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I just heard on Fox that today is a special day in history in that the last episode of "Gilligan's Island" was broadcast on this day in 1967. And it's been downhill for American culture ever since.

DRIGGS, Idaho — Perhaps they should have called her Mary Jane. A surprise birthday party for Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," ended with a nearly three-hour tour of the Teton County sheriff's office and jail when the 69-year-old was caught with marijuana in her vehicle while driving home. Wells is now serving six months' unsupervised probation for the crime. She was sentenced Feb. 29 to five days in jail, fined $410.50 and placed on probation after pleading guilty to one count of reckless driving. The guilty plea came as part of an agreement with...

We're going to have 19 months of this. The inevitable whining: "...I don't like Guiliani on gun control..." "…I don't like McCain's campaign finance reform..." "...Romney's no good on illegal immigration…" "…Duncan Hunter's teeth are crooked…" Blah…blah…blah…blah…blah Bottom line is this: You need to ask yourself, for whatever problem or issue is most important to you, are Democrats the answer? By all means, support your guy in the primaries. But when Nov '08 gets here, you need to hold your nose if necessary and support the R candiate. Any of this ..I'm staying home to send a message and teach...

BLUEFIELD — The legacy of Mercer County’s internationally famous adopted son, Bob Denver, is living on through Little Buddy Radio. Denver, who died Sept. 2, 2005 at the age of 70, was known worldwide for his 1960s television roles of Gilligan on “Gilligan’s Island” and Maynard G. Krebs on “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.” He and wife, Dreama, who grew up in Bluefield, moved to Mercer County in June of 1991. “Bob loved this area,” Dreama said, reminiscing on her husband’s appreciation of West Virginia. “He just thought the people were the best people in the world.” Dreama said...

LOS ANGELES — Bob Denver (search), whose portrayal of goofy castaway Gilligan on the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island," (search) made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died, his agent confirmed Tuesday. He was 70. Denver died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina of complications from treatment he was receiving for cancer, his agent, Mike Eisenstadt, told The Associated Press. Denver had also undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year. His wife, Dreama Denver, said in a statement released by Eisenstadt: "He was my everything and I will love him forever."...

Bob Denver, whose portrayal of goofy first mate Gilligan on the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island," made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died, his agent confirmed Tuesday. He was 70. Denver, who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year, died at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina, according to agent Mike Eisenstadt. Denver's death was first reported by "Entertainment Tonight."

With the onslaught of TV shows such as Survivor, Lost, and the New Gilligan's Island and the slew of recent plane crashes, it is now time for Freepers to consider the things needed for comfort and pleasure if we find ourselves stranded on a desert island. Since we'll obviously be packed lightly, I'm limiting the categories and quantities, so you'll need to choose wisely! The categories are music, movies, vices/hobby and non-spousal companion. And one item of your choosing! Here are Dr. Pissants selections... DESERT ISLAND MUST-HAVESTop 3 music CDs: 1. Best of Ella Fitzgerald 2. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos 3....

Bob Denver, star of the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island," is recuperating from quadruple heart bypass surgery, his agent said Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES May 18, 2005 — Bob Denver, star of the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island," is recuperating from quadruple heart bypass surgery, his agent said Wednesday. Denver, 70, had the surgery recently after a checkup revealed problems, said his Los Angeles-based agent, Mike Eisenstadt. He is recuperating at his West Virginia home. Denver portrayed the title character in the sitcom about a group of castaways stranded on a desert isle. Hardcore 'Star Wars' Fans Await Opening 'The Riddler' Frank Gorshin Dies at 72 Slideshow: Cannes Film Festival Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not...

MIDI - GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Sit back my friends and I'll tell a tale...about a George Bush trip He'll visit those Euro-weasels and will not take their lip We have a man who's a president and not a spineless shill We had eight years of that kind of stuff with gonad-less Bill...with gonad-less Bill When we find our world's in jeopardy to whom will nations turn It's not the French to be counted on...that lesson has been learned...that lesson has been learned Bush makes his point and he tells it straight...it's clear as it can be With Condi Rice and...

I tried to watch The Real Gilligan's Island, the new TBS reality series in which two Skippers, two Gilligans, etc. compete to see who can be rescued first, but gave up on the wretched enterprise after 15 minutes. And it's not because I'm too highbrow for Gilligan's Island either — far from it. Shortly after Sept. 11, I began thinking that the wonderful thing about Gilligan's Island — which has been dubbed into 30 languages and has never, not once, been off the air since its CBS premiere 40 years ago — is how perpetually enraging it must be to...

