Bob Denver TV Shows: Much More Than 'Gilligan's Island'

Over the course of his career, there were seven Bob Denver TV shows, the most popular — and, frankly, the one that forever typecast him the most in the minds of the public and Hollywood — was as the lead role in Gilligan's Island. But one of the most endearing aspects of Bob was that he never shied away from the show or the character, frequently wearing Gilligan's trademark hat and playing subsequent roles that in one way or another were greatly influenced by him.

He was born Robert Osbourne Denver on January 9, 1935 in New Rochelle, New York, although he was raised in Brownwood, Texas and would eventually graduate from Loyola University in Los Angeles with a political science degree (how unlike Gilligan!). He started acting in college stage productions, which is where he met fellow student Dwayne Hickman, with whom he would ultimately co-star on the television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Upon graduation, he actually taught history and mathematics at Pacific Palisades, California's Corpus Christi School, which was an elementary Catholic school.

In 1957, he made his television debut in a TV series called The Silent Service, while two years later he was on the big screen in a Private Affair. That same year, 1959, would mark the beginning of Bob Denver TV series with the arrival of Dobie Gillis. Between that and Gilligan's Island there would be two movies and four television guest spots, including The Andy Griffith Show and The Danny Thomas Show.

MUST-READ: All of our coverage of Gilligan's Island!

In total, there would be seven Bob Denver TV shows, three of which actually allowed him to play Gilligan. To check those and the others out, hop aboard this tiny for what should be a three-minute tour .... a three-minute tour.

1. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959 to 1963)

TITLE: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

SEASONS/EPISODES: 4 Seasons, 147 Episodes

CAST: Dwayne Hickman (Dobie Gillis), Bob Denver (Maynard G. Krebs), Frank Faylen (Herbert T. Gillis), Florida Friebus (Winifred "Winnie" Gillis),

PREMISE: Dwayne Hickman is title character Dobie Gillis, who is struggling with adolescence rapidly heading towards adulthood, trying to find love and purpose in his life, dealing with an overbearing father and coping with a changing society (all very comically, of course). Right in there with him — and serving as a contrast to pretty much everything he's been raised to be — is Bob Denver's Maynard G. Krebs, a beatnik. Their misadventures are the glue of the show.

INTERESTING FACTS: Bob Denver's character of Maynard G. Krebs was really the first time that television dealt with the idea of a beatnik on a regular basis. And while the character was played for laughs, he definitely represented what was becoming a growing counterculture that really stood out against the norms of the time.

Maynard also brought with him what became stereotypical elements of the beatnik movement: bongos, a goatee and a look of absolute panic whenever the concept of work was brought up.

There was a pilot for a new series produced in 1977 called Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? — which did not go — and a 1988 TV movie Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis. Bob Denver and Dwayne Hickman reprised their roles in both of them.

2. Gilligan's Island (1964 to 1967)

TITLE: Gilligan's Island

SEASONS/EPISODES: 3 Seasons, 98 Episodes

CAST: Bob Denver (Willy Gilligan), Alan Hale Jr (Captain Jonas Grumby, aka "The Skipper"), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III), Natalie Schafer (Eunice "Lovey" Howell), Tina Louise (Ginger Grant), Russell Johnson (Professor Roy Hinkley, Ph.D) and Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers)

PREMISE: It's almost an insult to provide the premise for this show (in fact, just watch the video above, it sets it all up there, but .... ), but a storm strands seven passengers on a tour boat on a desert island and they have to work together to survive. Now it could have gone very Lord of the Flies, but, instead, it's all played with humor, with Bob Denver's Gilligan pretty much screwing up any possibility the Professor comes up with of getting them off the island.

In reality , the others probably would have killed and eaten him or something, but this is '60s TV, so Skipper's Little Buddy was safe. While on the surface it all seems so silly, Gilligan's Island is truly beloved and hasn't been off the air despite the fact it ceased production nearly 60 years ago.

INTERESTING FACTS: If you've watched all of Gilligan's Island, you'll notice that the credits for Season 1 are different than Seasons 2 and 3 beyond the fact that the latter two are in color. For some bizarre reason, after the title song announces that the castaways include "The Movie Star," they follow with, "...and the rest." Seriously? It was Bob Denver who insisted that that be corrected, hence beginning with the second year, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells were credited respectively as being "The Professor and Mary Ann."

Like the rest of his co-stars (with the exception of Tina Louise, who attempted to distance herself from the show), Denver reprised the role in the TV reunion movies Rescue from Gilligan's Island (1978), The Castaways on Gilligan's Island (1979) and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981).

