johnson, or even Lady Bird.  In the end, Ginger asks each of the castaways not to give her away, and they keep her secret.

George O'Hanlon also wrote "Good Neighbor Sam," while Charles Tannen co-wrote that and worked on three other scripts.

Gilligan's Island: Gilligan's Living Doll

Gilligan's Island: Gilligan's Living Doll
CBS
February 10, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C

The only credit for Bob Stevens, this is my least favorite episode of Season Two so far.  My main complaint is that the Skipper spends most of the episode complaining, shooting down not only Gilligan's ideas but the Professor's.  I was especially annoyed when he complained about doing the laundry, "women's work," when all he had to do was supervise Gilligan on the bicycle part of the washing machine.  If it weren't for Ginger vamping the title character (a robot whose abilities are inconsistent), this would be the first C- on this blog.

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: The Postman Cometh

Gilligan's Island: The Postman Cometh
CBS
January 20, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Co-written by Herbert Finn and Alan Dinehart, this has a dream sequence, lots of celebrity impersonations, a parody of radio soap operas, and tons o' shipping.  It does seem odd that Mary Ann has been bottle-mailing a letter to her non-boyfriend all this time and it hasn't come up, but once you get past that there's a lot of fun to be had, with Gilligan's Boyeresque mustache as probably the funniest thing.

As for the shipping, note that Mrs. Howell is actually sitting on Mr. Howell's bed with him, but that's the only definite relationship here.  When Ginger suggests that the three bachelors romance Mary Ann to make her forget Horace's engagement (to a rich society woman with Mrs. Howell's maiden name), the Professor says he's never shown the slightest romantic interest in Mary Ann, while the Skipper sees himself as acting like the girl's big brother, but Gilligan has no such clear objection.  And he's the one to kiss her hand.  The other three castaways train the bachelors, including Mr. Howell holding the Skipper's hand.  (Would their ship be "Skowell"?)  Gilligan sweet-talks Mrs. Howell, listing off her physical features but not getting past her nose.  Ginger's "charm school" for the Professor is more successful.  She again is the assertive one, pretending to be Cary Grant for him to imitate later.  (Yes, good thing she didn't choose her other crush, Rock Hudson.)  He remarks that "Cary" smells nice.

Then in Mary Ann's nightmare, she imagines that the three men are much more interested in sexy nurse Ginger, even though Mary Ann thinks she's dying.  Everything is cleared up when she wakes, and things presumably go back to normal, till next episode.

Oh, and note that Gilligan has a sister as well as a brother.

Gilligan's Island: The Chain of Command

Gilligan's Island: The Chain of Command
CBS
December 2, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The Skipper still assumes he's the leader of the island, and he's starting to worry about a successor.  So, after rejecting everyone else on the island, he trains Gilligan.  Shipping notes: Mary Ann believes in and motivates Gilligan, while Ginger vamps him to convince she'd be a good spy.  My favorite detail is actually how rocking some of the incidental music gets.  Skinny Mulligan gets another shout-out.  Arnold & Lois Peyser also co-wrote "St. Gilligan and the Dragon."  This is the first episode directed by Leslie Goodwins.