There's an odious milestone accomplished this evening: The debut of The Real Gilligan's Island (TBS, 8 p.m.), which officially marks the first known merging of a reality show and an idiotic sitcom. Rarely is TV this dumbed-down. It's dumb and dumber, I suppose, since this concept is based on Gilligan's Island, a low-concept sitcom surely aimed at a dull-witted viewership back in the sixties. It was a hit, of course. The original Gilligan's Island concerned a group of people stranded on a remote desert island. For three painful seasons the castaways struggled to get off the island and failed time...

Greg Dyke, former director general of the BBC, has claimed that the British Government "tried to kill" Andrew Gilligan. Reporter Gilligan broke the story that British intelligence had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq that sought to justify Britain's support for US-led invasion of the country. "The Government tried to kill him," claimed Dyke about Gilligan, who was forced out of his job at the BBC in January in the wake of the Hutton report that inquired into the death of scientist David Kelly. Kelly was the main source for Gilligan. Dyke was speaking at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature...

I haven't seen this posted yet. Pretty funny. http://kerrywaffles.net/kerrygan.html

Gilligan's Island vs. the Taliban By Catherine Seipp Why do they hate us? Here are some of the usual answers: Israel. McDonald's. The Gulf War. Infidel American women who run around in short skirts with heads uncovered. Hollywood. U.S. arrogance and naivete about other cultures. To all that, I suggest another reason: "Gilligan's Island." Shakespeare scholar and literary critic Paul Cantor wrote "Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture In the Age of Globalization" before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (The book will be published in November.) But his argument that "Gilligan's Island" was really, at its core, not just a silly '60s...

Judging from reactions, it’s hard to tell Tony Blair’s administration was vindicated for charges it "sexed up" pre-Iraqi war intelligence. Likewise, it’s hard to tell the BBC had juiced up its war reporting. In less than two weeks, critics have spun the news to suggest the exact opposite had occurred. Nevertheless, the clear verdict of an independent inquiry into false accusations lodged by the BBC against the British government is thumbs-up for the government, thumbs-down for the BBC. Blair’s vindication should bode well for the Bush administration, which faces almost identical criticism regarding the veracity of its own pre-war intelligence....

FOR THE LAST WEEK, much of Britain has borne witness to an outpouring of grief the like of which has not been seen since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. When Baron Hutton of Bresagh, knight of the realm, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, a hitherto rather inconspicuous retired member of the British supreme court, delivered his much anticipated report at the end of January on the death of Dr. David Kelly, a British government weapons expert, a collective howl of anguish went up from the well-upholstered parts of the media establishment. Lord Hutton concluded that Tony Blair, the...

Having read the Hutton report and most of what has been written about it, I have reached the following, strictly non-judicial, conclusions: first, that the episode illuminates a wider crisis in British journalism than the turmoil at the BBC; second, that too many journalists are in denial about this wider crisis; third, that journalists need to be at the forefront of trying to rectify it; and, fourth, that this will almost certainly not happen. The reporting of Lord Hutton's conclusions and of the reactions to them has been meticulous. The same cannot be said of large tracts of the commentary...

<p>LONDON, England (CNN) --Reporter Andrew Gilligan who was criticized in the Hutton Report for saying the UK government exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein to justify war has resigned from the BBC.</p> <p>Gilligan's report, based on an interview with weapons expert David Kelly, sparked a huge controversy last summer that eventually led to the scientist taking his own life.</p>

Special report: the BBC BBC to launch Gilligan inquiry Ciar Byrne Friday January 30, 2004 Mark Byford, the acting director general of the BBC, has announced there will be an internal inquiry at the corporation into what went wrong over the Andrew Gilligan affair. Director of news Richard Sambrook told BBC News staff in an email today that Mr Byford was pressing ahead with an inquiry planned by Greg Dyke "to rebuild trust in BBC news". "The BBC made mistakes and we have faced up to that. I regret misjudgments over the last eight months and accept responsibility for my...

BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan has resigned in the wake of the criticism directed at him in the Hutton report. Mr Gilligan conceded some of his story was wrong, and apologised for it. He said his departure was at his own initiative, but described the BBC collectively as the victim of a "grave injustice". Earlier departing BBC director general Greg Dyke said he was shocked by the findings of the Hutton Inquiry and did not accept all of the report. He said Lord Hutton had "given the benefit of doubt to every government witness and not to any at the...

BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan made a final plea for understanding in a late submission to Lord Hutton's inquiry. Reporters should be given 'a margin for error' when dealing with matters of clear public interest, particularly on political issues, he argued. He insisted he had never accused the Government of lying and told the law lord that, while there were errors in his May 29 report for Radio 4's Today programme, it "accurately reported the burden of what Dr Kelly had told him". The 42-page statement was released by Lord Hutton along with submissions from the BBC, the Government, and the...

Gilligan comes out fighting after Hutton drubbing Claire Cozens Wednesday January 28, 2004 Andrew Gilligan today came out fighting with a statement issued on his behalf describing Lord Hutton's report as "grossly one-sided". He is struggling to hold on to his BBC career after Lord Hutton issued a damning criticism of his Today programme report, describing the central claim that the government had "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction as "unfounded". In what amounted to a complete demolition of Gilligan's controversial report. Lord Hutton cast doubt on the "sexing up" claim and rejected as "unfounded" the...

Live Video of Lord Hutton delivering his report on http://news.bbc.co.uk/ now

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - David Kelly, the weapons expert whose suicide rocked the British government, believed Iraq did pose an immediate threat, the BBC said on Wednesday, just days before a critical report into his death. Kelly told the BBC before the war that Iraq's weapons could have taken "days or weeks" to deploy. But he did not back Prime Minister Tony Blair's notorious claim that they could be fired in 45 minutes. The failure to find Iraq's weapons of mass destruction -- the primary Anglo-American motive for war -- has eroded public trust in Blair, putting him in...

New evidence submitted to the Hutton Inquiry supports recent claims of bias against the BBC’s coverage of the Iraq War. Whose Agenda? The BBC Reporters’ Log on the Iraq War, a quantitative analysis of articles posted online by BBC journalists throughout the War, found that correspondents were more likely to criticise Coalition strategy and discuss setbacks than to offer praise or evaluate advances. Reporters were also more likely to be sceptical of claims made by the Coalition than they were of claims made by the Iraqi authorities. Whose Agenda? is based on 1343 posts made on the BBC Reporters’ Log...

Called in to anchor the BBC's coverage of the death of the Queen Mother last year, the broadcaster Peter Sissons made a simple choice that set off a complicated furor. Instead of the traditional black necktie traditionally worn by BBC presenters at times of national mourning, he wore maroon. It was a tiny thing, really. But there were calls of complaint, indignant editorials, denunciations on talk shows, letters to the newspapers, all showing how important the BBC is to Britain's view of itself and how angry, even personally affronted, Britons can become when they disagree with it. It is the...

A computer expert has pointed to "seeming anomalies" on the handheld computer BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan used to record his conversation with Dr David Kelly. The weapons expert's apparent suicide came after he was named as the suspected source for Mr Gilligan's story about the government "sexing up" intelligence in its Iraq weapons dossier. Forensic computer expert Edward Wilding told the inquiry he was worried about why Downing Street media chief Alastair Campbell's name did not appear in one of the memos on Mr Gilligan's Sharp personal organiser. He had also found some experimentation with the computer. "Somebody was looking...

BBC news chiefs had doubts about reporter Andrew Gilligan's ability to present his material in a subtle way, the Hutton Inquiry has heard. Mr Gilligan has admitted making several errors and "slips of the tongue" in his radio reports on the Government's Iraq weapons dossier which started the row between the BBC and Downing Street. The corporation's director of news Richard Sambrook told the inquiry that Mr Gilligan "painted in primary colours" and there were question marks over "nuance and subtlety". In his live report on Radio 4's Today programme at 6.07am on May 29 Mr Gilligan quoted an anonymous...

Gilligan admits dossier row errors BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan has admitted making mistakes in live broadcasts reporting claims the government had "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Mr Gilligan stood by the story he based on a conversation with government weapons expert Dr David Kelly. But under tough cross-examination at the Hutton inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, Mr Gilligan said he had made "slips of the tongue" in unscripted broadcasts. He was followed into the witness box by BBC director of news Richard Sambrook, who said there were errors in the BBC's strongly-worded response to the...

Internal emails disclosed to the Hutton Inquiry reveal that BBC governors feared the corporation was partly to blame for the death of Dr David Kelly, whose apparent suicide triggered the judicial investigation. Three days after Dr Kelly's body was found, Professor Fabian Monds, the BBC governor in Northern Ireland, sent an email to Gavyn Davies, the chairman, expressing his concern. "We are all troubled by the thought that our actions may have contributed, however indirectly, to this tragedy. Dr Kelly is one victim of this situation; there are others," said the email. Another governor has also expressed disquiet about the...

