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Post by Nalkarj on May 10, 2017 21:14:10 GMT
Apropos of this thread, it just occurred to me: whatever else one can say about the humor or overall quality of Gilligan's Island one thing we can all agree on (I think): its character's were well developed. Show me a good comedy and I'll show you well defined, nicely shaded individuals to act it out, as it were. Where Gilligan triumphed (and I almost can't believe I'm using this word) was in its isolation. Its characters had to be well developed. No development, no show. There's no way the show could have "coasted". It had to click, the characters, or else it wasn't working. This was more obvious on this show than most due to the extreme nature of the central premise. I think you're absolutely right on this, Telegonus. Indeed, the premise is so ridiculous, so silly, that if the characters didn't click, we couldn't be drawn into the show at all, as there would be nothing recognizably "real" to latch onto. A program need not be realistic--to the contrary!--but it must be grounded in some form of reality, lest we have no connection with it. Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer humanized the Howells so well that we end up feeling bad for these silly snobs at times; Dawn Wells is impossibly lovely as Mary Ann; Ginger isn't completely the "stuck-up glamour girl" that the producers originally intended; the Professor is a fine "reality check guy," as you put it; and of course one can't help but love the Skipper and Gilligan. Not that one should bring too much logical analysis to Gilligan's Island (sorry, Professor!), as you say, but it's a much more rewarding show than it may seem at first glance--and it's also very funny indeed, at least to my goofy sense of humor.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 5, 2017 1:34:23 GMT
Y'know, with the students Yale is producing nowadays, Mr. Howell may be on to something... (To any Yalies who may be here: it's a joke!)
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 5, 2017 4:34:20 GMT
I thought you could say the castaways embodied the 7 Deadly Sins. Skipper (wrath) Gilligan (sloth) Mr. Howell (avarice) Mrs Howell (pride) Ginger (lust) Mary Ann (envy of Ginger) the Professor (gluttony--I know its a stretch--gluttony of knowledge). Too much time on my hands of course. As for the funniest, between Mr Howell and the Skipper. Speaking of Jim Backus, he did manage to upstage Bugs Bunny in a cartoon where he portrayed a genie.
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Post by telegonus on Oct 14, 2017 17:06:31 GMT
Seven deadly sins, indeed. As comedy. This was done again, around the time the series ended in the Peter Cook-Dudley Moore movie Bedazzled.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Oct 23, 2017 19:52:49 GMT
The 7 castaways were meant to be a microcosm of society (not the 7 sins).
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jrdmln
New Member
@jrdmln
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Post by jrdmln on Jul 28, 2018 22:44:49 GMT
I thought that they were all funny. Gilligan's Island is a good show.
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Post by telegonus on Aug 2, 2018 6:51:32 GMT
Fascinating how Gilligan's Island became a cult favorite. Who'd have thunk it at the time? Kids loved it, but kids also loved Yogi Bear, McHale's Navy, My Favorite Martian and a ton of other shows, but Gilligan has the legs. It's not quite The Three Stooges of TV comedies,--that's taking it too far---but it may be the nearest there is, for kids, young people and aging, sentimental Boomers.
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hanswilm
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old imdb name was Hans-Wilhelm but this site tweaked it to hanswilm
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Post by hanswilm on Aug 2, 2018 13:27:40 GMT
Just being funny all by themselves it was the Skipper. He was funny and his interactions with Gilligan (little buddy) were the core of the show. The Skipper was the best.
