We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
There was a time when finding reruns of Sherwood Schwartz’s 1964 sitcom “Gilligan’s Island” was incredibly easy. Thanks to a plum syndication deal, Schwartz’s 98-episode show remained on the air for literally decades, sometimes playing daily, forming the basis of multiple generations’ pop culture education. The show’s famed theme song became firmly entrenched in the Jungian subconscious, and the characters became archetypes for many years to come. Gen-Xers can likely tell you all about “Gilligan’s Island,” even if they didn’t like it. We saw the show without really trying.
For those same Gen-Xers, seeking out and deliberately watching “Gilligan’s Island” almost seems bizarre. It’s a series that, for many, should just be playing somewhere at all times, like “I Love Lucy” or “The Twilight Zone” or “Law & Order.” TV shows that have passively made their way into human eyeballs, dependent wholly on the caprices of local network programmers. In the streaming age, when TV shows are on-demand, such shows feel like vital anchors that are somehow dissolving. When a TV education has to be 100% curated, the glories of absorbing “Gilligan’s Island” by happenstance is a decreasingly common experience.
As such, we must keep such pop staples alive by scheduling them in advance. It’s also up to streaming services to keep these classics in mind as they fill their coffers. Someone, after all, needs to remain in the archiving business.
Luckily, “Gilligan’s Island” is indeed available to stream for free. It’s on Tubi.
Gilligan’s Island is on Tubi
Tubi, as movie fans know, has remained what most streaming services initially promised to be: a vast, largely uncurated library of varied movies and TV shows from throughout history. Netflix and their ilk have tried to turn their services into new networks, replete with original movies and new shows, with only mixed success; billions of dollars have been poured into new TV shows you’ve never heard of. Tubi, though, will simply license whatever they can get for cheap, and throw it onto an ever-growing pile of entertainment. There are great movies, crappy movies, and utter garbage on Tubi. They’re like a cluttered video store from the mid-1990s, and bless them for keeping the spirit of the video store alive.
All three seasons “Gilligan’s Island” can be found there. The service is free with ads, so there’s nothing stopping you.
If one would like to purchase a digital copy of “Gilligan’s Island,” it can be found in the Apple Store, on Amazon, and in the Microsoft Store. Each season retails for $24.99, while individual episodes can be purchased in HD for $2.99 each. Individual episodes in SD are a mere $1.99.
Of course, if you’re going so far as to purchase “Gilligan’s Island,” one may as well buy the whole series. One might also want to look into the second-hand market and finding the complete series on DVD. Amazon is offering the whole schmear for only $26.96, which is quite the bargain, given the digital download prices.
If you know someone under the age of 45, and you feel they need a better understanding of popular culture, it is now your responsibility to star educating them.
Other Gilligan media
The 1978 “Gilligan’s Island” spin-off movie “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island” is also available, although not on Tubi. One can, however, still see the film for free on the Roku Channel, Flex, and the lesser-known service Reveel. It’s also available to subscribers of Fubo and the equally obscure FlixFling.
Frustratingly, the 1979 follow-up, “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island” is currently not available through any legitimate streaming sources, nor is the goofy-ass 1981 TV movie “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island.” Only enterprising internet scholars will be able to find those.
Both seasons of the 1974 animated series “The New Adventures of Gilligan” are available to purchase in the Apple Store, although only the show’s first season can be bought via Amazon, sold for $12.99. Sadly, it cannot be streamed anywhere.
The most recent piece of Gilligan media is the 1982 series “Gilligan’s Planet,” a sci-fi spinoff that took the castaways to space. It only lasted 13 episodes, and they are all available to buy in the Apple Store and on Amazon. The season is $17.99 in HD, or $14.99 in SD. It might be worth the money just because it’s such an oddity.
Now you really have no excuse. The very fabric of American culture awaits you.