The Prime Minister is said, by journalists paid to make that sort of judgment, to have "done well" during his appearance before the Hutton Inquiry yesterday. What was meant, apparently, is that he seemed confident, was not shaken by any of counsel's questions and made his point of view plain. That may well be. To an objective observer, however, he does not seem to have advanced the purpose of the inquiry very far. It was set up, it should be remembered, to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly, the Ministry of Defence scientist who, we now...

'BBC News. Alastair Campbell angrily denied today that he was responsible for the claim that Mars is 'only' 34 million miles from Earth. The controversial assertion is said to have further damaged the last shreds of the Blair Government's shattered credibility.According to a poll, 57 per cent of Britons now believe they were deliberately misled and that the live photograph of the so-called Red Planet is either a hot-air balloon tethered to the top of the London Eye or an aerial shot of Cherie Blair's bottom after over-vigorous massaging by Carole Caplin… Hang on, isn't this the sort of thing...

Blair: truth in claims would have led to his resignation A newspaper column in which Andrew Gilligan named Alastair Campbell as the man his source believed was responsible for the transformation of the Iraq dossier sent the government into "a complete and full storm", Tony Blair has told the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly. The prime minister said the article, published in the Mail on Sunday after Gilligan's controversial Today programme report, "added booster rockets" to the claims already made by the BBC defence correspondent because it specifically named Mr Campbell. Linking the Downing Street communications chief...

Hoon attacks Gilligan's story Owen Gibson Wednesday August 27, 2003 Hoon: 'No proper opportunity was given to the MoD to respond' to Gilligan's report Embattled defence secretary Geoff Hoon has begun his appearance before the Hutton Inquiry on the attack, saying he obejcted to Andrew Gilligan's report on BBC Radio 4's Today programme because there was no way for listeners to assess its credibility. Asked about his reaction to Gilligan's story about the "sexed up" Iraq dossier, Mr Hoon said he believed a serious charge had been made against the government. He said he took exception to the allegations, particularly...

BBC's Gilligan doomed Gilligan ... faces the sack By NIC CECIL Political Correspondent BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan faces the axe over the Dr David Kelly suicide row, it emerged last night. Defence Correspondent Gilligan, 34, is expected to be allowed to resign rather than be sacked. But a BBC insider said last night: “It would be unthinkable for him to return to the corporation at any level now.” Scientist Dr Kelly killed himself after being named as the source for Gilligan’s claim that a Government dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was “sexed up”. Gilligan has been repeatedly slammed...

 Here On The Island - by Lewis NapperA Scholarly Critique of the Style, Symbolism and Sociopolitical Relevance of Gilligan's Island  Great works of literature often attempt to confront us with the obvious in such a way as to call the inevitable into question. Some strive to explain through metaphor that which is too complex or too abstract to state literally. Other forms seek only to capture some moment in time so that future generations may experience and learn from what has gone before them.  All of these qualities are ambitiously gathered in Sherwood Schwartz's masterwork, "Gilligan's Island." Through a...

At the centre of the Kelly row, BBC's reporter Gilligan may be forced to quit. Andrew Gilligan, whose news report on BBC's Radio 4 Today's programme on Downing Street having sexed up the September dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction led to the explosive row between the Blair Government and BBC, is likely to lose his job as BBC's Defence Correspondent. Although BBC's governors and all senior management officials stood by him when Gilligan came under assault from Whitehall, now it is said that his position has become untenable after the revelation that he e-mailed a member of the...

David Kelly said Gilligan report was 'bullshit', inquiry told Click here to enter the Hutton inquiry website Ciar Byrne and Julia Day Thursday August 21, 2003 David Kelly told a Sunday Times journalist that Andrew Gilligan's report on the Today programme was "bullshit" and said he had been "put through the wringer" by the Ministry of Defence over the affair. Nicholas Rufford told the Hutton inquiry today he visited Dr Kelly at his Oxfordshire home on Wednesday July 9, the day the MoD press office confirmed his name to journalists. Rufford said he had asked Dr Kelly about his meeting...

Campbell survives Hutton grilling · Intelligence chief in 'full charge' of dossier · Dossier 'needed killer paragraph' · Fear Gilligan would 'damage' government Julia Day, Ciar Byrne, Matthew Tempest and Chris Tryhorn Tuesday August 19, 2003 Alastair Campbell today told the Hutton inquiry that the controversial dossier claim that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes was already in the intelligence document when it first came to him. Downing Street's director of communications also claimed that Sir John Scarlett, the chairman of the joint intelligence committee (JIC), was put in "full charge" of writing the September dossier...

