Frank Dresser wrote:

"starman" wrote in message
...

Home come the visitors to the island were able to leave but not the
castaways? Why didn't the visitors report the location of the island
when they got back to civilization? :-)



Thanks for getting me to clarify an important point. Only the first year of
Gilligan can be properly placed in the Island Noir genre. I know it's hard
to believe, but there are still some people who don't "get it". For them, I
suggest they imagine some cast changes. Picture the Skipper and Gilligan
played by Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Mr. and Mrs. Howell played
by Edward G. Robinson and Bette Davis. Ginger portrayed by Veronica Lake.
Of course, the Professor would be Robert Mitchum.

With such a cast, the true nature of the island elite would have been
obvious to even the most doltish, thick-headed viewer. Even some TV critics
might have gotten beyond the question, "Howcum they brought so many
cigarettes for a three hour tour?". But casting the castaways as comedic
figures goes even beyond the brilliance of casting Fred MacMurray as Walter
Neff. In this way, we get to see the other islanders as the trusting,
innocent Mary Ann sees them. It's only as we mature, and listen to enough
domestic shortwave radio, that the lies and moral corruption of Mary Ann's
fellow islanders become apparent.

But those later color episodes in which people start showing up? Well,
those episodes are just plain silly.

Frank Dresser


For goodness sakes, it was a fantasy sitcom to entertain, nothing more.