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Bob Denver and Dawn Wells said Gilligan's Island wasn't just for kids
It didn't matter if you were a kid or an adult, getting stranded on Gilligan's Island was an easy thing to do.
If you were to call Gilligan's Island "ridiculous" or "silly," not only would Bob Denver agree with you, but he'd also probably thank you.
Denver was well-known for his role as a stranded castaway named Gilligan. The silly, goofy show was full of sight gags, slapstick comedy and a lot of interesting antics.
Although Gilligan's Island was a popular series that gave us three seasons, it lacked in its approval rate from adults across the country.
"It's silly, yes, but children laugh and adults can if they want to," Denver said in a 1966 interview with The Akron Beacon Journal. "It's aimed at the vast everybody."
According to the interview, many adults who watched Gilligan's Island found the humor to be too silly and unbelievable.
From The Professor's inventions, Gilligan meeting a lion and NASA astronauts, the series took us on a journey as new adventures and burdens fell on the principal cast each week.
Some of these cast members included Alan Hale Jr. (The Skipper), Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Lovey Howell), Tina Louise (Ginger Grant), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers), and more.
Denver wasn't the only cast member who had strong opinions on the appropriate age range for Gilligan's Island. In another 1966 interview with the Democrat and Chronicle, Alan Hale Jr. was asked if he thought the series was "just for kids."
"You know, a lot of grownups have started watching our show, too," Hale Jr. said. "Actually, we get quite a number of comments from parents. You know, the kids turn us on, the parents watch a bit at first, and then they like us."
One of the silliest episodes of Gilligan's Island involved Denver dressing up in Count Dracula clothing for a dream sequence where he played the Bela Lugosi vampire. He'd even pop up from a coffin that would also convert into a bed.
Denver considered the humor of the series to be one of the best things about Gilligan's Island, but many fans had a hard time relating to the show because of how silly it could be.
At the time of the interview, Gilligan's Island was in its third season on-air. The series was gaining a lot of success, and not just with kids, but with adults.
"It's really quite an escape show," Wells said. "People just sort of fall back and relax when they watch it."
5 Comments
They should have ended the sentence with "and the rest."