Gilligans Island

Thanks to Sarah for the info.


'Lost' has plenty of eye candy, but it all started with 'Gilligan's Island'

Punch your ticket for another trip to the weird world of "Lost." After a month of reruns, the adventure-mystery-science fiction series returns with new episodes at 10 p.m. Thursday, April 24. It airs locally on WEWS Channel 5.

We "Lost" fans feel as if they've been stuck on an island waiting for the freighter -- er, new episodes -- to arrive. So forgive us if our minds wandered to another set of iconic castaways from a previous era -- the gang from "Gilligan's Island."

Back in the 1960s, tropical islands were not so remote. Guest stars and endless wardrobe changes were easily found. Coconuts could be turned into radios, but smoke monsters, Dharma stations and mysterious hatches had not yet been invented. Examine the two shows in a different way, and it's apparent that "Gilligan's Island" and "Lost" have more in common than water and sand.

Both shows traffic at the surreal end of things. Both take outlandish events and make us accept them. You want weird? How about Gilligan's crew doing a musical version of "Hamlet"?

Back in those simpler times, male viewers had two choices -- Ginger or Mary Ann. For women viewers, there was only one person to sigh over -- the Professor. And while he was smart and somewhat rugged, he probably appealed mostly to girls who wore glasses.

Things are so much better in the 2000s. "Lost" has eye candy of every persuasion. Some viewers rewind recordings of the show to look for Easter eggs; others just want to dive into Naveen Andrews' liquid pools.

Who are the new Ginger, Mary Ann and Skipper? Once you've started playing the game of "Lost-Gilligan's Island Matchup," you'll see things are more complicated than a one-for-one pairing.

"Lost's" Kate (Evangeline Lilly) combines elements of Mary Ann and Ginger. Kate's got that bad-girl-next-door vibe going on; she looks hot in a tank top and her hair does that messy-in-my-eyes thing to perfection. She's Mary Ann with a dollop of Ginger's sexiness.

Pregnant mom Sun's (Yunjin Kim) wholesomeness could remind viewers of Mary Ann -- until you remember that the lady had an affair and was secretly learning English to escape an unhappy marriage for America. Sun's spunk makes lots of guys fantasize about giving her private tutoring sessions.

Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) is clearly cut from the Professor's cloth, but more complicated. He's perfect for women attracted to good boys with bad-boy angst.

There's another Lostie with a professorial mien -- fertility doctor Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell). Her no-nonsense attitude and air of mystery appeals to guys who want to coax her from her microscope.

Hurley (Jorge Garcia) easily fits in the comic-bumbling role of Gilligan. Machiavellian Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) is the bizzaro-world Skipper.

Don't skip "Gilligan's" power couple, Thurston and Lovey Howell. It's a bit of a stretch, but how about rich half-sibs Shannon (Maggie Grace) and Boone (Ian Somerhalder)?

"Lost's" season four finale is Thursday, May 29. The show's executive producers have announced that the show will end in 2010 after six seasons. Which leads to the next question: will Kate, Jack and Sawyer become pop cultural icons in the same way that Ginger and Mary Ann endure?

It's a question as deep and unknowable as the puzzle of a polar bear on a tropical island.

Source: Cleveland