At the height of his TV-writing career, Sherwood Schwartz probably did not particularly anticipate being eulogized by TV critics. Schwartz, who died today at age 94, was the creator of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, two sitcoms that were practically critical shorthand for ridiculous and/or lightweight comedy. Therefore, naturally, those were also two of the '60s and '70s sitcoms most fondly remembered today by the adults who watched them decades ago.
In particular, Gilligan—which stranded seven castaways, and occasionally the Harlem Globetrotters, on an island for three seasons and numerous reunions—was one of the most notorious high-concept sitcoms of a TV decade dominated by genies, witches and Martians. (Among Schwartz's pre-Gilligan credits, he was a script consultant for My Favorite Martian.)
It also contained one of TV's best inside jokes, aimed at one of TV sitcoms' most famous critics, former FCC chair Newton Minow, who decried TV's "vast wasteland"—and for whom Schwartz named the doomed S. S. Minnow. (Minow, reportedly, took the dig in good humor.)
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Mary-Anne was the HOT one!
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. Schwartz, i really enjoyed his shows!
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