3. The Good Guys (1968 to 1970)

TITLE: The Good Guys

SEASONS/EPISODES: 2 Seasons, 42 Episodes

CAST: Bob Denver (Rufus Butterworth), Herb Edelman (Bert Gramus), Joyce Van Patten (Claudia), Alan Hale Jr. (Big Tom)

PREMISE: Bob's Rufus Butterworth drives a 1924 Lincoln as a cab while Herb Edelman's Bert runs a diner, and the two of them are constantly getting involved in get-rich schemes that simply never pan out. Low ratings resulted in the focus being shifted strictly to the diner in season 2, with its locale being moved to a beach. One of the recurring regulars was Bob's Gilligan's Island co-star Alan Hale Jr. as truck driver Big Tom. The show didn't work.

INTERESTING FACT: Bob was convinced that CBS never really gave the show a shot. They started by shooting in front of a studio audience, then shifted to single camera with a laugh track. It was relatively quickly canceled and there was virtually no afterlife in terms of reruns.

Herb Edelman is best known for co-starring with Robbie Rist in the Saturday morning series Big John, Little John and as Stanley Zbornak on The Golden Girls.

4. Dusty's Trail (1973 to 1974)

TITLE: Dusty's Trail

SEASONS/EPISODES: 1 Season, 26 Episodes

CAST: Bob Denver (Dusty), Forrest Tucker (Mr. Ballahan), Ivor Francis (Carson Brookhaven), Lynn Wood (Daphne Brookhaven), Jeannine Riley (Lulu McQueen), Bill Cort (Andy Boone) and Lori Saunders (Betsy McGuire)

PREMISE: Simply put, it's about a small number of diverse travelers in the Old West who become separate from their wagon train and are desperately trying to reconnect, having comic misadventures along the way, many of them because of Dusty, who's the blame for their separation in the first place.

INTERESTING FACT: In a variety of ways, this really was designed as a reboot of Gilligan's Island but set in the Old West rather than on a desert island. Dusty is Gilligan, right down to the fact he's played by Bob Denver. Forrest Tucker is a thinly-veiled Skipper and the other characters are variations of the other castaways. Oh, and the series was co-created by that show's Sherwood Schwartz.

Bob did refer to Dusty's Trail as "My best year in front of a camera."

5. The New Adventures of Gilligan (1974 to 1975)

TITLE: The New Adventures of Gilligan

SEASONS/EPISODES: 2 Seasons, 24 Episodes

CAST: Bob Denver (Willy Gilligan), Alan Hale Jr (Skipper Jonas Grumby), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III), Natalie Schafer (Eunice Wentworth "Lovey" Howell), Russell Johnson (Professor Roy Hinkley), Jane Webb (Ginger Grant, Mary Ann Summers)

PREMISE: This Saturday morning cartoon was pretty much the same as the live action series, only animated and maybe even more kid-friendly with little educational tags.

INTERESTING FACT: You'll notice that Ginger is a blond rather than a redhead; that's to avoid any legal problems with Tina Louise. Also, Dawn Wells was touring a play and was unavailable to voice Mary Ann.

6. Far Out Space Nuts (1975)

TITLE: Far Out Space Nuts

SEASONS/EPISODES: 1 Season, 15 Episodes

CAST: Bob Denver (Junior), Chuck McCann (Barney), Patty Maloney (Honk, the alien)

PREMISE: In Bob Denver's only Saturday morning live action series, he and Chuck McCann play a couple of NASA maintenance workers who inadvertently launch themselves in a rocket into space and while there start encountering a number of different alien beings. Joining them on a regular basis is Honk, a big-nosed furry guy with hair like Fabio.

INTERESTING FACT: Sid and Marty Krofft were all over Saturday morning television with shows like HR Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost, and this was one of their series as well.

Chuck McCann was a comedian who popped up virtually everywhere in the 1970s, and was featured on many TV commercials.

7. Gilligan's Planet (1982)

TITLE: Gilligan's Planet

SEASONS/EPISODES: 1 Season, 13 Episodes

CAST: Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale Jr (Skipper), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III), Natalie Schafer (Lovey), Russell Johnson (the Professor), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann and Ginger)

PREMISE: The Professor manages to build a rocket to get the castaways off the island, but something goes wrong ("Gilligan!") and they find themselves stranded on an alien planet instead. Same show, different setting and animated. Plus there are alien critters.

INTERESTING FACT: Dawn Wells got her revenge, not being on the first animated show, she got to voice both Mary Ann and Ginger.

This was also the final animated series produced by Filmation, a mainstay of Saturday morning television in the 1960s and 1970s.

And it was the final television entry of the Bob Denver TV shows.