The Dawn of a New Era With a Strange Twist

I am thinking back to one day in January, as I was starting my car and waiting for it to warm up in the cold of the winter’s day, which was by then darkening into evening.  I tuned in to the news radio station and heard the announcement that the Eagles now had a new coach.  Since the sports talk stations were buzzing about Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley the previous evening, I assumed I was about to hear his name.  He had just completed an eight hour interview with the Eagles, and all reports were that they were near a deal.  So it took me by surprise to hear Chip Kelly’s name being announced as the new Eagles coach instead of Bradley, and it took a few seconds to really grasp it.  And then I was left wondering what happened in the last 24 hours that had proven all the sources wrong. 

To me and most Philadelphia sports fans, Chip Kelly was a thing of the recent past.  It appeared at first that he was close to a deal with the Browns, and then it appeared he was close to a deal with the Eagles. Then after that it appeared he would return to his position as head coach of the Oregon Ducks and pass on the NFL for at least one more season.  It seemed final, and that the Eagles and Browns had moved on.  But then suddenly he was introduced as the Eagles head coach.  Chip Kelly would be the Eagles head coach after all, and this time it was a done deal. 

Maybe it wasn’t so sudden.  The reports I was hearing as the story developed indicated that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and Kelly made some kind of a secret agreement that would allow Kelly to return to Oregon and brief his players on what was about to happen, while all the time managing to keep it from leaking to the press.  I wasn’t listening to the radio during the day of the announcement, but I have a feeling someone tipped off the sports media that Kelly was in Philadelphia, and that the sports talk stations were buzzing with anticipation and speculation that he was indeed the Eagles new coach.  It may not have been a total surprise to them at the time of the announcement.   But even if that was going on, long time Eagles play-by-play announcer Merill Reese stated that he was as surprised as everyone else that it was Kelly who would take over as coach.

Once that was out of the way, I moved on to other things.  It was January, and while the season was still going for some NFL teams, as far as the Eagles were concerned, it was effectively over in November.  Football will not be a concern for me until August.  But, if nothing else, it was an interesting turn of events that ushered in the new era for the team.

Revisiting The Island

America came to a standstill on November 23, 1963 as people all over the country gathered around their televisions and radios, in shock over the news of President Kennedy’s assassination.   One such group was a cast of actors and crew filming on location in Hawaii, working on the pilot episode of a potential new series.   What they were doing had no real historical significance, especially when compared to what had just happened in Dallas, about 7000 miles away from where they were at.  But their show did indeed get picked up by CBS and was aired that next September as Gilligan’s Island.  The series lasted three years, but its popularity far outlived its original TV run.  Throughout the next few decades, the endless syndication run and occasional reunion specials assured Gilligan’s Island its own place in history.  It may have been meaningless in the overall context of history, but it left an undeniable mark in the far less important realm of pop culture.

Once series creator Sherwood Schwartz got the green light to produce the new show for CBS, and the tweaking process was completed, the show was left with seven characters, all of whom would become pop culture icons, while the actors would be forever associated with those characters, for better or for worse.  From what I read, most of the actors liked their characters, or at least learned to like them over time.  The one major exception was Tina Louise, who portrayed movie star Ginger Grant (basically Marilyn Monroe with auburn hair).  She wanted to be a dramatic actress and pursue more serious roles, and claimed the Ginger Grant role killed her career.  On the other hand, Alan Hale, Jr., known on the show as Skipper, loved his character from the beginning.  His trademark captain’s hat would stay with him long after he walked off the set of Gilligan’s Island for the last time.

Although it seemed the cast of Gilligan’s Island had fond memories of the show (except Tina Louise, of course), the television critics of the day were not impressed.  Although I haven’t found any actual reviews of the show from its original run, I remember the general tone from various sources I have come across over the years.  In brief, the show was bashed for its childish stupidity.  But Gilligan’s Island did seem to fit in well with the sitcoms of its time.  This was an era of TV shows about flying nuns, hillbillies in Hollywood, and monster families.  If the critics felt the way they did about Gilligan’s Island, then I think it’s safe to say they didn't believe they were living in the golden age of television.  Not when it came to comedy, at least. 

Regardless of the critics’ reaction to the show, enough people tuned in to Gilligan’s Island to keep it on the air for three seasons.  Actually, there was supposed to be a fourth season.  When the final episode of the 1966-67 season was finished, everyone involved with the show walked off the set fully expecting to be back in the fall.  However, there was a problem.  Apparently, the long running western series Gunsmoke was going to bow out after that season, but a CBS executive wanted to keep it to please his wife who liked the show.  Room would have to be made on the schedule, and Gilligan’s Island was sacrificed to make that happen.  So now the cast of Gilligan’s Island, who thought the fourth season was a done deal, were suddenly out of work.  And, of course finding regular employment would be difficult in their highly competitive profession.

Fortunately for Gilligan’s Island (and many other TV shows through the years), it didn’t end there.  When the show moved into syndication, it soon reached a new and far wider audience, many of whom were too young to remember the series when it was on CBS.  In a phenomenon somewhat similar to shows like Star Trek and the Three Stooges, the afterlife took on a life of its own.  During the early 70s the cartoon company Filmation would produce an animated version of Gilligan’s Island, with most of the original cast voicing their characters.  In the late 70s, there would be a reunion special where the castaways finally got rescued.  There would be other cast reunions on talk shows, and on other sitcoms such as ALF. 

Although Gilligan’s Island managed to maintain its popularity for decades, it now appears to be fading from view as it approaches the half century mark.  I don’t think it is running on any channels currently, at least not in my area.  However, there are several classic television networks, such as TV Land and Antenna TV.  Gilligan’s Island would be a good fit for these channels to pick up and run for a while.  Other than that, it is hard to watch old episodes without purchasing the DVD.  It seems is a copyright blocking episodes from being shown on YouTube, which would be the only free outlet I could think of in which to watch old episodes.  But things like this have a way of going in cycles.  If there is enough of a popular demand, it will find its way back.