Movies - TV
How CBS Tried To Steal Control From The Creator Of Gilligan’s Island
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In an interview, Producer Sherwood Schwartz told the Television Academy that CBS studio heads shot extra scenes for the "Gilligan's Island" pilot without his knowledge.
CBS producer Hunt Stromberg wasn't satisfied with the future castaways merely getting on the S.S. Minnow for a three-hour tour and wanted to see each character packing a suitcase.
Schwartz said, "It was three-and-a-half minutes of dull,” he said, “And I was furious because they did this without [me]. I was a producer! [...] It was really terrible."
Luckily, the longer version tested so badly that Stromberg's scenes were cut out. He tried to add more, but his plot failed.