CBS Wanted To Force Gilligan's Island To Introduce A Mister Ed-Inspired Character

It's a fairly common practice for networks to send thoughts and ideas along to TV showrunners and writers. Some are good, some are bad, some are pretty wild ... and then there are the suggestions CBS had for "Gilligan's Island."

The show was no stranger to big name guest stars, which is a little odd on its own considering the main cast was allegedly stranded on a deserted island, but at least one CBS executive thought what the show really needed was a pet for Gilligan to take care of. While conventional wisdom might suggest a dog or cat, producer Hunt Stromberg Jr. was thinking much bigger — in the vein of the talking horse, Mister Ed, from the '60s series of the same time. In his memoir, "Inside Gilligan's Island," creator Sherwood Schwartz said Stromberg approached him one day with the idea that Gilligan would come across a dinosaur. "Just picture it!" Stromberg told Schwartz. "Gilligan and his pet dinosaur! It's our answer to 'Mister Ed.'"

While having a pet on a show can be a great addition, most tend to be actual animals that can be trained to act alongside the cast. Adding a dinosaur seemed like a rather impossible ask to Gilligan himself, Bob Denver. In the book, "TV Treasures: A Companion Guide to Gilligan's Island," Denver said he told Schwartz the idea would be nearly impossible to pull off. "I said 'In a two-shot, I'll be holding the dinosaur's leash. You'll see me and part of a leg," Denver said. "And if you want to see the dinosaur, I'm going to be this big [indicates a half-inch high] and the dinosaur will be huge.'"

Sherwood Schwartz was not a fan of the dinosaur idea, but, according to his memoir, he knew he couldn't just say no outright. So, he went about trying to figure out what it would take to actually add a dinosaur to the cast. 

Schwartz said that he called Disney's animation studios and asked them what it would cost to bring an animated dinosaur to life and have it interact with the characters, similar to how Disney pulled off the dancing penguins in "Mary Poppins." Bob Denver, who played Gilligan, said the answer was all Schwartz needed to hear. "He found out it would cost $75,000 a minute to put the dinosaur in the shot," Denver said in the book "TV Treasures: A Companion Guide to Gilligan's Island." "That was the end of the dinosaur idea."

While that was the last time a dinosaur was mentioned on "Gilligan's Island," it wasn't the end of the quest to get Gilligan a pet. An animated spin-off entitled "The New Adventures of Gilligan" included a monkey named Snubby. Years later, another animated spin-off, "Gilligan's Planet," saw Gilligan adopt an alien named Bumper as a pet.