The '80s Sci-Fi Sitcom That Returned The Castaways To Gilligan's Island

In the "ALF" episode "Somewhere Over the Rerun," also alternately titled as "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island" (September 28, 1987), the furry little alien ALF (voiced by Paul Fusco), becomes obsessed with watching reruns of "Gilligan's Island" on TV. ALF dreams of living with the castaways of Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom, feeling them to be delightfully funny and living in a tropical paradise. What could be better? He begins dressing in Hawaiian shirts and ordering bamboo furniture, hoping to turn the ordinarily unassuming Tanner household into something more interesting. (Part of the show's premise is that ALF has to live hidden inside the Tanner's suburban home, kept secret from the world, lest the existence of aliens throw Earth into a panic.) 

ALF's obsession with "Gilligan's Island" leads him into the Tanners' backyard, where he begins digging up all the grass, hoping to create a tropical lagoon just like on his favorite show. This causes Willie (Max Wright) to become furious, and he demands that ALF fill in all the dirt he dug up. While filling the yard back in, ALF falls asleep and begins to dream. Naturally, he dreams that is living within "Gilligan's Island." In a twist, however, he is not on "Gilligan's Island" as it appeared in the 1960s, but how it might look in 1987, ALF's present day.

For the dream sequence, the makers of "ALF" hired original "Gilligan's Island" stars Dawn Wells, Russell Johnson, Alan Hale, Jr., and Bob Denver to reprise their roles. They also reconstructed a new version of the original "Gilligan's Island" sets, and ALF got to have multiple scenes interacting with the characters, making jokes and learning all about what their lives were like 20 years later. 

It was the third-to-last time that members of the "Gilligan's Island" cast would unite to pay homage to the show, followed only by guest spots on "Baywatch" in 1992 and on "Roseanne" in 1995. The "Roseanne" episode also doesn't really count, as the surviving "Gilligan's Island" cast members (Wells, Johnson, and Denver) appeared playing the "Roseanne" characters in one scene. For "Baywatch," only Denver and Wells participated.

Tina Louise, the actress who played Ginger, didn't return for "ALF," as she notoriously refused to participate in most of the "Gilligan's Island" follow-up projects (the "Roseanne" reunion notwithstanding). Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer, who played the Howells, also didn't appear in the 1987 sitcom as Backus had been struggling with Parkinson's Disease for several years, and Schafer, already 87, had slowed her acting output.

There was a twist in "ALF." Not only were the "Gilligan's Island" characters older, but they had been stranded on the same island for over two decades. Their tedium and isolation has caused them to hate their lives. Indeed, a schism has formed among them, with the Howells and Ginger moving onto the other side of the island in protest (hence why they are absent). The castaways, "ALF" learns, hate coconut cream pie, loathe their all-fruit diet, and lament the overwhelming labor it takes to stay alive. Gilligan, the Skipper, Mary Ann, and the Professor long for escape, and blame Gilligan, who is quite tired of absorbing their rancor. He even hates being called "Little Buddy," as the castaways are now all in their 40s and 50s. 

ALF attempts to lighten the mood by demanding their old-school sitcom shenanigans like he was used to seeing in reruns. The castaways explain that their lives aren't a sitcom, and that if ALF witnessed any humorous shenanigans, they only lasted for 30-minute spurts. For the most part, their lives were always boring on Gilligan's Island. "ALF" served as a metanarrative commentary on one of the most prolifically rerun sitcoms in the history of the medium.

Eventually, ALF is enlisted by the castaways to — just like in the waking world — do heavy labor. He is ordered to grab a shovel and fill in the lagoon, as the castaways would like the space to play miniature golf. ALF begins to realize that Sisyphean chores have always been the reality of the "Gilligan's Island" characters, and that suffering is their lot in life. 

This concept is jammed home when, in a meta twist, the castaways gather to watch TV. The Professor was able to construct one out of a TV tube that washed ashore a fear years before, allowing them to catch their favorite sitcoms. Their favorite show, ALF learns, is a show all about the Tanners, ALF's family. The Tanners have no adventures, really, but the castaways love seeing the love and comfort of their everyday lives. They comment openly about eating quality meals, taking warm showers, and having a more extensive wardrobe. 

ALF awakens having learned his lesson. TV fantasies, he surmises, aren't worth losing one's self inside of. The love of the Tanner family should suffice. "Gilligan's Island," were it real, would be boring and torturous. 

The "ALF" writers were both paying homage to "Gilligan's Island" with "Over the Rerun" and tearing it down a little. Sherwood Schwartz likely wouldn't have liked the cynicism of "ALF," having once stated that "Gilligan's Island" was meant to represent, at least on one level, an idealized democracy wherein people from all classes get along and survive. In depicting the castaways as having split off into separate groups and lamenting the horrors of their lives, the ideals of "Gilligan's Island" were undercut. 

But then, it was all just a dream, so one could argue that any cynicism on display was invented by ALF himself.