Who could get mad at TV Guide?
The long-running magazine mostly consisted of program listings — What time? What channel? — and fluff pieces about whatever sitcom, variety show or hospital drama was currently atop the Nielsen ratings. Inoffensive stuff, right?
But TV Guide did manage to royally piss off Bob Denver, the actor who played the titular character on Gilligan’s Island. Dawn Wells, who played sweet Mary Ann, probably wasn’t nuts about the magazine either.
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Some said Denver was “a monster” for refusing to pose with Tina “Ginger” Louise over the years, according to Russell “The Professor” Johnson in his memoir, Here on Gilligan’s Isle. However, Johnson says there’s more to the story, and the blame lies entirely with TV Guide.
The magazine wanted to do a cover shoot with Denver and Louise, “possibly attempting to add some romantic undertone to the show,” hypothesized Johnson. Given that Gilligan is one of television’s all-time asexual characters, that was a tall order.
Denver said “no dice” to the photo shoot unless TV Guide agreed to include Wells in the picture as well. “After all,” he explained, “I was working with both girls every day, and I wanted it to be fair.” Looking out for his cast mates wasn’t out of character for Denver — he went to producers after the show’s first season and demanded that the characters of The Professor and Mary Ann be added to the show’s theme song. (During the first season, the sea chanty dismissively referred to those characters as “and the rest.”)
Denver’s personal dislike for Louise may have also played a role. The actress often complained that the sitcom didn’t give her opportunities to show off her Method acting skills. Even TV Guide noticed the on-set animosity, noting that Denver “will not say why he and the glamorous Tina do not get along, nor will any of the castaways — they just ignore her, and she ignores them.”
TV Guide’s editors, eager to get their cover, agreed to Denver’s request for a three-way shoot. But something was odd during the photo session. For one thing, the photographers asked Wells to remove all of her makeup. Weird, thought Wells, but if that’s what they want…
The three cast members posed for the shots, but Denver was in for a surprise when the issue hit newsstands and mailboxes.
Wells had been completely cropped out of the picture, although if you squinted, you could see a hint of Mary Ann’s trademark pigtail on the magazine’s spine.
None of this should have been a surprise to Denver, who may have forgotten that old publishing maxim: Sex sells. When TV Guide revisited Gilligan’s Island again a season later, it featured a blurry, waterlogged shot of the Skipper and Gilligan in the background, saving its sharp focus for Tina Louise’s Ginger, bathing seductively in the lagoon.
It’s a wonder they got Denver to pose for the picture, given his frustration over the magazine’s double-cross a season earlier. “Needless to say,” grumbled Denver, “TV Guide is not my favorite magazine.”
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