In the spirit of staying prepared, a good backup plan is always nice to have on standby. It's comforting to know that if everything goes wrong, you've laid your plans well enough to know that you have somewhere to turn to.

Although the castaways weren't necessarily fond of being shipwrecked, three years of Gilligan's Island was a dream come true for series creator Sherwood Schwartz. Even today, the series is still remembered fondly.

According to an interview with the Muncie Evening Press, it seemed that the lifetime of Gilligan's Island only lasted a year shy of Schwartz's initial wishes.

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"I hoped from the outset that the show would go for four years with them on the island," the creator said.

However, there was always a small chance that audiences may grow bored with the castaway setting - Schwartz was well prepared for that possibility.

"I've had a projected escape in the back of my mind," the creator said. "Should they get rescued, or should the ratings go down, or should we feel we're getting into a rut- then I'd turn the island into a resort hotel."

This plotline was never explored in the original series. Not only was the audience well entertained by the island setting, but so too was the cast of Gilligan's Island.

"Personally, I don't want to get off the island," Hale said. "The show is fun to work on. And this is the story of life - everyone tries to get out of town. We escape on this show. It's studied nonsense. We play it straight down the line, and it comes off funny."