Hi!

As us Gilligan devotees know, a Season 4 WAS all set to go....until the president of CBC returned from his vacation, insisted that "Gunsmoke" be returned to the schedule, and Gilligan's Island let go...(cry) Can you believe it???? We lost our great sitcom to GUNSMOKE!!!????

Anyway, TV Guide ran an ad for the Premire of Gilligan's Island, season 4 before it was cancelled. The premire was supposed to be a two parter! Does anyone know what the two part episode was going to be about? Please post if you know! Thank you!

Jack

TV Guide usually only runs ads for things, at the most, 2-3 weeks before they're supposed to air and after they've been filmed.
The show was cancelled and everyone informed well before that. Where'd you get this info?
On www.gilligansisle.com I read that the GI Fan Club had bought a script to the final episode #98 "Gilligan the Goddess" and found several fourth season proposals inside. The 99th episode wasn't a two parter.... Ginger was supposed to be rescued in epsode 100 because Tina's contract ran out and she didn't want to continue...
That's all I know about it...

Originally posted by JWood201
TV Guide usually only runs ads for things, at the most, 2-3 weeks before they're supposed to air and after they've been filmed.
The show was cancelled and everyone informed well before that. Where'd you get this info?
On www.gilligansisle.com I read that the GI Fan Club had bought a script to the final episode #98 "Gilligan the Goddess" and found several fourth season proposals inside. The 99th episode wasn't a two parter.... Ginger was supposed to be rescued in epsode 100 because Tina's contract ran out and she didn't want to continue...
That's all I know about it...

The information about a two-parter 4th season opener was in one of the "behind the scenes" stories about Gilligan's Island. I think (not sure) that it might have been on E's "True Hollywood Story." Actually....check that, they said either it was going to be a two-parter or a special 90 minute episode and that TV Guide had an ad written about it. I am not sure however if this ad was listed in the front of the magazine promoting it or in the actual weekley program listings. Maybe we can get more information about this information. That would be cool!

Jack

Originally posted by JWood201
Ginger was supposed to be rescued in epsode 100 because Tina's contract ran out and she didn't want to continue...


well in that case....i'm kinda glad that there wasn't a 4th season. ANY of the castaways leaving would be weird...and in my opinion...would ruin the show. well...maybe not ruin.....but make worse. besides....if ginger was gone....who would flirt with the professor so i can watch it and go into mad fits of giggling? :lol:

I've seen the E! True Hollywood Story for GI, like, literally 10 times. LOL. And I don't remember that.. I've also seen the TV Guide Truth Behind the Sitcoms... I don't remember hearing about it in any of the specials I've seen. **shrug** O wells...

Julie, I also agree that any of the castaways being rescued w/out the rest wuld ruin the show... Even though Ginger got on my nerves, it wouldn't be the same w/out her.

If there had been a 4th season and Ginger was rescued, how would they get around Ginger not being able to tell whoever rescued her that the other castaways were still alive and where they were? It has always been part of the joke that no other visitor tells anyone where they are, but for Ginger to leave them stranded ruins the one realistic quality of this show, the castaways love and respect for each other.

Also, saw some of the other story ideas for the 4th season (Gilligan getting miniaturized, a pirate, an alien, a genie's lamp). As I suspected, it had the most riduculous plots ever with any thread of reality totally out the window!

It would have been realistic for Ginger to get rescued, and then not been able to help them. She would have had no geographical knowledge of where the island existed.

The same exact thing happened when Zsa Zsa Gabor guest starred on the show.

But Ginger as a Minnow survivor would have told someone the rest of the castaways were alive and there would have been an all out search (the funds from Howell's estate would mean they would have spared no expense) to find them. Zsa Zsa not saying anything is just another one of the insequitirs that are this show's charm, but I would like to see the circumstances how Ginger could be rescued by herself.

I would have loved the fourth season. Just think, the only reason we were denied this additional lunacy and escapism was because Mrs. Paley loved Gunsmoke! Such are the workings of TV Land.

