Jennifer Aniston is happily in love with her boyfriend, Jim Curtis, whose personal life, health and wellness career and relationship with the Morning Show star became nationwide topics after she shared their first photo on social media in November 2025. Now that Jim is a favorite among Jen’s fans, many are wondering about his past, including his former relationships and whether he has any children.
Below, learn about Jim’s family, and find out if he welcomed any children before meeting Jennifer.
How Did Jennifer Aniston Meet Boyfriend Jim Curtis?
The details of Jennifer and Jim’s meet-cute are still unclear; they prefer to keep their relationship private. The couple were first spotted together over the 2025 4th of July weekend.
How Old Is Jim Curtis? His Age Now
Jim is 50 years old as of November 2025. That month, he celebrated his 50th birthday alongside his girlfriend, Jennifer, as seen in various Instagram posts from their respective accounts. In her own post — effectively going Instagram official with her beau — the Friends alum appeared to be embracing Jim at his birthday party.
In his own social media gallery, Jim shared pictures from the celebration, captioning the post, “50 and feeling good! Birthday recap part 1. Thank you for all the wishes and love. So grateful for you my friends, family and community.”
How Old Is Jennifer Aniston? Her Age Now
Jennifer is currently 57 years old. She was born on February 11, 1969.
Does Jim Curtis Have Any Children?
Yes, Jim is a father to one son, who is reportedly a teenager now.
Has Jim Curtis Been Married?
Yes, Jim was married to his ex-wife, Rachel Napolitano, according to multiple outlets. The details of their divorce are unclear.
Does Jim Curtis Have a Disability?
Jim walks with a cane due to his history of an illness that went misdiagnosed. Doctors found lesions on his spinal cord when he was 22.
“After years of living with a chronic, misdiagnosed illness and emotional trauma, he found a way to heal that honored both the body and the soul,” Jim’s website reads. “His work is rooted in that experience — and in the belief that no matter how stuck or broken you may feel, transformation is always possible.”
During a 2018 interview with Fast Company, Jim opened up about his health and the condition that caused muscle spasms and walking with a limp.
“It was unknown how they started, but I very rapidly became ill and soon had trouble walking,” Jim explained. “My illness was telling me something about the perception of who I was, [which to me] was this macho guy; I was an athlete, and I had a plan to work on Wall Street, so I did it.”
Twenty years of technical debt weighed heavily on security at the Louvre, as it steadily accumulated systems for analogue video surveillance, digital video surveillance, intrusion detection, and access control, some of them with dedicated servers or proprietary applications. Some of these became obsolete over time and needed updating or replacing
Thales supplied one such system, Sathi, to the Louvre in 2003, but it was no longer supporting it by February 2019, according to public procurement documents seen by the newspaper. As recently as the middle of this year, eight Sathi publications appeared on a museum list of “software that cannot be updated”.
The Louvre’s Windows problems continued at least through 2021, when another document noted it was using Sathi on a machine still running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, which reached the end of extended support in 2015.
While there are lots of great Black Friday sales on cheaper devices, it’s the big ticket items that really make a world of difference. Take Apple’s 2024 Mac mini M4, which has dropped to $499 from $599 as part of early Black Friday deals. The 17 percent discount brings Apple’s mini desktop computer with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD to only $30 more than its all-time low.
We gave the Mac mini M4 a 90 in our review, in part, because it packs an incredible amount of power into such a small design. It also has front facing USB-C and headphone ports, a first for the Mac mini lineup. Plus, it starts with 16GB of RAM, an upgrade from its predecessors.
Apple
However, if you want more memory or storage, the other Mac Mini M4 models are also on sale. You can get 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD for $690, down from $799. Then there’s the option for 24GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD at $890, down from $999. Plus, if you want to bundle in three years of AppleCare+, each model ends up being about $100 cheaper than normal.
