Reel to Real

It's a key question in backyard barbeque debates that Baby Boomer's of a certain vintage, to this day, still mull over. If you had to be stranded on any island not inhabited by Gilligan, the Howells, the Professor and the Skipper, who would you want plumping the pillow on your hammock – earthy Midwestern girl Mary Ann Summers or Tinseltown femme fatale Ginger Grant?

At rehearsal last Saturday of the fantastic number (can't be a spoiler and give details) that opens TV Land's Sixth Annual Awards Show, I sat down with Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) and asked for her take on that eternal debate.

"Mary Ann was attainable," she said. "To get Ginger, you had to have some cash in your pocket. She was every 14-year-old boy's dream and she knew how to sell sexy, but you'd better have the bucks."

Who would you choose?

Tina Louise (Ginger) - left, Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) - right.

Dawn was agog over the fantastic stage set at the Barker Hangar that seemed like a cross between Las Vegas on steroids and the whacked out vision of Hollywood musical-maker Busby Berkeley. It put her in a nostalgic frame of mind for the bamboo huts of her television heyday.

"It's amazing how they can change a set overnight," she said. "That literally used to happen with Gilligan's Island. One day it would be overflowing with flora and fauna; the next day it had transformed into the Gunsmoke set with Matt Dillon riding down a dusty Dodge City street where the lagoon had just been. It was enough to blow your mind."

Well, that's what happens when a three-hour tour goes awry.

Only five days and counting 'til June 15 and the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards … stay tuned!

-- Tom Johnson

June 11, 2008

Don't miss tvland.com's coverage of the 2008 TV Land Awards.  It's an experience that you won't find on air -- from rehearsal day to the Red Carpet, back stage to the after party, and more.