A popular American singing group, the Mosquitoes (Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving), land on the island hoping for some quiet and relaxation on a deserted island.

I think it was an homage to another band with an insect name, the Beatles!

It was an homage to The Beatles. This episode was one of the first filmed for the 1965-66 season, more than a year before there was any such thing as The Monkees. They would have been very unlikely to do that (later) anyway since The Monkees was on directly opposite Gilligan's Island in the 1966-67 season.

I like the Honeybees better.

The Monkees had not yet arrived. Even though the castawsays were on an island with a jungle.

And the Beatles homage in the name is CLEAR. [The Beatles' own name owes to the Crickets.]

Actually, it was a sendup of those four mop-topped gents from Liverpool :-) The Mosquitoes even sang "He's A Loser," a takeoff on The Beatles tunes "I'm a Loser" and, to a lesser extent, "Nowhere Man."

...."Don't Bug the Mosquitoes", originally aired on December 9, 1965 (right after the first telecast of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", which pre-empted "THE MUNSTERS" that evening), and was definitely intended to be a satiric swipe at 'The Beatles'. At the time, though, Screen Gems/Columbia was producing the original pilot episode of "THE MONKEES", which was bought by NBC in February 1966, and was scheduled opposite "GILLIGAN'S ISLAND" on Monday nights in the fall of '66.

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A popular American singing group, the Mosquitoes (Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving), land on the island hoping for some quiet and relaxation on a deserted island.


... and I'm sure they got a warm welcome from Ginger! :lol:

Even the other two bands on the island, the Gnats and the Honeybees, took their name from insects as a nod to the beatles. Gilligan quotes the refrain of "She Loves You" (yeah, yeah, yeah) and Kirby Johnson in his tinted, round-framed glasses is defintely modeled after John Lennon. :cool: Three of the band members, Bingo, Bango and Bongo, have names that sound like "Ringo." And finally, the fanfatical fans the Mosquitoes are trying so desperately to get away from are an echo of the Beatlemania phenomenon that was rocking England and the USA.

...."Don't Bug the Mosquitoes", originally aired on December 9, 1965 .

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Right after my 5th.birthday. I would have acted like a teenage groupie at a Honeybees shpw.

A popular American singing group, the Mosquitoes (Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving), land on the island hoping for some quiet and relaxation on a deserted island.


This was definitely supposed to be a spoof of the Beatles. The Monkees hadn't arrived yet. That would be another season. I think that show was even worse! LOL:happyface It seems that they resemble the Raiders as well, and doesn't one of them look like Mark Lindsay?

And ,if I'm not mistaken,(and correct me if I'm wrong.),The Mosquitoes were played by "The Wellingtons",the group who did the first season black and white theme,which is nice and tropical sounding,and FAR better than the military-march sounding theme used in all the color episodes.

Sorry, but I prefer the seasons 2-3 theme better.

And ,if I'm not mistaken,(and correct me if I'm wrong.),The Mosquitoes were played by "The Wellingtons",the group who did the first season black and white theme,which is nice and tropical sounding,and FAR better than the military-march sounding theme used in all the color episodes.
Yeah the Wellingtons did do a fantastic job on the theme song for Gilligans Island first season.And I agree it was much better than the theme for the color episodes.The Mosquitoes were played by Les Brown Junior and the Wellingtons.Les Brown Jr. had most of the speaking lines on that episode.

A popular American singing group...

Along with the Beatles, they were also inspired by the Byrds, down to Roger McGuinn's glasses. The song "Don't Bug Me" was especially similar to the Byrds' sound.

http://ring.cdandlp.com/kroun2/photo_grande/114372425.jpg