Before Gilligan's Island, Alan Hale Jr. Guest-Starred On America's First Fantasy Sci-Fi Sitcom

"Gilligan's Island" is the show that made Alan Hale Jr. a household name. But outside of portraying the beloved Captain Jonas Grumby, aka The Skipper, Hale Jr. was arguably one of the most accomplished character actors of his generation, appearing in multiple major productions. At one point, he guest-starred in the first of many sci-fi fantasy sitcoms that would come to dominate American TV in the mid-20th Century: "My Favorite Martian."

At the start of the 1960s, Westerns were still hugely popular among general audiences. The genre wouldn't start to truly fade for another decade when sci-fi became the genre du jour. But the '60s was when sci-fi started to emerge as the successor to the humble oater. When we think of sci-fi shows of the '60s, we might think of "Star Trek," "Lost in Space," or perhaps even the best anthology series of all time, "The Twilight Zone." But the decade also gave rise to the sci-fi fantasy sitcom, sometimes known as the "magi-com," with beloved classics such as "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" capturing the public imagination.

It all started with "My Favorite Martian," though. In fairness, "Mister Ed" — which followed the exploits of an architect (Alan Young) and his talking horse — had started airing in 1961. "The Jetsons" also became the first animated sci-fi sitcom in 1962. But "My Favorite Martian" was the first live-action sitcom to really establish the format that would become so prominent in the years immediately following its September 1963 debut. Just two months later, Hale Jr. begun shooting the unaired "Gilligan's Island" pilot "Marooned." But before the castaways hit screens in September 1964, Hale Jr.'s "My Favorite Martian" episode went out on CBS, which just so happened to be the real beginning of his collaboration with "Gilligan" creator Sherwood Schwartz.

"My Favorite Martian" isn't necessarily remembered as one of the best shows of the 1960s, but it was influential. It follows Bill Bixby's newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara, who on a return trip from the Edwards Air Force Base comes across a downed spaceship. He discovers its pilot is a 450-year-old Martian anthropologist (Ray Walston) and invites him to move into his garage apartment. Tim refers to his new friend as Uncle Martin, agreeing to keep the Martian's identity a secret while he works on fixing his ship.

The show doesn't just depend on its odd couple premise for wacky hijinks. Across three seasons and 107 episodes, Tim and his unusual uncle embark all sorts of fantastical adventures. Then, there was the time they almost managed to get Uncle Martin back home with the help of Alan Hale Jr.'s sausage tycoon Omar M. Keck.

In the Season 1 episode, "The Disastro-nauts," Hale Jr.'s businessman funds a trip to the Red Planet, prompting Tim to try to get Martin a spot on the crew. We first meet Mr. Keck when Martin visits the astronaut training facility and quickly outshines every candidate, securing his spot on the Mars trip. Meanwhile, Tim dictates a story revealing the truth about his uncle and leaves a tape on his editor's desk, only for the rocket launch to be delayed. Tim and Martin then rush to destroy the tape, returning to the launch to find it's happened without them. In that way, "The Disastro-nauts" encapsulated a sort of proto-"Gilligan's Island" formula, whereby Uncle Martin always struggled to return home in the same way the castaways struggled to leave the titular isle. That's not surprising given the talent that worked on the "My Favorite Martian" scripts.

"The Disastro-nauts" aired on CBS three months before "Gilligan's Island" debuted on the same network. The latter actually represented somewhat of a reunion for Alan Hale Jr. and creator Sherwood Schwartz, as Schwartz had been brought in to punch up the "My Favorite Martian" scripts. As the sitcom maestro explained during a Television Academy interview, he was initially impressed with the teleplays. "To this day that's the best pilot I ever saw," he said. "[...] It was a fish out of water, they put the Martian in jail, he had never seen a jail before. It was a wonderful accommodation for a guy from a foreign planet trying to understand Earth's customs."

But according to Schwartz, the next episodes focused on Tim O'Hara, with the Martian being sidelined. So, he reworked the season to focus on Ray Walston's extra-terrestrial, and must have done something right as "My Favorite Martian" ran for three seasons. Even more impressive, Schwartz did so with limited time. As he told the executive producer, "I already have a deal with CBS. I can only stay here for six months because I have to go do my own show." That show was "Gilligan's Island."

Interestingly enough, Omar M. Keck was Alan Hale Jr.'s last guest spot before he debuted as the Skipper in that very series. Meanwhile, "My Favorite Martian" had kicked off a fantasy sci-fi sitcom craze, with multiple other similar series coming in its wake. Aside from "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" there was "The Smothers Brothers Show," "My Living Doll," "The Flying Nun," and "It's About Time." Then, there was the show that Jerry Van Dyke accepted over "Gilligan's Island" due to the fact he hated the script for the latter.