Gilligan's Island: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Gilligan's Island: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
CBS
October 31, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Gilligan runs away yet again, this time because his hair falls out.  Before that, it turns white, which causes both girls to faint into his arms.  (Which they do again when they first see he's bald.)  His white hair makes him act like an old man, so Mary Ann decides to tell him she's in love with him, in order to make him feel young.  Now, if she's not in love with him, that seems a pretty risky thing to say.  Not only that, she gives him a big kiss and makes his "arteries" harden.  Biographical note, Ginger has a beautiful sister.

Brad Radnitz also wrote the "Mosquitoes" episode.

Gilligan's Island: Love Me, Love My Skipper

Gilligan's Island: Love Me, Love My Skipper
CBS
February 3, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

File this one, written by the team of Herbert Finn and Alan Dinehart, under "Implausible even for Gilligan's Island," as you would think that with only five invitations to deliver, Mr. Howell would notice that he's dropped one.  Nonetheless, I like the way Skipper's friends rally around him when they think the Howells have snubbed him, Ginger's sneaky scheme to reconcile the Howells (including flirting with Mr. H), and of course the costumes at the costume party.  Note that the Professor says he can't dance, but the Skipper and Ginger happily dance together as the Howells do.  So did Gilligan dance with Mary Ann?

Gilligan's Island: My Fair Gilligan

Gilligan's Island: My Fair Gilligan
CBS
June 5, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B-

A couple biographical notes on this episode where the Howells adopt Gilligan after he saves Mrs. Howell's life.  (No one notices that he indirectly causes the accident by shaking a boulder loose.)  The Howells clearly state that they don't have a son.  (I'll assume they don't have a daughter.)  When the final reunion movie was made, this was conveniently forgotten.  Also, it seems like "Gilligan" is in fact a first name, since Mr. Howell treats it as such, calling him Gilligan Thurston Howell IV, and then G. Thurston Howell IV.  Perhaps Gilligan is too polite to correct him though.  Ginger flirts with Gilligan the new heir (in real life and in his dream), but both girls kiss him on the cheek when he's back to his old identity.

Gilligan's Island: The Matchmaker

Gilligan's Island: The Matchmaker
CBS
March 20, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this episode written by a woman*, everyone on the island (except a reluctant Mr. Howell) is a matchmaker.  The fun begins when Mrs. Howell sees Gilligan carry Mary Ann into the clearing.  (She's hurt her foot in his trap.)  So, remembering that the captain of a ship can marry people, Lovey tries to match the youngsters, leading to

1. Mary Ann and Ginger thinking that Gilligan has a crush on Mary Ann
2. Gilligan thinking Ginger has a crush on him
3. The Skipper and the Professor teasing Gilligan about Mary Ann
4. Gilligan and Mary Ann awkwardly admitting they find each other sweet
5. Mr. and Mrs. Howell arguing over his wedding proposal 20 years ago
6. The other castaways quarreling about the quarrel
7. The other castaways recreating the night of the proposal, including Ginger singing a sexy version of "Alouette"
8. Mrs. Howell deciding to matchmake the Professor and Ginger

Note, Mary Ann sees the Skipper as too old for her and thinks she has nothing in common with the Professor, but she has no argument against Gilligan.


*Joanna Lee not only wrote quite a bit for television, but she was Tanna in Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Gilligan's Island: How to Be a Hero

Gilligan's Island: How to Be a Hero
CBS
March 6, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
C+

An episode with both head-hunting and head-shrinking, the latter by Mrs. Howell, who diagnoses Gilligan as feeling inferior to the heroic Skipper.  So the gang tries to set up situations where Gilligan can rescue them, until finally he scares off the visiting head-hunter (Russ Grieve, who would return).  Shipping notes: Mr. Howell takes a lot of pictures of Skipper with the "little girl" he saved (Mary Ann), and later poses with Ginger on his lap, which clearly makes Mrs. H jealous.  Alan Dinehart and Herbert Finn again co-wrote, as they did for "Angel on the Island."

Gilligan's Island: Big Man on a Little Stick

Splendor in the sand.

Gilligan's Island: Big Man on a Little Stick
CBS
February 20, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B

Talk about a shipping shift!  When slang-talking, muscular surfer Duke Williams (Denny Miller) arrives, the girls fall for him, and it's mutual.  Then he comes on too strong, even for Ginger, who apparently prefers to do the seducing.  And Duke won't leave the island on a reverse tsunami (don't ask), so Mrs. Howell comes up with a scheme (which her husband takes credit for) that worked to discourage one of her old suitors.  The Professor & Ginger pretend to be a couple, as do Gilligan & Mary Ann.  I don't think Ginger has to pretend to be impressed by the Professor's big words, and he's pretty cooperative when she kisses him.  However, Gilligan, whom the Skipper plans to tell about the birds & the bees later, doesn't seem to know how to respond to Mary Ann's kisses.  (We see her lipstick on his face.)  He does seem jealous of the attention the girls pay Duke earlier, but as if he's not really conscious what he's feeling.  Still, it's fair to say that he has entered a new phase in his very, very slow sexual development.

This is Lou Houston's only GI script, but Charles Tannen's third, while Tony Leader would direct some more episodes.

Sometimes who's on top makes a difference.