The cultural significance of Gilligan

Paul Farhi has a reflection in the Washington Post on the passing of comic actor Bob Denver, who played the title character on Gilligan's Island and the loopy Maynard G. Krebs on Dobie Gillis. He sees Denver's characters as emblematic of the cultural transformation television underwent as it moved from elite to "mass" medium, and laments, "How we need smart actors and dumb sitcoms now."