Years After Gilligan's Island, Bob Denver And Dawn Wells Starred In A Charming Michael J. Fox Movie

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"Gilligan's Island" ran for three seasons but lived on past its 1967 cancellation. Not only was it syndicated to within an inch of its life, "Gilligan's Island" was given two animated spin-offs and three TV movies, ensuring the castaways became a perennial feature of pop culture in the late 20th century. As such, many of the cast were never able to escape the roles that brought them to prominence. But that wasn't for a lack of trying, as evidenced by the time both Gilligan and Mary Ann Summers, i.e., Bob Denver and Dawn Wells, appeared in Michael J. Fox comedy "High School U.S.A."

Denver did seem to embark on his own mission to keep his dimwitted first-mate character in the public consciousness, reprising the role in every animated series and TV movie, as well as in multiple other shows, including "Baywatch." But he did manage to branch out occasionally. After "Gilligan's Island," Denver played the lead role in the CBS sitcoms "The Good Guys" and "Dusty's Trail," though the latter was essentially "Gilligan's Island" set in the Old West. After the less-than-impressive "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" aired in 1981, Denver found his way onto another NBC TV movie in the form of "High School U.S.A," which featured an array of well-known sitcom actors, including Denver's former castmate Wells.

The 1983 film stars Fox as J. J. Manners, a student at Excelsior Union High School in Missouri. He's infatuated with Nancy McKeon's Beth Franklin, a fellow student and the girlfriend of Anthony Edwards' Beau Middleton. Beau is both the class president and the school's star quarterback, and isn't about to give up Beth easily, ultimately leading to a drag race between him and Manners to win Beth's affections. So where do Denver and Wells come in?

Bob Denver and Dawn Wells struggled for screen time in High School U.S.A

Back in the 1960s, a lackluster unaired "Gilligan's Island" pilot featured a character named Bunny. Soon after, Dawn Wells was brought in to play the newly created role of all-American farm girl Mary Ann Summers, which she portrayed for all three seasons of the 1960s sitcom, reprising the role for every spin-off and movie except "The New Adventures of Gilligan." After "Gilligan's Island," Wells forged an impressive stage career, but didn't leave the screen behind entirely.

In "High School U.S.A," she plays Miss Lorilee Lee, a teacher at the school who, after Beau Middleton's father offers a $10,000 reward for the best teacher, tries her best to ingratiate herself with his son. She's barely in the film, but she does the best she can with her part. Meanwhile, future star Crispin Glover plays socially awkward student Archie Feld. Bob Denver plays his father, Milton, a purveyor of pet supplies and, as he proudly boasts, "the number one scratching post salesman in the Midwest." Early on, Milton shows off his brand new Pontiac Firebird, which takes a beating over the course of the film, much to Denver's pet salesman's displeasure. 

Sadly, we don't actually get to see him and Wells on-screen together as the film is packed with so many TV legends and accompanying subplots that there's barely time for any of them to shine. Even the stars had come from sitcom-land. At the time "High School U.S.A." was made, Michael J. Fox and Nancy McKeon were starring in their own series: "Family Ties" and "The Facts of Life," respectively.

High School U.S.A. brought TV royalty together

Dawn Wells wasn't the only former sitcom castmate with whom Bob Denver reunited in "High School U.S.A." Prior to "Gilligan's Island," the actor had starred in the CBS series "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which coincidentally led to the creation of Scooby Doo. Denver's co-stars from that show, Dwayne Hickman and Steve Franken, were also cast in "High School U.S.A." as a teacher and a doctor. 

On top of that, you had multiple other TV legends, both current and former, with the likes of Todd Bridges and Dana Plato from "Diff'rent Strokes" and Bernard and Cathy Silvers from "Happy Days" appearing alongside Angela Cartwright from "Lost in Space" and Tony Dow, Frank Bank, and Ken Osmond from "Leave It to Beaver." All of which meant "High School U.S.A." was less a "Gilligan's Island" reunion and more of a kind of Avengers-level sitcom event that united multiple generations of TV royalty.

It wouldn't take long for Michael J. Fox to transcend the small screen, however, as two years after "High School U.S.A." aired, he fronted "Back to the Future," which also featured Crispin Glover as his father in yet another movie reunion. Meanwhile, NBC had a go at turning "High School U.S.A." into a series with a pilot that was about as successful as that disastrous unaired "Gilligan's Island" pilot. Neither Wells nor Denver appeared, but they would reunite several more times after this on everything from "Baywatch" to an '80s sci-fi sitcom that returned the castaways to the island and even a weird late-'90s "Gilligan's Island reunion that never actually aired in the U.S. 

For those curious, "High School U.S.A" is available to stream for free on Tubi.