The FBI has accused the BBC of wrecking an elaborate operation that was designed to infiltrate al-Qaida. The BBC, regarded by some as institutionally anti-American, is said to have aborted the operation by broadcasting an "exclusive" report about the arrest of a British arms dealer last Tuesday. The arms dealer was allegedly attempting to purchase ground-to-air missiles for terrorist clients who were seeking to shoot down civilian airliners in the United States. But what 68-year-old Hemant Lakhani did not know was that he was the subject of an elaborate, 18-month-long sting operation that involved Russian intelligence "suppliers" and FBI "customers."...

<p>The worst thing that can be said of a serious news organization is that it is cavalier about reporting the truth as it understands it. Gain a reputation for political bias in reports billed as objective and you can be sure to lose the trust--and patronage--of a significant part of your audience. So only a media giant whose shareholders are under lock and key could be as sanguine as the British Broadcasting Corporation's senior management has been after this week's embarrassing revelations.</p>

<p>Thursday, August 14, 2003 12:01 a.m.</p> <p>The worst thing that can be said of a serious news organization is that it is cavalier about reporting the truth as it understands it. Gain a reputation for political bias in reports billed as objective and you can be sure to lose the trust--and patronage--of a significant part of your audience. So only a media giant whose shareholders are under lock and key could be as sanguine as the British Broadcasting Corporation's senior management has been after this week's embarrassing revelations.</p>

BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan LIED to MPs about the sexed-up dossier affair, it was revealed yesterday. He also MISLED them about his contacts with tragic Ministry of Defence weapons expert Dr David Kelly. And in a dramatic twist to the war between the BBC and No10 he was BLASTED by his own boss for “flawed” reporting. As Gilligan, 34, gave evidence on the second day of the Hutton Inquiry into Dr Kelly’s suicide, the full text of the secret evidence the reporter gave to the foreign affairs select committee was released. It showed he changed his story about the role...

There comes a moment in most lives when something we respect lets us down. This week, under the scrutiny of Lord Hutton, a British institution is suffering that humiliation. It is the Today programme, a broadcast phenomenon that has become accustomed to perceiving itself as the nearest thing to the collective sense of identity of the British middle class. The late Brian Redhead once described Today, to which six million Britons wake up, as a forum in which "a great many powerful, interesting, funny, angry, brave, frightened people drop a word in the ear of the nation". Lately that definition...

Kevin Marsh, editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, sent two emails in the wake of the reports by correspondent Andrew Gilligan based on conversations with weapons expert Dr David Kelly. The first, presented to Lord Hutton's inquiry into Dr Kelly's apparent suicide, was sent to the head of BBC Radio News, Stephen Mitchell, on 27 June: Some thoughts, clearly I have to talk to AG [Andrew Gilligan] early next week. I hope that by then my worst fears - based on what I'm hearing from the spooks [intelligence officers] this afternoon - aren't realised. Assuming not, the guts of...

The Hutton Inquiry into the death of Government weapons expert Dr David Kelly is hearing its third day of evidence. Susan Watts, BBC2 Newsnight's science editor, returned to the witness box to continue giving evidence into the death of Government scientist David Kelly. Susan Watts' evidence James Dingemans QC, counsel to the inquiry, resumed his questioning of Ms Watts about her dealings with Dr Kelly. She said the purpose of her conversation with Dr Kelly on May 7 was for background. "If there were points of interest I felt to be newsworthy, I would return to those points with him...

Andrew Gilligan’s story that Downing Street had “sexed up” the dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been “marred by flawed reporting,” according to the editor of the Today programme where his reports first appeared

Yesterday in the Royal Courts of Justice, Andrew Gilligan effectively called David Kelly a liar. Days after a government spokesman had smeared Dr Kelly as a fantasist with delusions of grandeur, Gilligan alleged explicitly that the civil servant's evidence to Parliament had been systematically and knowingly false.

Analysis of US Casualties in Iraq by Week and Month - post Baghdad Liberation Day   April: Post- Baghdad Liberation Day - April 30   Week of Apr. 10 - Apr.16:   Apr.10: One Marine killed 22 wounded securing Baghdad Mosque:  Iraqi regime loyalists, terrorists and paramilitary forces engaged elements of Regimental Combat Team 5 (RCT-5) from the protection of an 8th century Shia Mosque. In over one hour of heavy gunfire exchange, the Marines of RCT-5 cleared the mosque for return to the Iraqi people....Marines quickly assessed the situation. After receiving permission to engage the enemy inside, Marines swiftly defeated the Iraqi...