Ginger

The eternal Ginger-vs.-Mary Ann debate will never be settled. Even the babe connoisseurs at Asylum can't really decide between the 'Gilligan's Island' sirens.

Asylum's recent list of "TV Sitcom Hotties Through the Years" does seem to come down on the side of Mary Ann (Dawn Wells), though with the caveat, "For today, at least." In other words, no slight to Ginger Grant (Tina Louise), the Marilyn Monroe-inspired starlet who, even on a desert island, always appeared glamorous enough for the red carpet. On any given day, Asylum might have voted her the island's top hottie over girl-next-door Mary Ann.

Like Ginger, there are lots of funny, sexy women who might just as easily have graced Asylum's list. Not to take away anything from Jeannie (Barbara Eden) on 'I Dream of Jeannie,' Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson) on 'WKRP in Cincinnati,' or Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) on 'The Office,' but how could they have left off the following funny, foxy females?

It looks like Sherwood Schwartz is having his other major television brainchild made into a movie (because The Brady Bunch and its sequels weren't enough). Even more interesting, his Gilligan of choice is Michael Cera, the same guy holding up the Arrested Development movie.

Would this movie work in this day and age? Maybe. It's a very silly premise and could work as a humorous take on Lost (or perhaps more accurately Lost is a serious take on Gilligan's Island). Of course, the planning is in the early stages so a myriad of things could happen to frick this entire idea up completely.

I can see Hollywood trying to make the cast multi-ethnic to give it a more modern sensibility. Will it have an African-American Jonas Grumby (that's the Skipper for all you lacking in Gilligan's Island trivia knowledge)? An Asian Mary Ann? A gay Professor (I only say this given his historic lack of pursuit of Mary Ann or Ginger)? The mind boggles. What do you think?

I'm surprised that someone hasn't thought of this before.

The owners of the Quality Foods supermarkets are now the owners of the boat used on Gilligan's Island. The company plans to send the boat on a promotional tour for Quality Foods, and might even get Dawn Wells (Mary Ann on the show) and Russell Johnson (The Professor) to take part in the event.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a boat for sale...

This web site is selling what they say is the original S.S. Minnow from Gilligan's Island. Boing Boing readers aren't so sure, saying the show started before that, but others say that this could have been one of several boats used during the show's run. Looks liegit to me.

It's $99,000, with an engine rebuilt in 1999.