Low Budget

Bob Denver finally gets rescued from this mortal coil

Before it became popular to celebrate old sitcoms because of their simplicity and nostalgia value, before beer commercials were replaying the Ginger/Mary Ann debate, I understood that Giligan's Island was THE perfect sitcom.
Structurally, there is no escape. Why do characters stay together in sit-coms in spite of all the horrible things they do to each other? Because the writers insist they are "friends." We buy this because we want to believe there is some holy level of friendship in which all is forgiven. In real life, people move on. Not on Gilligan's Island, though. Nobody can leave. Better still, there is no reason for anyone to evolve. Characters are frozen solidly into the architypes they arrived on the Island with. Often this is true in real life. We are plunged into a new group, typed quickly, and we stick with those characteristics the new group has assigned us.
Also, failure is programmed in. The narrative arc of every episode is an absolute, uncomprimising attempt to escape the island. Which, in every single case, fails. There are no intermediate goals which, if achieved, would cause the show to move forward. Nobody gets promoted, pregnant, married, moves to California, or runs into the ex. It's impossible. So, from show to show, everything stays the same.
I can't really say how good or bad an actor Bob Denver really is. I don't know if I've ever seen Dobie Gillis, and can't remember him in anything else. But he was, completely and totally, Gilligan. A perfect character on the perfect sitcom.

posted by dan @ 9/08/2005 12:03:00 PM