Gilligan is gone?

As you grow older you tend to mark your time on earth with memories from your past. For instance, I just read that Bob Denver, the actor who played the delighfully goofy "Gilligan" on "Gilligan's Island" died at age 70.

That's almost impossible to imagine. I feel just a bit older as a result. I remember coming home from school, fixing a bologna and cheese sandwich along with some Frito's and Coke, and parking myself in front of the TV to watch the lame-brain antics of Gilligan, Skipper, the Howell's, the professor, Ginger, and Mary Ann. The professor could make a radio out of a coconut, but couldn't seem to master shipbuilding. The skipper seemed a little too happy to be around his "little buddy" to concentrate on actually getting off of the island, and I'm convinced that Ginger and Mary Ann were forced into becoming lipstick lesbians because I'm certain that the professor was always too busy to ever hoist his sail after either of them. It was indeed a wacky scenario and I was sorting it all out in my head between bites of my bologna sandwich.

I suppose Gilligan will never actually really be dead as long as there's still "TV Land" and other networks who carry the old "classics" for future TV-tots to enjoy.

In the words of the Skipper, "Good night little buddy."