I've always hated Gunsmoke, it's not fair I mean if they were going to take it off anyways I think they should have had one episode more so the show could have had a real ending. I know they made a reunion but no Tina Louise and they are all... older.

If this had happened today, Gilligans Island would have been bumped from the schedule but kept in production as a midseason replacement. In those days, they didn't change and move shows around like they do today so once Gilligan was bumped that was it. Even though Tina Louise didn't appear in the reunion movie, her replacement still played Ginger and had their been a fourth season Ginger would have been gone and the series would have been very different.

Also, the Krissy character that would have joined the cast after Ginger was rescued would have been played by Suzanne Somers!

(not true, but I couldn't resist!)

Originally posted by tootiefan4life
I've always hated Gunsmoke, it's not fair I mean if they were going to take it off anyways I think they should have had one episode more so the show could have had a real ending. I know they made a reunion but no Tina Louise and they are all... older. Ya...They should have dona a last episode and Ginger gets off and sends for help and they all get back to land. That would be real good.:(

I hear that what happens with old shows from that era they were never flinish. There should have been a fourth and final season when they all get resuce in the last episode and go home. But they made a movie later years about Rescue from Giligan's Island but then at the end they get stick back on the same island again. I haven't seen that in years would like to see that again.

I heard about that. A 4th season would of been great, I'd rather watch GI then Gunsmoke any day :p It would have been interesting to see the episode where Gilligan shrunk after drinking that weird stuff. :lol: I'd would have liked to see that one :rotflmao:

I've always been rather glad that there was never a fourth season of GI. Mainly, this is because of the Ginger leaving thing; I mean, as others have sorta implied, the Miss Krissy/Miss Sally/Whatever wold have been really really lame.

There's also the fact that, when shows go on for too long, they tend to get... well... sucked dry, so to speak. Gilligan's Island wasn't around long enough to get stale, and for that I'm grateful. There's also the fact that 98 episodes is a nice, manageable size, when one feels the need to save them all on tape... ;)

On the rescue movie... to be honest, when I first saw it (a rerun, not when it originally aired), I didn't even realize that Tina wasn't there at first. Then again, I am absolutely terrible at recognizing people, AND it was approximately two AM. So.... *shrug*
And, about them becoming restranded, well, that is the point of Gilligan's Island, is it not? They're not supposed to get off. If I could have had it my way, they never would have done the other two movies... But that's something else, entirely.
Okay, I'll stop boring your eyes now...

I agree. i'm glad they didn't keep it on 'til it was just not watchable. :)

If it was true Tina wanted out they could had her die. It would be a sad episode. This way the cast still stays island bound. But a fluff show like this to have someone so close to them die would be so hard. I guess it was best to have the show cancelled. or maybe someone new could have taken over the role of Ginger Grant.

They didn't cancel the show because Tina wanted out. It was cancelled because William Paley, the head of CBS, and his wife didn't want "Gunsmoke" to be cancelled. Gilligan had been renewed for a fourth year, but when Paley returned from vacation, he found that programmers had cancelled "Gunsmoke" and threw a fit. Guess who they cancelled to make room?

Sherwood Schwartz had already planned a way for Tina to leave, I think. I've read that he planned to have her rescued, then replace her with two girls. I don't know the details of how she would be rescued by herself and how those girls would show up, though.

if that stuff about Bill Paley (the head of CBS in the 50s & 60s) sounds a little strange, I'll explain something about him: he was known to be a little ruthless at times.

BTW, I heard that it was also viewer demand that made CBS renew "Gunsmoke".

Originally posted by iDOhavealife
They didn't cancel the show because Tina wanted out. It was cancelled because William Paley, the head of CBS, and his wife didn't want "Gunsmoke" to be cancelled. Gilligan had been renewed for a fourth year, but when Paley returned from vacation, he found that programmers had cancelled "Gunsmoke" and threw a fit. Guess who they cancelled to make room?

