The Boat’s Name on ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Was A Middle Finger to the FCC
Gilligan and the Skipper made a living by hiring out their boat, the S.S. Minnow, for three-hour tours to visiting millionaires and movie stars. Why was their dinghy called the Minnow? The obvious guess for Gilligan’s Island fans would be that a minnow represents the least imposing creature in the sea. When “the weather started getting rough,” the puny minnow is an apt metaphor for a boat that couldn’t stand up to the storm’s punishment.
But the reality was darker. To understand the context for naming Gilligan’s boat, let’s go back to 1961 when the head of the Federal Communications Commission delivered a fiery speech at the 39th Annual Convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, D.C. There, the FCC chairman ripped into TV networks and the producers of its programs, blaming them for quiz show scandals, payola schemes and what he called a “vast wasteland” of worthless entertainment. He took a few shots at “formula comedies” and “unbelievable characters,” just to rub it in.
The FCC Chairman’s name? Newton Minow.
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The rant rankled Gilligan producer Sherwood Schwartz. It wasn’t just that he was insulted. Schwartz believed that Minow and the FCC had given ABC, NBC and CBS “absolute authority over everything that comes into your living room on network television.”
Sitcom producers used to deal primarily with advertising sponsors, but now networks had control, “which they never used to have before Mr. Minow,” Schwartz told the Television Academy Foundation. “It's like giving a policeman a gun. He now is in control. So (Minow) gave control of television to the three networks.”
As proof of the networks’ newfound power, CBS hired new writers and filmed additional scenes for the Gilligan’s Island pilot, inserting them into the show without Schwartz’s knowledge. “I was the producer,” said Schwartz. “I was furious!”
Furious enough that Schwartz decided to name his unreliable boat “S.S. Minnow” after the man he believed “ruined television,” adding an “N” to Minow just to be safe.
You’d think the maligned Minow would have been angered by the honorary eff-you offered by Schwartz and his show, but instead, the FCC chairman thought it was a pretty funny dig. Contrary to Schwartz’s opinion, Minow actually liked many television programs, even praising shows like The Twilight Zone in his Vast Wasteland speech.
Minow reached out to Schwartz and let him know he got the joke. Not only was the FCC chief not offended, but he and Schwartz began a playful correspondence that lasted for years. A bureaucrat and a sitcom producer made for an unlikely friendship, but disparate personalities have been shipwrecked together for weirder reasons.