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Post by Cooper, the Golden Retriever on Nov 4, 2018 15:27:26 GMT
Apropos of this thread, it just occurred to me: whatever else one can say about the humor or overall quality of Gilligan's Island one thing we can all agree on (I think): its character's were well developed. Show me a good comedy and I'll show you well defined, nicely shaded individuals to act it out, as it were. Where Gilligan triumphed (and I almost can't believe I'm using this word) was in its isolation. Its characters had to be well developed. No development, no show. There's no way the show could have "coasted". It had to click, the characters, or else it wasn't working. This was more obvious on this show than most due to the extreme nature of the central premise. I think you're absolutely right on this, Telegonus. Indeed, the premise is so ridiculous, so silly, that if the characters didn't click, we couldn't be drawn into the show at all, as there would be nothing recognizably "real" to latch onto. A program need not be realistic--to the contrary!--but it must be grounded in some form of reality, lest we have no connection with it. Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer humanized the Howells so well that we end up feeling bad for these silly snobs at times; Dawn Wells is impossibly lovely as Mary Ann; Ginger isn't completely the "stuck-up glamour girl" that the producers originally intended; the Professor is a fine "reality check guy," as you put it; and of course one can't help but love the Skipper and Gilligan. Not that one should bring too much logical analysis to Gilligan's Island (sorry, Professor!), as you say, but it's a much more rewarding show than it may seem at first glance--and it's also very funny indeed, at least to my goofy sense of humor. I have the exact tsame sense of humor..have the whole series on dvd..last night watched the later Season 2 episodes with the volcano, fake Howell, ghost, allergies, mad doctor, and giant skipper (repsectively, in order, "Operation: Steam Heat","Will the real Mr.Howell Please Stand Up?","Ghost a-Go-Go","Allergy Time:,"The Friendly Physician", & "V for Vitaminds" (those last two and the ghost one are mini scare masterpieces along with such Season 3 later ones as Gilligan as a vampire and the withc doctor, repsectively titled Up at Bat and Voodoo)
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geezer
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Post by geezer on Nov 13, 2018 2:40:48 GMT
I think I actually found Skipper the funniest. His exasperated facial reactions towards Gilligan, and his loud "D'OH! sound he'd make when he'd get hit in the stomach or something, made me chuckle growing up. So true. He originated the "D'OH!" way before Homer Simpson. He borrowed heavily from Oliver Hardy for those too young to remember Laurel and Hardy.
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Post by snsurone on Nov 16, 2018 19:26:10 GMT
One of my favorite episodes was the one where the castaways put on a production of "Hamlet" for their visitor, theatrical producer Harold Hecuba. Although I could never stomach the scenery-chewing Phil Silvers (who played Hecuba), the adaptation of the play was cute and funny. And Bob Denver looked great in tights!
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Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 17, 2018 4:36:51 GMT
The ship's name, S.S. Minnow, was not named for the fish but rather for Newton Minow, head of the Federal Communications Commission in 1961. Minow was the one who called television "America's vast wasteland". Sherwood Schwartz did not care for Minow so he named the soon-to-be shipwrecked ship after him, though he later said that Minow actually enjoyed the joke and that the two eventually exchanged regular friendly correspondence.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 17, 2018 4:38:15 GMT
"Phil Silvers was cast as a producer in an episode partly because his production company was producing the show."
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Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 17, 2018 4:39:44 GMT
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geezer
Junior Member
@geezer
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Post by geezer on Nov 19, 2018 22:46:56 GMT
One of my favorite episodes was the one where the castaways put on a production of "Hamlet" for their visitor, theatrical producer Harold Hecuba. Although I could never stomach the scenery-chewing Phil Silvers (who played Hecuba), the adaptation of the play was cute and funny. And Bob Denver looked great in tights! I loved that episode, (but not for Bob Denver in tights!), this was literally my introduction to Hamlet. I still sing the "To Be Or Not to Be" song in my head!!
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Huxley
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@huxley
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Post by Huxley on Jun 23, 2019 20:03:13 GMT
Gilligan's Island was one of my favorite shows. They sure brought along a lot of cloths for a 3 hour tour.
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vrkalak
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@vrkalak
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Post by vrkalak on Jun 24, 2019 1:14:56 GMT
Gilligan's Island was one of my favorite shows. They sure brought along a lot of cloths for a 3 hour tour. And clothes too. 😎
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Post by Prime etc. on Feb 22, 2021 7:03:38 GMT
I remember seeing this at the time and being surprised. The real Ginger was there too.
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