Why Gilligan's Island's Final Episode Didn't Feature The Rescue Of The Castaways

In 1973, quite a few people still wanted to know what happened on "Gilligan's Island." The slapstick CBS sitcom ended inconclusively six years earlier without a satisfying finale explaining when or if Gilligan (Bob Denver), The Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.), and their friends ever escape the island. A Detroit Free Press editor called the creator Sherwood Schwartz to find out what happened. 

"Whatever happened to those Castaways?" was the question Betty Lou Peterson, editor of the TV Q&A column in the Free Press' Sunday TV supplement, said she received most from her readers — once or twice a week. In fact, editors from around the country had been calling Schwartz with the same question, he recalled in his book "Inside Gilligan's Island."

"Gilligan's Island" was canceled in 1967 after three seasons. Reruns continued airing on TV stations throughout the '70s and beyond, garnering new fans who didn't watch during its original run. Schwartz's theory was that viewers had seen the same episodes so many times, they wondered if they had missed the one where the castaways were rescued. His answer to what actually happened was simple: There was no rescue episode because he didn't know the show was ending.

The final episode, "Gilligan the Goddess," aired on April 17, 1967, with Schwartz expecting there would be a fourth season. He wrote, "I was sure there would be another season of 'Gilligan's Island.' If I had known we were going to be off the schedule in 1967, I might very well have produced a final episode in which they were rescued." However, "Gilligan's Island" was canceled by CBS when network chairman William S. Paley decided to save "Gunsmoke" instead.

The network had originally planned to drop the Western due to its falling ratings, which the producers blamed on viewer fatigue. Viewers protested, and Paley stepped in. "Gunsmoke" moved to Monday nights, taking over the time slot of "Gilligan's Island." It climbed back into the Top 10 and ran until 1975. Fans had to wait until 1978 to see the castaways make it home in the first of three "Gilligan's Island" TV movies.