Sherwood Schwartz had already planned a way for Tina to leave, I think. I've read that he planned to have her rescued, then replace her with two girls. I don't know the details of how she would be rescued by herself and how those girls would show up, though.

Having Ginger rescued by herself and then having two girls showing up would have been no sillier than any of the other dozens of visitors that showed up on the island and left with the castaways remaining behind. At least Ginger would have finally made it off. The web site says that Ginger boarded a raft (Titanic Jr.) and was rescued. Who brought the raft there and why she boarded by herself I guess we will never know. These were just story ideas and we don't know if these lost 4th season episodes were actually written. (In another one Gilligan finds a genie's lamp and presumably gets three wishes, how he could botch that up and not get rescued we don't know unless it was actually a dream since genies don't exist, but by then Gilligan was far removed from reality anyway).

What I am not sure about is how they would explain why Ginger could not help the authorities find the rest of the castaways once she was rescued, or if Ginger would have been mentioned anymore, that is the archaic way that sitcoms dealt with these situations in the 60's (as in the oldest son, Mike of "My Three Sons", when he left the show)

and Robbie from "My 3 Sons". I remember an episode of that where Katie (his wife) was watching a film that he had taken after the actor had left the show, and they said his job had transfered him overseas.
Anyway, she was watching a film that he had presmebly taken, and they showed a pair of hands and said "Those are Robbies hands."

The older brother on "Happy Days" disappeared, too. I can't even remember his name. But I remember he was in the first, and maybe the second, season, then he left for college, I believe. In the series finale, Howard made a speech and talked about raising "2" wonderful children, apparently forgetting that, at one time, they had three children, LOL.

And, on "Family Matters" (you know, that show with annoying Steve Urkel), there was a third child, a younger daughter. Can't think of her name, either, but she was on there for several seasons, then she just vanished.

Originally posted by treky
and Robbie from "My 3 Sons". I remember an episode of that where Katie (his wife) was watching a film that he had taken after the actor had left the show, and they said his job had transfered him overseas.
Anyway, she was watching a film that he had presmebly taken, and they showed a pair of hands and said "Those are Robbies hands."

Robbie left before the final season but at least he was mentioned (after all, his wife and kids were still around). But when Mike left he was mentioned a few times for a year and after that he was totally forgotten. I didn't realize he existed until Cosby at nite (then Nick at nite) showed reruns of the B&W MTS episodes in the 80's.

i don't understand...did they cancel 2 shows to make room for Gunsmoke? cuz it's an hour long show...

Yeah, they did. The other show they canceled was a new sitcom that hadn't premiered yet, but was on the schedule for that upcoming season. I don't remember what it was called ...

Originally posted by iDOhavealife
The older brother on "Happy Days" disappeared, too. I can't even remember his name. But I remember he was in the first, and maybe the second, season, then he left for college, I believe. In the series finale, Howard made a speech and talked about raising "2" wonderful children, apparently forgetting that, at one time, they had three children, LOL.

And, on "Family Matters" (you know, that show with annoying Steve Urkel), there was a third child, a younger daughter. Can't think of her name, either, but she was on there for several seasons, then she just vanished. the older brother was named Chuck, and he was only around for the first season. That's when they wrecked the show, by adding a live audience, making dumb plots and characters, and they turned it into "The Fonzie Show".
Oh, yes, I almost forgot. The Cunninghams living room magically changed somewhat, overnight!

Ah, yes--the amazing morphing living room, LOL. It seems like it went through one big change, then a series of smaller changes until it finally looked like it did through the end of the show. If I remember correctly, Potsie wasn't stupid and pathetic at the beginning of the show, either.

You know, there's a saying out there that once a show has passed its peak, once it is just grasping at anything to keep ratings up and stay on the air, that the show has "jumped the shark". That expression comes from the "Happy Days" episode in which Fonzie jumped over the shark on water-skis, LOL.

