Ginger Had To Be Totally Changed When Tina Louise Joined Gilligan's Island

"Gilligan's Island" wasn't the most sophisticated television series ever to beam into our living rooms. For three seasons between 1964 and 1967 (and over decades of syndication thereafter), viewers turned in to watch seven castaways stranded on an uncharted island somewhere far off the coast of Hawaii attempt and inevitably fail to find their way back to civilization. In just about every case, their endeavors were bungled by Gilligan (Bob Denver), an energetic young shipmate with a heart of gold and a headful of rocks.

The show never deviated from this stupidly simple setup (despite the network's initial efforts), but it was so good-naturedly silly and energetically performed that you excused the rigid repetition. Kids loved the broadly visual gags, while parents could appreciate the ensemble chemistry generated between old pros like Jim Backus, Alan Hale, Jr. and Natalie Schafer.

Ensemble dynamics are tricky things. When casting a sitcom this formulaic, creators and casting directors are looking for very specific types. They make their lists, and mix and match available actors until they find the best possible fit. Rarely do they deviate from how the character is written on the page to cater to a talented performer's very different strengths.

For "Gilligan's Island" creator Sherwood Schwartz, Tina Louise possessed that kind of talent. In going with his gut, he allowed Louise to display her considerable comedic talents and become many a young couch potato's first TV crush.

In his production memoir "Inside Gilligan's Island: From Creation to Syndication," Schwartz wrote that the Ginger of the show's pilot was written as "a slick Hollywood actress, with a sarcastic kind of wit." Right away, I wonder how a character like that would've dealt with, let alone tolerated, the lunkheaded antics of Gilligan. If the series was going to have an antagonistic castaway like Dr. Zachary Smith on "Lost in Space," it feels like this Ginger would've definitely fit the bill.

Schwartz opted to go in the opposite direction when he met Tina Louise. She'd made a smolderingly hot debut in Anthony Mann's "God's Little Acre" six years earlier, but wasn't ideal casting for Ginger. Schwartz cast her anyway, noting, "...[I]t became apparent that the concept of Ginger had to be rewritten to make better use of Tina's natural abilities. Tina wasn't really comfortable as the wisecracking, brassy, Hollywood Ginger. But she was marvelous as a wide-eyed, innocently sexy Hollywood starlet."

CBS had to buy out Louise's contract in the Broadway show "Fade In, Fade Out" (headlined by future TV superstar Carol Burnett), but Schwartz believed it was absolutely worth it. And her casting was a boon for Dawn Wells. Per Schwartz:

"As Tina's Ginger became wide-eyed and innocent, Mary Ann [played by Wells] stopped being wide-eyed and innocent, and became more realistic and down-to-earth. She was still virginal, but not from innocence. From determination.

Dawn Wells was an ideal choice for the new Mary Ann, particularly after Tina Louise was cast as Ginger. Her energetic, pretty, girl-next-door look made a wonderful contrast with the tall, glamorous, sexy Tina Louise."

"Gilligan's Island" made Louise a television star. She exuded kittenish, Marilyn Monroe-esque sensuality, but never in an overt sense that might've steamed the collars of uptight network censors. She was as sweet and innocent as Gilligan in a way, but more likable given that she wasn't the accidental saboteur of multiple attempts to get off that blasted patch of soil in the Pacific.

Alas, the show's immense popularity in syndication probably hampered Louise's post-series career. She mostly played Ginger types throughout the rest of the '60s and most of the 1970s in films like "The Wrecking Crew," "How to Commit Marriage," and "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys." To her credit, Louise has never voiced any bitterness over her character's perhaps too-lasting impact. She's grateful to have been a part of a show that continues to be popular in the streaming realm, and we're overjoyed that the 90-year-old star is still with us and interacting with her fans on social media!