The Producer

This is a masterpiece of TV comedy. This is the single greatest episode of TV comedy in TV history. Nothing has ever surpassed it. Nothing in the future will ever surpass it. It lampoons Hollywood. It lampoons actors. It lampoons producers. It lampoons directors. It lampoons anything and everything in the world of show business. It even lampoons Shakespeare!

A famous movie producer comes to the island. He immediately takes over as all egomaniacs do. He runs the castaways ragged serving his every whim. The famous Wolf of Wall Street, Mr. Howell, becomes the puppy of Poppy Street at the hands of the great Harold Hecuba. Ginger gets humiliated by the great Harold Hecuba. The Skipper gets ordered around by the great Harold Hecuba. If you want to be rescued by the great Harold Hecuba then you better do whatever the great Harold Hecuba wants. And do it fast.

I could go on forever about this great episode, but I disdain long reviews and so I'll stop here. Besides, I can sum it up in just one word: masterpiece.

To those folks who thought Gilligan's Island was a "dumb" TV show, they weren't listening to the genius lyrics to the tune of Carmen from this episode.

Neither a borrower, nor a lender be Do not forget, stay out of debt Think twice, and take this good advice from me Guard that old solvency! There's just one other thing You ought to do To thine own self be true!

Relevant yesterday, today and tomorrow. This episode is absolute entertainment.

S&P Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating From AAA to AA+

I read a summary of the movie coming out and I was disgusted. Liberal Hollywood has destroyed all the good TV shows from the past. Now we most have real "dumb" comedy, like SNL, and Jon Stewart, Adam sandler (absolute talentless clown),

You could watch this episode with a 5 year old and a 90 year old. Watch SNL and you have to sit threw down syndrome jokes about Sarah Palin's daughter!?? That's what comedy has been reduced to - the 2-minute Hate frenzy described by Orwell in 1984.

"The Producer" casts the one and only Phil Silvers, Sgt. Bilko himself, as world famous movie producer Harold Hecuba, the man who discovered such handsome leading men as Patch Pockets, or the great cowboy star Bum Steer! As overbearing as he is brilliant, he proceeds to take over the Howell hut, turning them into his butler and maid, and laughing at Ginger's attempts to prove herself worthy of starring in his latest production. The castaways decide to impress him with a musical version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Gilligan in the title role, the Howells as his parents, Ginger as Ophelia, but Hecuba, as is his nature, takes over and demonstrates a faster tempo, eventually wearing himself out. One of the most beloved episodes, the only one credited to two directors, George M. Cahan finishing up for an injured Ida Lupino. This was also the only script by the team of Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso, the most prolific writers for this season's main competition THE MONKEES.

Excellent writing on the part of Dee Caruso, lead writer for THE MONKEES, and yes, the same kind of wacky stuff they also got themselves into.

Enter comedian Phil Silvers, playing a fast-talking, ego-inflated movie producer who just happens to wash ashore on the island? Silvers at the time was a co-producer of the series.

He plays Mr. Hecuba, the guy you love to hate --and NO fan of movie star Ginger. She naturally gets bummed out and insists on staying on the island, even if Hecuba brings everyone back to civilization. One question; did Dee Caruso borrow the name from Homer's Iliad? Hecuba was the wife of Priam.

Best of all, a musical production of HAMLET? This you have to see, it's outrageous. Gilligan is cast in the lead and Ginger plays Ophelia. Also watch the Skipper sing. Alan Hale definitely taking after his famous father. Phil Silvers boasts an amazing wardrobe. Kudos to the CBS wardrobe folks.

Without giving too much away, Hecuba has ideas of his own and the castaways are flat out of luck. By the way, in the opening scene, catch the famous bamboo car (or taxi) Gilligan is driving. This car had to have been inspired by the Flintstones, and you often wonder what happened to it? Should have been a museum piece.

Co-directed by film star Ida Lupino, who did many sitcoms and, prior to this episode, directed HONEY WEST, the female James Bond of tv.

10 star camp episode. SEASON 3 EPISODE 4 remastered color. Both the dvd box set and the tv prints are beautifully restored. Thanks much to METV for running this series since the beginning.

Way back in the first season, in Angel on the Island, glamorous Ginger has a crisis of confidence about her acting, and the castaways put on a show centered on her to help her regain it. Angel serves as the forerunner to this episode, but, unlike that strange, weak effort, this time the show, as well as the entire episode, is funny, entertaining, iconic, and well worth the wait. The Producer is one of the strongest outings of the third season, in large part to its guest star and the castaways' musical talent.

Gilligan sights a plane in the cold open that crash lands near the lagoon. The survivor is the fast-talking, arrogant, successful movie producer Harold Hecuba, who is searching for the lead of his next film. Early on, in another nod to the first year, he acts as the American version of painter Dubov. He moves into the Howells hut, kicks them out, and makes them his servants in exchange for the promise of a rescue.

His early shtick works well, but it definitely goes up a notch when our movie star sees his arrival as an opportunity to charm her way into his next project. She serves him his evening meal in different personas, most memorably as a second-rate Sophia Loren. He rejects her lousy melodramatic acting and shatters her confidence. She breaks down here as unconvincingly as she did in Angel, and, just like then, the castaways try to rally her by putting together a show for her to star in. This time the show will be to impress Hecuba; Gilligan has a brainstorm to set it to music, and the only book they have in their arsenal that will work is Hamlet.

Unlike Angel, this episode gets right to the fun. There are no scenes of mounting the stage or rehearsals; we skip ahead to the production. The Professor introduces the show to...no one in particular, then we zip from one bouncy Shakespearian song to the next. The songs vary in quality; the best of the bunch is easily the rousing send-up of Carmen. Hecuba observes the adaptation and is impressed enough to produce it. Presumably, he will take the cast of castaways back with him to Hollywood.

Hecuba's ego, though, proves too large for the group to handle. He dismisses their encore as a mess (conveniently forgetting how much he loved it the first viewing) and decides to school them in how it should be performed. It's all an excuse for our guest director to go crazily over-the-top in his one-man production. He speeds through all the castaways' parts, getting humorously mixed-up in wardrobe, and collapses in an exhausted heap. It's entirely unhelpful to the castaway audience, of course, and the kind of corny slapstick scene the series leaned on a little too much at times, but here it works.

The denouement is completely expected; the wily producer goes the way of Dubov and the Mosquitos. That's show biz.

COCONOTES:

Inarguably, Phil Silvers is one of the better guest stars in the series. He chews the scenery in the typical Sgt. Bilko gusto and fits in with the rest of the daffy cast.

His real life production company, Gladaya Productions, incidentally, helped to produce the series.

So in this one, the castaways all brought books on their favorite subjects, and the Howells a collection of records, on the three-hour tour. Uh huh.

Also, Ginger now has multiple wigs on hand, and a light blue dress not seen previously.

"I bring-a you bread!"