Gone to the Big Hammock in the Sky

Just read the news that Bob Denver died this past Friday. The actor who played Gilligan on the classic sitcom Gilligan's Island died due to complications from cancer treatments. He was 70 years old.

First of all, the fact that Denver's family and publicist were able to keep his death secret for an entire holiday weekend was remarkable. Not that he was being followed by papparazzi or anything like that, but one would think that word of a beloved classic sitcom star's health status would have been leaked to a supermarket tabloid or the producers of A Current Affair. I saw no headlines screaming "Gilligan's Last Days" or "Gilligan's Battle" at the checkout counter these last few months, which means one of three things:

1. That the current news cycle -- with the war, Katrina, and the death of William Rehnquist -- has overwhelmed everyone, including the tabloids,
2. Bob Denver was really good at keeping his private life private, or
3. People thought he was already dead.

Probably a little bit of all of those (well, hopefully not much of #3). Anyway, it's sad news no matter what the reason; another piece of TV's past is gone forever. I'm sure word of a Gilligan marathon on TV Land will be coming any time now.