Do Gilligan's Island And The Brady Bunch Share A Universe?

The central joke of Betty Thomas' 1995 hit comedy "The Brady Bunch Movie" and of Arlene Sanford's 1996 follow-up "A Very Brady Sequel" was that they were set in the present, but the Bradys themselves were caught in a strange cultural time-warp. Sherwood Schwartz's original "The Brady Bunch" sitcom ran from 1969 to 1974, and the adapters of the "Brady Bunch" films felt that the titular family needed to stay there. As such, the Bradys still dressed and behaved like they were in an ultra-wholesome, ultra-artificial TV sitcom, not perceiving that the world had changed since 1970. This allowed "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel" to serve as clever meta-commentaries. How would 1990s Americans react if they encountered 1970s sitcom characters in real life? 

The plot of "A Very Brady Sequel" involved Carol Brady's (Shelley Long) presumed-dead husband Roy Martin (Tim Matheson) returning to the family to reclaim his wife. He moves in, creating chaos. Roy, unlike Carol's new husband Mike (Gary Cole), isn't lost in time, and he is bitter and sarcastic compared to how strangely wholesome the Bradys are. It will later be revealed that Roy is a con man named Trevor who is only insinuating himself into the Brady household to steal a $20 million horse statue they don't know they own. 

At the end of "A Very Brady Sequel," Trevor nearly gets away with his plan, having absconded with the horse and arrived at the glitzy mansion of his potential buyer, a millionaire named Dr. Whitehead (John Hillerman). Trevor's plan is spoiled, however, when Carol arrives with the truth. Trevor, it seems, had previously sabotaged a ship at sea to get the horse in the first place, but lost track of it in a subsequent storm. He only caught up with the horse years later. 

It turns out the ship he sabotaged was the S.S. Minnow from "Gilligan's Island."

A swift exchange during the climax of "Brady Sequel" revealed that Trevor was on board the S.S. Minnow, but that he deliberately caused the ship to sink, looking for the valuable horse. This outraged Dr. Hillerman, and he refuses to buy the horse ... because his son was the first mate on that ship. "Thanks to you," Dr. Hillerman say, "I'll never see my boy Gilligan again." Trivia buffs who have always wondered what Gilligan's first name is on Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" can now rest assured that his full name was actually Gilligan Hillerman. This scene also, for the first time, directly connects Schwartz's two most famous sitcoms, putting them in the same universe.

Carol then chimes in to point out that her first husband Roy was also on that ship, and that he was a Professor. On "Gilligan's Island," the Professor (Russell Johnson) was named Roy Hinkley. Then, to hammer the joke home, Trevor points out that Gilligan and the Professor might not be dead. "There's always the chance that the ship washed up on the shore of some uncharted desert isle." These, of course, mimic the lyrics to the opening theme song to "Gilligan's Island." Dr. Hillerman rejects the idea, as he hates the very notion that people would have to live out their lives on a tropical island. "Let's face it," he says, "The Minnow was lost" — another reference to "Gilligan's Island" theme lyrics. 

Of course, these references were all in good fun. The quoting of lyrics and the sudden drop of Gilligan's name into "A Very Brady Sequel" was little more than a wink to fans of 1960s television. It was something to get audiences to point at the screen like Leonardo DiCaprio's character in that "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" meme. I doubt director Sanford or any of the film's screenwriters were genuinely attempting to create a Sherwood Schwartz Cinematic Universe (an SSCU?). The fact that Dr. Hillerman rejects the premise of "Gilligan's Island" is just a self-aware jab at the series. 

Although it's just a gag, the thought is tantalizing. As we know from the theme song to "The Brady Bunch," Mike (Robert Reed) and Carol (Florence Henderson) were both single parents with three kids each who met and married, making a family of eight. What if Carol was previously married to — and had three daughters with — Professor Roy Hinkley from "Gilligan's Island?" Carol and the Professor, though, must have had a messy divorce before his disappearance, as the Professor never mentions his family on "Gilligan's Island." Also, he is most decidedly single. Perhaps his divorce from Carol was so messy that he just never wanted to talk about it. 

Recall, though, that the "Brady Bunch" movies are a reboot of the show, and that they take place in the 1990s. That means the SSCU version of Carol is referring to a version of the Professor in an updated timeline. So it's actually very possible that she was indeed married to the Professor, and that the castaways of the SSCU "Gilligan's Island" are indeed out there somewhere, living on a deserted island, now in the 1990s. 

Or maybe in the alternate SSCU timeline, Gilligan and the Professor did indeed die, and Trevor got away with it. Which is bleak, but it doesn't make the "Very Brady Sequel" references any less funny. Ultimately, I think it's safe to say that the two sitcoms do not canonically operate in the same universe.