Q&A with Dawn Wells

[gilligan fanatic]

Sunday, December 31, 2006
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


TV viewers know her best as Mary Ann Summers, the good girl of "Gilligan's Island," but in the new season of Cornerstone TeleVision's Christian sitcom "Pastor Greg," actress Dawn Wells will take on a part she said she hasn't played before on TV: a mother -- Pastor Greg's mother, to be precise.

Wells will appear in two episodes of the series, which returns for its second season Thursday at 8 p.m. Wells' episodes air Feb. 15 and 22.
In the show's 13-episode second season, Pastor Greg (series creator Greg Robbins) will get married, and his mother, Kathryn Wilson (Wells), will show up to create drama.

While the first season of "Pastor Greg" was filmed at Cornerstone's studio in Wall, the second season wrapped production outside Toronto in October.

In addition to her "Pastor Greg" role, Wells will again return to "Gilligan's Island." She'll play Lovey Howell (opposite "The Brady Bunch's" Barry Williams as Thurston) in "Gilligan's Island: The Musical" on stage in Florida in early 2007.

"Every time I look at the script, I keep circling the character Mary Ann, and then I end up thinking, 'No, no, that's not my line!' " Wells said earlier this month.

Here's what else she had to say:
Q: What attracted you to "Pastor Greg"?

A: I just liked what [Robbins] was doing. I think it's an opportunity to influence the viewers on the positive side of life and I think that takes a lot of courage and support.


Q: Was there a particular sitcom of the past that "Pastor Greg" reminds you of?

A: Shows years ago were very innocent and very positive and family-oriented and very conservative and I think, not necessarily because of the artists but because of the censors, we had people watching what we did and monitoring what we had done. It's something from the past. It's refreshing to see someone attempting to bring that family value back.
I think there's some need for that. I'm inundated by people saying, 'Gosh, I wish there was something like this. We won't let the kids watch anything but Nick at Nite.' It's hard to find programs like this and it's a hard sell.
"Gilligan's Island" had a message every week, silly as it was. Fairness and decency and such. This is more direct and because of the religious base, it's more difficult to reach everyone. But I think today the world needs direction a little bit.

I'm not trying to push religion down everyone's throats, but people are looking for something to give them peace and to give them something to believe in. This is a positive influence, and it should have a niche.

Q: What's your religious affiliation, if any?

A: Baptist. I'm definitely a religious person, but I don't go to church very much because I'm not in the same place except for maybe one Sunday a month.

I run the Idaho Film and Television Institute (www.idahofilminstitute.org) in Driggs, Idaho, where we teach filmmakers and stage two family film festivals a year. There's a huge Mormon population there and one Catholic church in town and one Episcopal church with a fabulous female priest. I love what she does.


Q: You play Pastor Greg's mom in the show. What's she like? What is her relationship with her son like?

A: You're just discovering in the couple episodes I'm in that I've come back into his life. She's very wealthy, very controlling. Her son strayed along the way, and I think it's a mother's sigh of relief that he's found peace within himself.
[My character] is very strong and comes into conflict with her son's mother-in-law as well.


Q: Will viewers buy you as Pastor Greg's mom? I mean, come on, Mary Ann can't have a son his age!

A: That's what I said! I was only 12 when he was born. [Wells wouldn't give her age, but IMDB.com says she's 68.]
This is my first mom, actually. I certainly couldn't play Mary Ann any more, but I could play Mary Ann's grandmother very well.


Q: If "Pastor Greg" has a third season, will you be back?

A: I'd like to return, and I'd like to direct an episode or two.


Q: Do you ever get sick of the "Gilligan's Island" adoration, or do you just roll with it?

A: I roll with it. We're the longest-running show in the history of syndication. We've never been off the air since 1964. I've climbed mountains in Rwanda, I've been walking in Beijing, and it's always, "Mary Ann! Mary Ann! Mary Ann!" The other day someone said, "I grew up watching you in Farsi."
So I embrace it with love. I'm very fortunate to have gotten a show that's given me the opportunity to do other things.
(TV editor Rob Owen can be reached at rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582. Ask TV questions at www.post-gazette.com/tv under TV Q&A.)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06365/749702-237.stm