Originally posted by JWood201
Yeah, they did. The other show they canceled was a new sitcom that hadn't premiered yet, but was on the schedule for that upcoming season. I don't remember what it was called ...

The other show that was cancelled with Gilligan was called "Run Buddy Run" and it was not a new show, it had already premiered in 1966 but I guess was a bomb.

Originally posted by iDOhavealife
Ah, yes--the amazing morphing living room, LOL. It seems like it went through one big change, then a series of smaller changes until it finally looked like it did through the end of the show. If I remember correctly, Potsie wasn't stupid and pathetic at the beginning of the show, either.

You know, there's a saying out there that once a show has passed its peak, once it is just grasping at anything to keep ratings up and stay on the air, that the show has "jumped the shark". That expression comes from the "Happy Days" episode in which Fonzie jumped over the shark on water-skis, LOL. and someone (I think it was on this board) came up with another expression "jumped the cans" meaning the moment a show went from being good, to when it became bad, and it's from another "Happy Days" episode where Fonzie jumped his motorcycle (alittle trivia, here-Henry Winkler was actually TERRIFIED of motorcycles!) over some garbage cans.

Originally posted by jon123
The other show that was cancelled with Gilligan was called "Run Buddy Run" and it was not a new show, it had already premiered in 1966 but I guess was a bomb.

I can actually remember that show, even though according to imdb.com it only lasted 16 episodes. A young man ['Buddy,' Jack Sheldon] overheard mobsters making plans while in a steam bath and the mob find out he overheard, and he was from then on, "on the run" from them. The 'boss' of the mob was played by Bruce Gordon, who had played mob boss Frank Nitti on The Unntouchables. So 'Buddy' had to take weird jobs and stay in hiding, and in every ep he is almost caught and machine-gunned down, but he escapes by his own inepitutde... it's easy to imagine Bob Denver playing 'Buddy' as he was in that show.

Originally posted by tdr
I can actually remember that show, even though according to imdb.com it only lasted 16 episodes. A young man ['Buddy,' Jack Sheldon] overheard mobsters making plans while in a steam bath and the mob find out he overheard, and he was from then on, "on the run" from them. The 'boss' of the mob was played by Bruce Gordon, who had played mob boss Frank Nitti on The Unntouchables. So 'Buddy' had to take weird jobs and stay in hiding, and in every ep he is almost caught and machine-gunned down, but he escapes by his own inepitutde... it's easy to imagine Bob Denver playing 'Buddy' as he was in that show. that show was on in the wake of "The Fugitive" when "man on the run" shows were popular. There was another show, I forget all the details, about a guy who was "on the run" from somebody, because he had a rare blood type.
In case some people never heard of "The Fugitive", it was a drama (on CBS-same network as "Gilligan") about a man who was found guilty of murdering his wife, and was sentenced to death row, but enroute he escaped, and was constantly "on the run" while looking for the real murderer, and trying to stay one step ahead of the law. It's one of the first shows tha had a final episode. (he did find the killer of his wife, BTW).

Originally posted by tdr
I can actually remember that show, even though according to imdb.com it only lasted 16 episodes. A young man ['Buddy,' Jack Sheldon] overheard mobsters making plans while in a steam bath and the mob find out he overheard, and he was from then on, "on the run" from them. The 'boss' of the mob was played by Bruce Gordon, who had played mob boss Frank Nitti on The Unntouchables. So 'Buddy' had to take weird jobs and stay in hiding, and in every ep he is almost caught and machine-gunned down, but he escapes by his own inepitutde... it's easy to imagine Bob Denver playing 'Buddy' as he was in that show.

With all the talk that all new shows are crap and old shows were classics, thanks for reminding us that there were plenty of crappy old shows also.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by treky
[B]that show was on in the wake of "The Fugitive" when "man on the run" shows were popular. There was another show, I forget all the details, about a guy who was "on the run" from somebody, because he had a rare blood type.

