I recently saw a documentary that must have been made in the very late 1990s (or approximately) about Gilligan's Island.
The last surviving cast members of the original show narrated some of it. The only living cast member who did not participate in it was Tina Louise "Ginger, The Movie Star."
Bob Denver, Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson were in the film.
The documentary told about how the show was thought up by Sherwood Shorts (who also thought up The Brady Bunch years after Gilligan's Island) and how the networks did not think it was a good idea and Mr Shorts had to fight hard to
get the TV big wigs to accept his idea for a sitcom.

Of course Gilligan's Island went down in TV history as one of the most, if not the most popular sitcom ever, reportedly even more than "I Love Lucy" ever was, and I think "I Love Lucy" was the standard for all other sitcoms to be compared to.
Reportedly too, back when Gilligan's Island was still regularly on TV, "The Monkees" was an extremely popular TV show but Gilligan's Island was the one show that rose above "The Monkees" as far as ratings and/or viewers.

However, I think that there were a few other TV shows that gave "Gilligan's Island" some competition. I heard that The Munsters had very high ratings too.

I am not too familiar with how it is determined except by documented TV-show ratings throughout the history of TV sitcoms that can be compared with each other, but does anyone know what TV sitcom has the highest rating
ever?

I know that there are sitcoms today which have high ratings, but I would be surprised if any sitcoms after the 1970s got higher ratings than any of the classic ones of the 70s and before .

Mr. Sherwood Shorts does like to toot his own horn.

But, were they also taking into account rerun longevity? Not just how well the show did during its original run but also having a long life in reruns. Both I Love Lucy and Gilligan's Island reran for years, Lucy is still being reran to this day.

Personally, I'd say "I Love Lucy".

Mr. Sherwood Shorts does like to toot his own horn.

But, were they also taking into account rerun longevity? Not just how well the show did during its original run but also having a long life in reruns. Both I Love Lucy and Gilligan's Island reran for years, Lucy is still being reran to this day.


LOL@ Sherwood Shorts :lol: :D

I'd say I love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, All in the family ,Brady Bunch, Three's company and Happy Days are probably the most popular sitcoms ever! ;)

This is a link to the top-rated show each year since 1950-51:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings#Top-rated_programs

As you can see, the top rating falls steadily over time. From 1950-75 or so, network rivalry strengthened and independent stations grew. After that cable, video, and now internet streaming have provided more competition. The result is that the most popular shows today have a much smaller portion of the total audience than older shows:

1953-54 I Love Lucy 58.8 (percent of all US TV households)
1963-64 Beverly Hillbillies 39.1
1973-74 All in the Family 31.2
1983-84 Dallas 25.7
1993-94 Sixty Minutes 20.9
2003-2004 CSI 15.9
2013-2014 NCIS 12.6 (tied with football)

Gilligan was popular in first run, rated #18, #22, and #49 in it's three seasons, but it was never a ratings powerhouse. It has done phenomenally well in syndication, but ratings expectations are much lower in syndication.

Lucy obviously has the best raw ratings for a sitcom, as high as 67.3 in 1952-53.

I think, though, considering the general decline in high ratings over the 65 years of TV, that the most impressive ratings of all time for a sitcom belong to the Cosby Show of the mid-1980s. They averaged 33.7 in 1985-86 and 34.9 in 1986-87. Those numbers were clearly higher than the ratings of the top-rated shows (All in the Family, Happy Days) of ten years before. You have to go all the way back to 1964-65 (Bonanza) to find a show with a higher season's rating than the Cosby Show in 1986-87.





Very interesting info. Thanks for posting.
It is something that is complicated by time frame, and the fact that certain shows lasted a certain amount of time on the air and then went into syndication which puts any show into a different category than those which still on the air etc etc. , and then there is cable TV and the internet that seems to make it harder to keep track of what shows are watched on TV, or seemingly.
I do wonder why The Munsters are not among the list of top rated shows.

I am surprised that The Beverly Hillbillies is second to I Love Lucy or seems to be.


It now makes me wonder about the lowest rated show ever.

I may have to start a different thread about that.

However I have read something to the effect that The Partridge Family , after it jumped the shark, was the one show that had lower ratings than any other of its time and probably in TV history.

Anyone know?

"All in the Family", "The Carol Burnett Show", "Gilligan's Island", "The Brady Bunch", "Happy Days", & "Laverne & Shirley".

Oh, and DEFINITELY "I Love Lucy"!

I Love Lucy. No contest.

I Love Lucy, and perhaps the Andy Griffith Show. Gilligan's Island was popular both on air and syndication but never #1 in either as far as I know. If I recall, at one time the Brady Bunch was the most popular show in syndication. As for the Partridge Family it did drop but it wasn't just because of All In The Family. That was one reason, but another show it competed against was also popular, called Emergency. Also, Ricky seemed to drag down the 4th season episodes he was in and once he was gone it was too late. Finally, the music just wasn't as good. The songs from the first two seasons were generally the biggest hits. They continued to release songs and they were lacking something to become hits. It's because the world was changing and neither they nor the Brady Bunch (which was cancelled the same day)were relevant anymore. I'm a fan, own both of them on DVD but facts speak for themselves. It is interesting to note that shows then had higher ratings than shows today. In fact shows in the top 10 with the numbers they have would have likely been cancelled years ago.

This movie of the week was called "Gilligan's Island: Surviving the Longest Three Hour Tour in History". I taped it when it originally aired and have re-watched it numerous times. They actually backed their claim by stating that reruns of G.I. have been on the air continuously since the original run ended and by stating the large number of countries around the world (I forget the exact number) in which the show has aired.

This movie of the week was called "Gilligan's Island: Surviving the Longest Three Hour Tour in History". I taped it when it originally aired and have re-watched it numerous times. They actually backed their claim by stating that reruns of G.I. have been on the air continuously since the original run ended and by stating the large number of countries around the world (I forget the exact number) in which the show has aired.

I actually went to college with the guy playing Gilligan, Jon Wellner. We were in screenwriting together and I doubt he remembers me but I remember thinking at the time he would make a great Gilligan.