Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-11: Gilligan's Island

*Welcome to our annual "retro retro" episode, in which we go outside our usual timeline to focus on a "silver age" show, in this case Gilligan's Island (CBS, 1964-1966)!

*This series is complete on DVD and free to stream on Tubi as of this writing. It would look great on Blu-Ray.

*The series had 98 first-run episodes.

*The Great Society is the name given to President Lyndon B. Johnson's domestic programs launched beginning in 1964.

*The New Adventures of Gilligan aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1974 to 1977.
Gilligan's Planet aired one season (1982-1983) on CBS.

*The books I mention are Bob Denver's Gilligan, Maynard, and Me and Here on Gilligan's Isle by Russell Johnson with Steve Cox.

*Season 2's "The Little Dictator" with Nehemiah Persoff is reportedly Sherwood Schwartz's favorite episode. He recorded an amiable commentary for that one for the DVD set, and his affection for the whole series is evident.

*It's About Time aired this same season, 1966-67, on CBS. It stars Joe E. Ross and Imogene Coca.

*"Don't Bug the Mosquitoes" from Season 2 is the episode with The Honeybees singing "You Need Us" and The Wellingtons as the visiting rock band.

*Of the 3 TV movies, the first is the one in the public domain, but the others are owned by Universal: 1978's Rescue from Gilligan's Island, 1979's The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, and 1981's The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.

*Hear us mention Tina Louise in our Dallas episode right here.

*Our previous mention of Alan Hale Jr. was in our Growing Pains episode here.

*'Will the Real Mr. Howell Please Stand Up?" premiered at 8:00 PM Eastern March 17, 1966 on CBS. I mention the other shows on that night on the podcast! Mona McCluskey and The Double Life of Henry Phyfe are both one-season wonders.

*The amnesia episode Mike references is "The Second Ginger Grant" from Season 3. "The Producer," also from the third season, features Phil Silvers as Harold Hecuba and the musical Hamlet. That installment is #52 on TV Guide's original list of 100 greatest episodes (1997). "The Hunter" from S3 is the Rory Calhoun episode.

*Finally, enjoy our video playlist for this episode, featuring theme songs, commercials, promos, and more!

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

Episode 12-11: Gilligan's Island

For this season's Retro Retro episode, we head back to Gilligan's Island! News comes in on the radio that Mr. Howell has been rescued, which comes as a surprise to the castaways, especially Mr. Howell! The real Howell whips the castaways into a frenzy to get him home to stop the imposter Howell from spending his money and, to a far lesser extent, ruining his reputation. Things get weirder when the imposter washes up on the island.

#podcast #tv #retrotv #sixties #gilligansisland

 

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Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Top Ten #325: Special "They ran out of Halloween stuff at the store 3 weeks ago" Edition!

1) Bloopers: Do you love a good blooper? Great! Do you love seeing 10 of them in a row in 4 or 5 segments over an hour period? Well, do we have a show for you on the podcast this week!

2) Practical Jokes: Personally, I prefer the blooper over the practical joke, but reasonable people have disagreed throughout history. Perhaps the genius of TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes is that it presents both timeless expressions of comedy in one forum without forcing a laugh-hungry audience to choose.

Here's a joke from the series starring Laura Branigan of Automan!

3) Ed McMahon: Ed makes his fourth featured appearance on the podcast this week in his role as the irascible cut-up on TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes. It must have been gratifying for McMahon to see Dick Clark laugh for him the way he laughed for Johnny--in enthusiasm if not in style. The booming Ed laugh and the raspy Dick wheeze are both effective in their own ways.

Hey, speaking of Ed, isn't it getting close to that time?

Hear more about Ed in our episodes on Alf, Legends of the Superheroes, and CHiPs.

4) Dick Clark: For years, he was known as America's Oldest Teenager, which doesn't really sound like a compliment at all. Are we sure that wasn't a long-running practical joke on Dick?

5) The McKeon Family Dynasty: On this week's episode, we got a solid glimpse of the storied acting family, which between them appeared in hundreds of episodes of sitcom entertainment. There's Nancy. There's Philip. 

Hmm, but not Doug, who isn't related. That takes a little of the shine off the McKeon Family Dynasty, now that I know that.