The show with the rare blood type was called "The Immortal" and ran in 1970 on ABC and starred the late Christopher George. An evil billionaire (weren't they all evil at that time) played by Ralph Bellamy wanted transfusions of the rare blood because it would keep him alive. I remembering enjoying this show as a small child at the time (slight LOL).

Originally posted by: Effigy There's also the fact that, when shows go for too long, they tend to get...well...sucked dry, so to speak.




That happened to Bewitched, another one of my favorite shows. It lasted for eight seasons, and it lasted for so long, America began to lose taste in that type of television. Also, the cast was getting bored of it. But, enough about Bewitched, Gilligan's Island is the thing here. It truly is not fair that GI went off the air because of Gunsmoke. Couldn't they have taken off another show? Something less popular? I would be sad that Ginger would be off, but it would've been nice with proper ending and with a bit longer run. Sure they made three TV movies, but people, have pity on Sherwood! Just to make the first movie, he sold almost everything he owned! Luckily, if you're a writer, like myself, you would keep the episodes coming by writing your own. Not to brag, but that's what I do.

This is pure speculation, of course, but I think if there had been a 4th season Elizabeth MacRae, who was a semi-regular on Gomer Pyle USMC would have been hired to play either Krissy or Sally, Ginger's replacement. I saw her on a Andy Griffith rerun today and she would have been perfect-she was a charming Southern belle who knew how to get a man to do what she wants. This type of character would have been needed with Ginger's departure in contrast to the more down to earth Mary Ann. Since Elizabeth only made occassional appearances on Gomer Pyle, I'm sure she would have left Gomer for a regular gig-either seeing Gomer less or Gomer would have had to find a new girlfriend (if he wanted one, but I won't go into that at this time). How things would have been different then if Gilligan had been renewed as it would affect other shows.

I think she would have been so good in this role that the 4th season wouldn't have been so bad-in fact, Ginger's movie star jokes were getting old anyway and a different type of man-handler, such as sweet Southern belle, would have breathed fresh life into the show. Still we will never know, but one thing I know is how mad I get when TV land runs Gunsmoke knowing that it kicked Gilligan off the air.

They should have had a 3-parter where the castaways visit the Grand Canyo.

Gunsmoke is a western right? I dont like westerns of any kind. I cant believe that they would cancel a great show like Gilligan's Island just to make room for a show that the president of the production company wanted. :mad:

well, from what I heard, Bill Paley-the president of CBS-was known to be a little ruthless occasionaly.

There were people at CBS who hated Gilligan's Island from the start and used whatever reason they could to get rid of it.

Originally posted by Saiyan ChiChi
Gunsmoke is a western right? I dont like westerns of any kind. I cant believe that they would cancel a great show like Gilligan's Island just to make room for a show that the president of the production company wanted.

Even as a fan of GI I have to :D :lol: :crazy: at the idea of calling it a "great show." Maybe not everyone separates greatness from entertaining,, but that's how I see it-- GI was and is quite entertaining, meaning primarily good for laughs, but by no means 'great' with artistry, dramatics, or relevance.

As for westerns, I am on the other side of the fence there, too. I have written many short stories and 2 short novels in the western genre. And Gunsmoke is probably the best TV western (as well as the longest running drama with continuous characters). But ironically when it was put back on the air after the brief cancellation in '67 and its Saturday night time slot was not available, putting it on Monday night at early primetime changed it considerably, forcing less violence, and 'pup' storylines that the cast actually hated. But the pressures were great for CBS to reinstate Gunsmoke at once, including a Congressional resolution. It seems inevitable the network knew what they were going to do, and they thought this outcome would solve 2 problems-- to shake up scheduling, including to get GS' ratings back up, since Saturday night was losing 'luster' as a prime television night; and also how to get rid of a popular but silly show, making it look like they had no choice, with everyone from Congress on down pressuring them.