Popular tourist cities such as Barcelona are renowned for high levels of pickpocketing, but it’s not Spain that tops the list as the prime location for this slick-fingered crime. Despite pickpocketing being the biggest crime problem – especially for tourists – in the city of Barcelona the issue is widespread across Europe and other continents, and one European holiday spot is the “worst” for light-fingered thieving.
In areas popular with visitors, tourists must be hyper-aware of their belongings, particularly in airports, train stations, the metro, and hotel lobbies or even when wandering around certain streets. UK-based travel insurance company Quotezone.co.uk said last year that it had identified where travellers were most at risk of falling victim to pickpockets, singling out a destination frequented by 3.5million Brits annually. Tourists have backed up the research with reviews on one particular visitor’s hotspot warning of “a lot of pickpockets in the area”.
Data collected by Quotezone revealed that Italy was the prime location where tourists are prone to be parted from their possessions by slick-fingered thieves.
Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain has been highlighted as a troublesome spot for pickpocketing, the landmark has over 100,000 reviews – and hundreds of references to “pickpockets” on TripAdvisor.
As a place that gets crowded in spring through to summer, visitors are warned to “be careful” at this “beautiful” Rome landmark.
One TripAdvisor reviewer wrote: “You have to elbow your way to the front of the fountain. Many people gather in front and sit for hours, so sitting is almost impossible.
“We didn’t spend more than 15 minutes. Be aware of pick pockets, as you are body to body in front and around the fountain.”
Another visitor reviewing on TripAdvisor described a “beautiful fountain” but added that the area was “extremely crowded”, warning others to “beware of this area” due to “lots of scams and pick pockets”.
The research by Quotezone ranked Italy as the top hotspot for pickpockets, this was closely followed by France, with the Eiffel Tower in Paris particularly highlighted by visitors.
Currently on Google reviews of the Eiffel Tower over 800 visitors mention pickpockets as an issue – and the area gets very saturated with tourists all-year-round.
One Google reviewer wrote about their visit, describing the Eiffel Tower as “enormous and breathtaking”, but there was also a warning.
The visitor wrote: “It’s a very popular place, so expect big crowds; people from all over the world gather here to admire the monument and take in the scenery.
“Because of that volume of visitors, be mindful of your belongings. Pickpockets operate in crowded tourist spots, and there are street hustles and game scammers who may try to distract you or pressure you into playing quick “games” that aren’t fair.
“Keep bags zipped and close, avoid carrying valuables in easily accessible pockets, and politely decline invitations from anyone hawking games or insisting you join impromptu activities.”
Quotezone’s full European pickpocketing index revealed Italy in the top spot, followed by France (second) and Spain in third place as “worst” based on mentions of “pickpockets” or “stolen” per million visitors.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers analysed the number of mentions of “pickpocketing” or “stolen” on traveler review websites for Europe’s top destinations against the number of visitors to that country.
Greg Wilson, founder and CEO Quotezone.co.uk, said: “Theft can happen anywhere, and tourist hotspots are convenient places for criminals to target holidaymakers’ wallets and purses while they are busy taking in the sites.”
“Many holidaymakers are unaware that some of the most popular destinations for Brits have some of the highest incidents of pickpocketing in Europe.
“Our research revealed some surprising results with Italy having the most pickpocketing mentions, yet France and Spain have much larger volumes of tourists.”
The director of Predator: Badlands has revealed how the Marvel Cinematic Universe will inspire the future of the iconic sci-fi franchise. Dan Trachtenberg‘sfirst contribution to the Predator series was Prey, the 2022 prequel that saw the monstrous alien fight a courageous Comanche warrior in the early 1700s. It was a widely acclaimed relaunch of the series, which many had thought to be dead after 2018’s The Predator had a mixed reception. Now, with the release of his third entry in the franchise, Trachtenberg’s vision seems to be bigger than ever, and the director is comparing it to that of the wildly successful superhero universe known as the MCU.
