Movies - TV
CBS Hated The ‘Island’ Part Of Gilligan’s Island
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In Sherwood Schwartz's book "Gilligan's Island: From Creation to Syndication," the show creator revealed that CBS hated the premise of the show and pitched an alternate idea instead.
Schwartz describes a truly bizarre board meeting with James T. Aubrey, then-president of CBS Television, and two of CBS’s highest honchos, William S. Paley and Frank Stanton.
More than anything, Schwartz recalled Aubrey's arrogance as he threw a series of paper airplanes at him to get his point across while counter-pitching a boat, but no island.
Aubrey wanted a show without castaways — he wanted Gilligan, the Skipper, and the S.S. Minnow to take other passengers to other places on every episode.
Schwartz and Aubrey had been bickering for a long time. Aubrey wanted "Gilligan's Travels" to be exotic and adventurous, while Schwartz wanted a character-based sitcom.
Aubrey thought the desert island concept would need to be explained week after week, but Schwartz co-wrote one of the best TV theme songs in history to cover that very point.