Monday, March 8, 2010

Is this really a bad thing?

Okay, everybody sing it with me now.

“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship…”

Long ago, before the days of TVLand – back when televisions had dials and UHF was a common term – I would spend more than an hour every afternoon watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Brady Bunch,” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

I loved it.

Last week I found out that the characters in the classic TV sitcom “Gilligan’s Island” will be fitted for Hollywood’s silver screen. Considering how much I liked the show, you’d think I’d be excited about this.

Not so much.

I can’t help but wonder how the writers will take the premise of being stranded on a deserted island and turn it into something that hasn’t been done yet.

(Hellooo...Lost? Cast Away?)

Furthermore, if the writers of the new Gilligan's Island movie sets the story in present-day, how will they make the S.S. Minnow crew’s plight to get off of the island believable?

Think about it.

Mr. and Mrs. Howell – the wealthiest passengers of the ill-fated cruise ship – would be stranded in a place where they don’t have to worry about taxes.

Ginger – the Hollywood starlet – wouldn’t have to worry about the paparazzi.

MaryAnn wouldn’t have to worry about the impact climate change will have on the crops on her Kansas farm. Nor will she have to worry about being targeted by PETA for her methods of raising livestock.

The Professor could waste away the rest of his days researching the effects of social isolation on the human psyche.

Without processed food influencing his blood sugar, the Skipper might finally get his anger management and weight issues under control. (I can say this because I have issues of my own.)

And if Gilligan stays on the island, he never has to worry about what Skinny Mulligan will do when he realizes Gilligan wore his shirt without asking.

None of them would have to put up with 24-hour news feeds, political correctness and the endless blatherings of government figureheads.

Gosh. That sounds kind of like heaven to me.

What WOULDN’T you miss if you were stranded on a deserted island?

9 comments:

Elana Johnson said...

Great post!! I wouldn't miss my scale. How about that?? LOL!

KM Wilsher said...

Ugh! I hate to see what they come up with. They ruined Bewitched, The Brady Bunch and Land of the Lost with spoof crazy, ditzy, horrific comedy.
I loved G. Island, The B. Hillbillies, and the B. Bunch! They were funny, but not the nonesensical, fall down and cuss stuff. Wholesome fun with a serious story and sometimes a message. . .

Loved your thoughts. . .sounds like heaven to me too!
I think I'm going to do storyboard a new I Dream of Jeannie. Try to sell it LOL

Kathryn Hupp-Harris said...

Elana -- I threw mine away a long time ago, but I'm still subjected to one every time I visit the doctor. Ugh! I certainly wouldn't miss that.

KM -- I'm with you. Regardless of how corny those shows seem now, I miss the clean humor. It just seems so many entertainers use toilet and sex humor now because its easy to get a laugh that way.

Anonymous said...

A schedule. LOL!

Interestingly, a similar subject came up today: The idea of what happens when we look back on our lives and notice that life "passed us by."

For me, I'm so busy day in and day out that I just go from hour to hour, thinking, what's next, who do I meet now? I forget to stop and enjoy the fact that the sun finally came out after several weeks, that I really enjoy the tasts of coffee, that I love to sway to my favorite classical music. These are the moments when I'm PRESENT. IN the MOMENT.

I think what's appealing about being stranded on a desert island is that you're just THERE.

Thanks--great post! :)

Rosslyn Elliott said...

Great post, Kat! I would not miss cell phones. I hope I would be stranded with some great conversationalists. :-)

Anonymous said...

What wouldn't I miss? Hmmm...work maybe? Cleaning the house. Taxes......yeah, there are a few things I wouldn't miss, that's for sure.

GREAT post!

T. Powell Coltrin said...

You are so funny and creative. I wouldn't miss people. Well I might want one or two of my choice with me and a pooch or two. I don't think I would miss phones of any kind. I would miss my internet.

Christine Fonseca said...

haha! LOVE this post. I'm thinking I would not miss...most technology!

Kathryn Hupp-Harris said...

lbdiamond -- Throwing the schedule book out the window would be a dream come true.

Rosslyn -- Hopefully we'd be on the same three-hour tour. We'd have a lot to talk about. :-)

Lynn -- No furniture polish? I'm there. (Although I don't know if I'd be able to handle the sandy floor of a grass hut for too long.)

JW -- Your answer made me think of another thing I wouldn't miss: Traffic. :-)

Christine -- I think I'd miss technology. But not the headache that oftentimes comes with it. :-)