This Day in Pop Culture for September 26

1964: Gilligan Goes on a Three Hour Tour

It is said that if you’ve seen one episode of Gilligan’s Island, you’ve seen them all. However, when the show premiered on this day in 1964, the show was already altered a great deal from its original concept. The basic premise was the same, but three of the seven castaways were totally different. Instead of the Professor, Ginger and MaryAnn, the “lost pilot” featured a high school teacher (John Gabriel), Bunny, a dumb blonde secretary (Nancy McCarthy) and Ginger, a “practical” secretary (Kit Smythe).

The theme song was completely different too. The music was written by John Williams with a calypso-styled beat, and the lyrics were sung by Sherwood Schwarz, the creator of the show. This theme song was twice as long and according to some, was horrible.

Gilligan’s Island starred Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale Jr. (Captain Jonas “Skipper” Grumby), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III), Natalie Schafer (Lovey Wentworth-Howell), Tina Louise (Ginger Grant), Russell Johnson (Professor Roy Hinkley) and Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers).

The show ran for three seasons from 1964-1966. It was followed by three TV reunion films (Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, 1978; The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island, 1979 and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island, 1981), two cartoon series voiced by most of the original cast by Filmation (The New Adventures of Gilligan’s Island, 1974 and Gilligan’s Planet, 1982), a TV docudrama (Surviving Gilligan’s Island, 2001), a theatre show (Gilligan’s Island: The Musical), a reality TV series (The Real Gilligan’s Island, 2004) and rumors of a remake. (Image: TVDB)

1991: ABC Gambles with ‘Cop Rock’

Steven Bochco, known for creating TV series like Hill Street Blues, Doogie Howser, M.D. and NYPD Blues, hasn’t always made hit shows. His most notorious work was Cop Rock which premiered in 1991 on ABC. The show combined the typical serious police procedural with Broadway-styled rock music and dancing. It was just as odd as one would think it would be.

TV Guide said that the show was “the single most bizarre TV musical of all time.” The show was a critical and ratings loser and so, the show was yanked after 11 episodes. Despite all of the bad press though, Cop Rock was nominated for five Emmy Awards and won two for Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production and Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics.

1969: A Bunch of Bradys

It was the story of a lovely lady with three girls who married a man with three boys becoming The Brady Bunch. Created by Sherwood Schwartz, the show ran on ABC from 1969 to 1974. There was a total of 117 episodes produced which included Marcia’s broken nose, Peter’s exploding volcano and all of the siblings singing in hopes of winning a prize to buy an anniversary gift for their parents.

During the five seasons of the show, the Bradys took trips to the Grand Canyon, Hawaii and King’s Island Amusement Park. They even survived Cousin Oliver.

The show starred Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis, Maureen McCormick, Eve Plumb, Susan Olsen, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight and Mike Lookinland.

Despite the fact that the show was never a ratings winner, the show has been very popular with reruns. It also spawned a number of spin-off shows including the animated The Brady Kids (1972), The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (1976), The Brady Brides (1981), The Bradys (1990), A Very Brady Renovation (2019) and even The Real Brady Bros: Podcast (2022). Three film adaptations of the series have also been made – all of which basically just poked fun of the original show.