How The Gilligan's Island Cast And Crew Felt About The Show's Negative Reviews

Television was a whole different ball game when "Gilligan's Island" premiered on CBS in 1964. There were prestigious programs like "Playhouse 90" and "Kraft Television Theatre," but the medium was largely viewed as lesser than cinema. Movie stars wouldn't dare diminish their larger-than-life, big-screen stature by taking a role in an hour-long drama, let alone a sitcom. Television is where washed-up actors went to finish out their careers.

Sitcoms could be artfully done in the 1950s and 1960s, as evidenced by classics like "I Love Lucy," "The Honeymooners," and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." On the other hand, they could also result in things like "Mr. Ed," "Car 54, Where Are You?" and "My Favorite Martian." Network executives basically didn't care one way or the other as long as the shows were drawing eyeballs, but when it came to reviews, it's always worth remembering that there are human beings on the receiving end of harsh notices. And the folks who worked on series featuring talking horses or a crash-landed extraterrestrial, who put in hours making shows that delighted millions of television viewers, didn't enjoy opening up their morning newspaper and reading about how their buffoonery was contributing to the decline of Western Civilization.

As an experienced comedy writer who'd worked on the radio version of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" and the wildly popular "The Red Skelton Show" for television, Sherwood Schwartz knew he had a knack for making people laugh like goons. So when, in unimaginable pain, he created "Gilligan's Island," a wacky sitcom about seven castaways shipwrecked on an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean, he was ready for the brickbats. But the cast had to quickly grow a thick skin when the critical invective rained down on them.

In an interview with the venerable Muncie Evening Press (via MeTV), Schwartz said he went into the first season knowing he had a hit series. "The pilot was pretested three separate times before different audiences, and these people on the street liked it," he said. "They couldn't be wrong." This is true. Unless you're paying people to feign enjoyment (and even then), genuine, convulsive laughter cannot be faked.

Schwartz then got a little blustery with the Muncie Evening Press regarding his facility for cracking regular people up. "I had the conviction it would be a hit," he said. "How? It's my business to know what people want. I've been associated with four shows in the past 15 years, which were never out of the top 10 in ratings ... And how do you know what people want? I'm commercial. I laugh at what people out of our business laugh at."

Though "Gilligan's Island" would only air for three seasons despite being popular (it was axed so "Gunsmoke" could live, per the request of former CBS honcho William S. Paley's wife), Schwartz's commercial instincts would be backed up years later by the success of "The Brady Bunch." He laughed all the way to the bank. Not laughing? (At least, not initially?) Alan Hale Jr., who played the Skipper on "Gilligan's Island."

"Sure, we were shattered by those first reviews," said the showbiz veteran. "Who wouldn't be? We just resolved to try harder." 

"Gilligan's Island" went on to become a syndication smash that's still finding fans via streaming 62 years after its premiere. It ain't art, but it works remarkably well on its own modest terms.