A co-worker was telling me about a post-Gilligan’s Island show that starred Bob Denver and was basically Gilligan on a stagecoach. The show was called Dusty’s Trail and also featured Bill Cort (who was surely best known for his role as Mr. Andrews on an episode of Small Wonder), Forrest Tucker (not to be confused with Forrest Whittaker). The characters mapped almost exactly to characters on Gilligan’s Island… there was the wagon master, a rich couple, a saloon girl, a school marm, and an engineer. Seriously, how long did it take to come up with this dud of an idea? It’s the equivalent of a cut-and-paste followed by a search-and-replace.
It almost goes without saying that the creator of the series was the (in)famous Sherwood Schwartz. The show lasted 26 episodes. In addition, three episodes were used a few years later for the 1976 film The Wackiest Wagon Train in the West.
You can find out more on BobDenver.com (complete with audio of the theme song).
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