The ‘Gilligan’s Island’ 50th Anniversary As Celebrated By Someone Who Barely Remembers The Show But Liked It A Lot

I don’t really remember “Gilligan’s Island,” but I remember loving it.

When the show first aired in 1964, CBS peddled it to American families during those final hours of the afternoon when every person in the household was either home or just getting home. Its original three-year run spanned the advent of color television. All 36 episodes of its bloated first season premiered in black-and-white and later had to be colorized in the vibrant blues and greens and reds that we remember, or barely remember. Even the show’s most memorable feature -- its classic theme song -- was tweaked in a tiny, crucial way between the first and second seasons. We remember the edited version.

Maybe I don’t remember “Gilligan’s Island” because I wasn’t really allowed to watch it. It wasn’t because the show was particularly racy -- this would be at about the same time my mother would rent VHS copies of “Sex and the City” for us to watch together when she got home from work -- but because I grew up in the ’90s, when “Gilligan’s Island” aired quite late at night, on Nickelodeon’s Nick-at-Nite, an unlikely block of television into which “The Rugrats” seamlessly transitioned. I imagined that other children would change the channel to Cartoon Network (which then made good on its promise of 24 hours of animation), but I wasn’t other children. I stayed up watching the show my mother grew up on until she yelled at me to get to sleep.

I never listened to my TV curfew, and this is probably why I can’t remember “Gilligan’s Island” in spite of my love for it. My eyes were always fixed on Gilligan and the six other castaways’ attempts to be rescued, but my ears were always listening for signs my mom was waking up to punish me.

But “Gilligan’s Island” was worth that risk. This is probably a ridiculous thing to admit, but that silly sitcom really spoke to me. I strongly identified with Gilligan, who straddled the barrier between old and young the way precocious kids like me all think we do. The Skipper, Gilligan’s closest friend, always called him “little buddy.” No one took me seriously, either.

I was different from all my friends. While they were out playing wiffle ball, I was inside watching “Gilligan’s Island.” I was confined to a little green stretch of Pelham Parkway and all the kids in it; TV was a way of going to new places and meeting new people. The castaways of “Gilligan’s Island” were all trapped on that awful, beautiful island; when I watched that sitcom in secret, I was escaping.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, below are all my favorite moments from “Gilligan’s Island,” the three-hour tour (three-hour tour) that provided decades of adventure.

The Theme Song We Forgot and the Theme Song We Didn’t

Has any other another television theme song ever given us this much information? I can’t even paraphrase a single line of dialogue from this show, but I know that theme song by heart. It’s pretty much the ultimate premise -- we took seven white people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and put them all on an island together, where they’re kind of equals. But only kind of.

“Lost” would basically repeat this formula, but do it so much worse.

Oh, and about those seven castaways -- only five are mentioned in the Season 1 theme song. By Season 2, “and the rest!” becomes “the Professor and Mary Ann!”

His Wife, The Movie Star… and Mary Ann

Only Ginger Grant was ever mentioned by her job, but what a job! Tina Louise was clearly channeling something between Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, but she was made to look and dress just like Myrna Loy. That seems impractical for being stranded on a desert island, but it’s not like she packed for a shipwrecking.

Eunice Lovell Wentworth Howell is simply referred to as “his wife” during theme song, both because of sexism and because it seems kind of hard to squeeze Eunice Lovell Wentworth Howell into a song.

That left Mary Ann, who brought nothing to the island but the much-needed indomitable spirit of a Kansas farm girl. She’s the last character mentioned by the last version of the theme song, but she’s the only other character apart from the show’s protagonist to be mentioned in it by name.

One time, they were in a band called The Honey Bees, which was better than The Monkees in every way.

Also, none of these women were particularly smart; but in fairness, none of the men really were either.

One time, Ginger almost single-handedly orchestrated a date between Gilligan and Mary Ann. But it was early in the show’s run, and Gilligan clearly wasn’t ready for it. Mary Ann, however, needed much less coaxing.

The Very First Moments of the Show

Has there ever been a more serene shipwreck scene? Everyone is literally napping!

And Finally, the Rescue

This is one of the most stressful moments in any series I’ve ever seen. Other shows have guaranteed comforts: Lucy and Ricky will always makeup, Mary will make it after all, Ralph is never going to hit Alice.

But there was never really any guarantee that the seven castaways would ever leave the island. And then they did. I remember sprinting in circles around my house as the credits rolled.

Did I miss your favorite moment? Send me a link and I may feature it here!