6) Dr. Joyce Brothers: Did you know she went on an early quiz show as a boxing expert? You would if you grew up in a certain era because it was talked about more than any academic/medical credentials. I wish Ed and Dick had interviewed her about what America's fascination with bloopers said about itself.

7) The World Series: With this Yankees/Dodgers match-up, we can party like it's 1981 again! Let's just forget the bummer of the midseason strike, missed games, and bizarre playoff format.

8) NBA: The pro basketball league returns this week, and you can watch most of the stars play many of the games! I miss the good old days before load management, when sitting out games was more likely because of drug-related suspensions.

9) Halloween Week: The big day is this Thursday, so there's still time to get your Halloween viewing in before passing out candy.

10) R.I.P. Ron Ely: Our game show episode featured some of the late actor's work hosting Face the Music.

YouTube Spotlight: Madonna on "Bloopers"?

One of the interesting clips in this week's video playlist devoted to TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes is this clip of bloopers from Desperately Seeking Susan featuring Madonna:

Imagine that: 3 of the biggest showbiz icons of all time together at once: Ed McMahon, Dick Clark, and Madonna! If you didn't watch that clip up above this paragraph, I am going to disappoint you: Madge does not walk out to greet Dick and Ed as if she was personally delivering bloopers from her new flick. Can you imagine her seizing everyone's attention by writhing provocatively on a big 3-dimensional represeantion of the word "GOOF"?

I am sure NBC was thrilled to be able to promote a Madonna appearance on the show, even if it was a mere collection of film clips. Madonna knew Dick Clark from American Bandstand and, of course she knew Ed McMahon from American Family Publishers. (She was not on The Tonight Show until 1987).

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-10: TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes

*Is it me or is there a Mandela Effect going on here. I might have thought this show was TV's Practical Jokes and Bloopers?

*Kermit Schaefer, Mr. Blooper, is credit with pioneering the practice of collecting media bloopers. He released several albums in the Sixties along with books like the one I mention. His 1974 movie Pardon My Blooper was a compilation of bloopers. 75 minutes of them!

*Johnny Carson's practical jokes special is "Johnny Carson's Greatest Practical Jokes," which aired on NBC in 1983.

*Later versions of the show aired on ABC from 1998 to 2007 and in syndication for a brief spell starting in 2012.

*ABC's knock-off, Foul-Ups, Bleeps, and Blunders aired midseason 1984, then was on the Fall schedule, but soon became just a series of specials before fizzling after a short run.

*1984 miniseries Celebrity is a 3-part NBC miniseries based on a 1983 novel. Stars include Michael Beck and James Whitmore. It won an Emmy for cinematography.

*The episode we discuss premiered February 13, 1984 on NBC.

*Jim Perry was a longtime game show host we talk more about in our Face the Music/Sale of the Century episode.

*Nancy McKeon of Facts of Life was not quite 18 when this aired. Brother Philip (Alice) was 19.

*Lee Cooper has been around over 100 years and is still around!

*You can see a lot of vintage Robert Klein specials on the Clown Jewels YouTube channel.

*1984's Angel from New World Pictures was a hit relative to cost and spawned several sequels.

*Finally, check out our video playlist for this episode, which includes (as of this writing) the full episode upload we watch and discuss for the podcast, plus promos, a few bloopers, and Dr. Joyce Brothers on Make Me Laugh!

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

Episode 12-10: TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes

The mid-eighties saw the rise of blooper-mania, and nothing exemplified that more than TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, starring Dick Clark and BOTNS semi-regular Ed McMahon! If you've never seen the show, don't be fooled by the title, though. It's really TV's Bloopers, Commercial Compilations, Comedy Bits, Dance Montages, and Practical Jokes! Also appearing in this episode Nancy and Phil McKeon and Dr. Joyce Brothers.

#podcast #tv #retrotv #eighties #bloopers #practicaljokes #tvsbloopersandpracticaljokes #dickclark #edmcmahon #nancymckeon #phimckeon #drjoycebrothers 

Read full show notes and more at https://www.battleofthenetworkshows.com/

Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/371670863237699

Support the show by buying merch at http://tee.pub/lic/FM0uOqq3xzE

 

Check out this episode!