Way back in the first season, in Angel on the Island, glamorous Ginger has a crisis of confidence about her acting, and the castaways put on a show centered on her to help her regain it. Angel serves as the forerunner to this episode, but, unlike that strange, weak effort, this time the show, as well as the entire episode, is funny, entertaining, iconic, and well worth the wait. The Producer is one of the strongest outings of the third season, in large part to its guest star and the castaways' musical talent.
Gilligan sights a plane in the cold open that crash lands near the lagoon. The survivor is the fast-talking, arrogant, successful movie producer Harold Hecuba, who is searching for the lead of his next film. Early on, in another nod to the first year, he acts as the American version of painter Dubov. He moves into the Howells hut, kicks them out, and makes them his servants in exchange for the promise of a rescue.
His early shtick works well, but it definitely goes up a notch when our movie star sees his arrival as an opportunity to charm her way into his next project. She serves him his evening meal in different personas, most memorably as a second-rate Sophia Loren. He rejects her lousy melodramatic acting and shatters her confidence. She breaks down here as unconvincingly as she did in Angel, and, just like then, the castaways try to rally her by putting together a show for her to star in. This time the show will be to impress Hecuba; Gilligan has a brainstorm to set it to music, and the only book they have in their arsenal that will work is Hamlet.
Unlike Angel, this episode gets right to the fun. There are no scenes of mounting the stage or rehearsals; we skip ahead to the production. The Professor introduces the show to...no one in particular, then we zip from one bouncy Shakespearian song to the next. The songs vary in quality; the best of the bunch is easily the rousing send-up of Carmen. Hecuba observes the adaptation and is impressed enough to produce it. Presumably, he will take the cast of castaways back with him to Hollywood.
Hecuba's ego, though, proves too large for the group to handle. He dismisses their encore as a mess (conveniently forgetting how much he loved it the first viewing) and decides to school them in how it should be performed. It's all an excuse for our guest director to go crazily over-the-top in his one-man production. He speeds through all the castaways' parts, getting humorously mixed-up in wardrobe, and collapses in an exhausted heap. It's entirely unhelpful to the castaway audience, of course, and the kind of corny slapstick scene the series leaned on a little too much at times, but here it works.
The denouement is completely expected; the wily producer goes the way of Dubov and the Mosquitos. That's show biz.
COCONOTES:
Inarguably, Phil Silvers is one of the better guest stars in the series. He chews the scenery in the typical Sgt. Bilko gusto and fits in with the rest of the daffy cast.
His real life production company, Gladaya Productions, incidentally, helped to produce the series.
So in this one, the castaways all brought books on their favorite subjects, and the Howells a collection of records, on the three-hour tour. Uh huh.
Also, Ginger now has multiple wigs on hand, and a light blue dress not seen previously.
"I bring-a you bread!"
Gilligan sights a plane in the cold open that crash lands near the lagoon. The survivor is the fast-talking, arrogant, successful movie producer Harold Hecuba, who is searching for the lead of his next film. Early on, in another nod to the first year, he acts as the American version of painter Dubov. He moves into the Howells hut, kicks them out, and makes them his servants in exchange for the promise of a rescue.
His early shtick works well, but it definitely goes up a notch when our movie star sees his arrival as an opportunity to charm her way into his next project. She serves him his evening meal in different personas, most memorably as a second-rate Sophia Loren. He rejects her lousy melodramatic acting and shatters her confidence. She breaks down here as unconvincingly as she did in Angel, and, just like then, the castaways try to rally her by putting together a show for her to star in. This time the show will be to impress Hecuba; Gilligan has a brainstorm to set it to music, and the only book they have in their arsenal that will work is Hamlet.
Unlike Angel, this episode gets right to the fun. There are no scenes of mounting the stage or rehearsals; we skip ahead to the production. The Professor introduces the show to...no one in particular, then we zip from one bouncy Shakespearian song to the next. The songs vary in quality; the best of the bunch is easily the rousing send-up of Carmen. Hecuba observes the adaptation and is impressed enough to produce it. Presumably, he will take the cast of castaways back with him to Hollywood.
Hecuba's ego, though, proves too large for the group to handle. He dismisses their encore as a mess (conveniently forgetting how much he loved it the first viewing) and decides to school them in how it should be performed. It's all an excuse for our guest director to go crazily over-the-top in his one-man production. He speeds through all the castaways' parts, getting humorously mixed-up in wardrobe, and collapses in an exhausted heap. It's entirely unhelpful to the castaway audience, of course, and the kind of corny slapstick scene the series leaned on a little too much at times, but here it works.
The denouement is completely expected; the wily producer goes the way of Dubov and the Mosquitos. That's show biz.
COCONOTES:
Inarguably, Phil Silvers is one of the better guest stars in the series. He chews the scenery in the typical Sgt. Bilko gusto and fits in with the rest of the daffy cast.
His real life production company, Gladaya Productions, incidentally, helped to produce the series.
So in this one, the castaways all brought books on their favorite subjects, and the Howells a collection of records, on the three-hour tour. Uh huh.
Also, Ginger now has multiple wigs on hand, and a light blue dress not seen previously.
"I bring-a you bread!"
