Category: TV

15 Fateful Facts About “Gilligan’s Island”

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Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 15 Fateful Facts About Gilligan’s Island.   Here are three of my favorites (and this was one of the hardest to get down to top three )…

5. THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK DELAYED PRODUCTION ON THE SERIES.

The pilot for the series was filmed over several days in November of 1963 on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The last day of shooting was scheduled for November 23, 1963 in Honolulu Harbor for the scenes showing the S.S. Minnow embarking on its fateful three-hour tour. Late in the morning on November 22, a crew member ran to the set and announced that he’d just heard on the radio that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. As Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as President, it was announced that all military installations (including Honolulu Harbor) would be closed for the next two days as a period of mourning. Filming was delayed by several days as a result, and in the opening credits—as the Minnow cruises the harbor—the American flag can be seen flying at half-mast in the background.

2. GILLIGAN’S FIRST NAME IS WILLY.
After getting a green light from CBS for the pilot, Schwartz went about assembling his cast. He chose the name of the bumbling first mate—Gilligan—from the Los Angeles telephone directory. Gilligan’s first name was never mentioned during the series, but according to Schwartz’s original notes, it was intended to be “Willy.” Yet Bob Denver always insisted that “Gilligan” was the character’s first name. “Almost every time I see Bob Denver we still argue,” Schwartz once admitted. “He thinks Gilligan is his first name, and I think it’s his last name. Because in the original presentation, it’s Willy Gilligan. But he doesn’t believe it, and he doesn’t want to discuss it. He insists the name is Gilligan.”

7. DAWN WELLS STILL GETS PAID FOR GILLIGAN’S ISLAND.
All of the actors signed contracts that guaranteed them a certain amount of money per original episode plus a residual payment for the first five repeats of each episode. This was a pretty standard contract in 1965, when as a rule most TV shows were only rerun during the summer months as a placeholder between seasons.

Even though the word “syndication” wasn’t yet a standard term in the TV production glossary, Dawn Wells’ then-husband, talent agent Larry Rosen, advised her to ask for an amendment to that residual clause in her contract, and the producers granted it, never thinking the series would be on the air nearly 50 years later. As a result, the estate of the late Sherwood Schwartz (who reportedly pocketed around $90 million during his lifetime from his little microcosm-on-an-island show) and Dawn Wells are the only two folks connected to the show who still receive money from it.

Z-View: “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me”

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I saw Glen Campbell perform live when I was a kid.  Glen Campbell was one of the first celebrities that I can remember seeing “in person.”  The concert took place at the Indiana State Fair.   At the time Mr. Campbell was a recording star, but would go on to have his own television series and appear in movies.

Glen Campbell always came across as a nice guy.  Mr. Campbell seemed like someone you’d enjoy sharing a meal with or just talking to.  That made the news that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s even more tragic.  Not that you’d want anyone to get the disease, but especially not one of the good people.

Last October I posted about Glen Campbell’s song, I’m Not Gonna Miss You.  At the time I said it was one of the saddest songs that I’d ever heard.  I still think it is.  Perhaps even more so after watching the documentary Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me.

Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me takes us behind the scenes for a look at how Alzheimer’s wrecks the life of not only the person with the disease but also everyone who is close to the him/her.

Luckily for Mr. Campbell he has a devoted wife, family and friends and the financial resources to provide him a superior support system.  Still even with all of that, the disease is unstoppable.

Mark Evanier wrote about being at a party a few years ago and the excitement that went through the crowd as it became known that Glen Campbell was going to sing a few songs… and the initial discomfort when they realized the toll Alzheimer’s was taking on him.  Mr. Evanier goes on to say, heck, instead of me telling you what he said, why don’t you just click on over and read his words for yourself.  Like everything Mark Evanier posts, it is more than worth a read.  I’ll be here when you get back.

I want to echo Mark Evanier’s recommendation that you check out Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me.

Rating:   

As I was posting this, I noticed (and it was probably unintentional) that the title of the documentary Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me can also read like Glen Campbell: Ill Be Me.

Every Message Left on Jim Rockford’s Answering Machine

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The Rockford Files always opened with a message left on Rockford’s answering machine.  The message (unrelated to the episode) “…invited the viewer to return to the quirky, down-on-his-luck world of Jim Rockford.”

Here’s a favorite:

“Jim, It’s Norma at the market. It bounced. You want us to tear it up, send it back, or put it with the others?”

Now thanks to That Eric Alper we can listen and download every message used.

The Return of The Three Stooges

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Cake, animation studio Titmouse, Inc. and C3 Entertainment Inc.— owners of The Three Stooges brand have announced that Larry, Curly and Moe will be returning in a new animated series of 52 eleven minute episodes.

While I’m happy that three of our favorite knuckleheads will be exposed to a new generation of fans, wouldn’t it be cool if each new cartoon was paired with one of the original Three Stooges shorts for a thirty minute episode?  The cherry on the top would be to include Shemp in the cartoons paired with original shorts that he co-starred.

Source: Entertainment Weekly.

19 Fun Facts About “Married with Children”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 19 Fun Facts About Married with Children. Here are three of my favorites…

5. THE SHOW WAS PITCHED WITH SAM KINISON AS AL AND ROSEANNE BARR AS PEGGY.

Both Kinison and Barr’s managers told Moye, Leavitt, and the other producers that their clients were shooting for the movies, not television.

9. THE SHOW BRIEFLY RUINED O’NEILL’S MOVIE CAREER.

O’Neill had to be recast long after the 1991 war film Flight of the Intruder had finished shooting because test audiences kept laughing whenever he appeared on screen, even though he was playing a Navy captain involved in a court-martial.

6. MICHAEL RICHARDS AUDITIONED TO PLAY AL.

Two years before he landed the career-making role of Kramer on Seinfeld, Richards auditioned to play the Bundy family patriarch. Moye estimated that out of the many people who auditioned for the role, “80 percent” played Al like Jackie Gleason as Ralph Cramden and “five percent” went the Jack Nicholson in The Shining route.