Predator: Badlands lands in theaters this Friday, and Trachtenberg is currently staying busy with the promotion tour. Talking to Comic Book, he reveals that his outline for the Predator series is ambitious. The scale is yet to be determined, but the director teases his plan by comparing it to the Disney-owned MCU and its grand conclusion “where things collide”:
“In my mind, what made Avengers work was that it wasn’t the first MCU movie, and it wasn’t the second MCU movie. That we had spent time bonding with characters and their individual stories and making sure that those individual movies were cool and had interesting premises unto themselves. So if we were to ever do something where things collide, it would be after we’ve gotten to know and bonded with things in their own individual stories.”
Trachtenberg also addressed being called the “Kevin Feige” of the Predator franchise, a title he takes with much pride. Curiously, he mentions he’s made “a couple of good Predator movies” and hopes for a “third.” The question is, hasn’t he made three solidPredator movies already with Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers, and Predator: Badlands? His words:
“I take that as a compliment because I think Kevin Feige is a genius and what he created is unprecedented in the history of cinema. I’ve just made a couple of good Predator movies so far, and hoping for a third. So yeah, we’ll see how that turns out.”
Reigniting the ‘Predator’ Franchise With an Awesome Spin
Thia and Dek in Predator Badlands20th Century Studios
The Predator franchise has been active since 1987, when John McTiernan delivered a gripping introduction to an iconic alien with megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead. However, things didn’t get better from there. Predator 2 did not receive great reviews, and the alien warrior took a break until 2010. Nimród Antal’s Predators successfully brought back the action of the original, but failed to live up to expectations, and 2018’s The Predator met a similar fate.
However, Trachtenberg took the formula and gave it its own spin — not once, not twice, but three times. Predator: Badlands is yet to be released, but the previews tease yet another fascinating twist in the Predator series. This time, the Predator itself isn’t all that bad, and he has teamed up with an android in order to fight another even mightier monster. It seems that the future of the Predator franchise lies in adding some spice to the formula and avoiding the mistakes of previous entries. And that’s something that Trachtenberg has proven himself talented at.
Release Date
November 5, 2025
Runtime
107 minutes
Producers
Brent O’Connor, John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt
Marvel’supcoming ARMAGEDDON event is expected to be the biggest upheaval for the Avengersin over twenty years. Specifically, the publisher cited 2004’s Avengers: Disassembled as the closest equivalent to what it has in store for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and how consequential the new crossover is going to be for Marvel’s long-term future.
ARMAGEDDON is coming in 2026. Marvel is touting this as the end of an era for the Avengers and the wider Marvel Universe.
Marvel Armageddon teaser poster
So, if an era is ending, when did it begin? There are arguably a few different starting points for modern Marvel, but keep pulling that thread, and it unravels all the way back to Disassembled.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Disassembled!
Marvel Teases Its Upcoming “ARMAGEDDON” Event As The “Avengers: Disassembled” Of Its Day
Disassembled Changed Marvel Comics Back In 2004; Will ARMAGEDDON Do The Same In 2026?
Avengers #500 cover, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes flying into action
The Avengers premiered in 1963 as Marvel’s A-list superhero team-up book. 41 years later, the franchise reached a massive milestone, hitting the 500-issue mark. To celebrate, Marvel did something shocking: it tore the team apart from the inside out. An iconic Avenger (who we’ll name later), with the team since the 1960s, did what no Marvel villain ever could.
Disassembled was a major effort on Marvel’s part, a storyline that had ramifications in practically every corner of the Marvel Universe. It wasn’t the first of its kind, but in retrospect, Avengers: Disassembled was the prelude to Marvel’s current event-heavy era. In-universe, it kicked off a chain of narrative events that still has lasting consequences to this day.
Evoking Disassembled to set the tone for ARMAGEDDON is a deliberate move on Marvel’s part. It suggests that the plan for the series is to set the stage for the next five, or ten, or perhaps even twenty years of Marvel Comics. That makes it worth taking a closer look at how, exactly, Disassembled did this for the last two decades.
Marvel “Disassembled” The Avengers So The Franchise Could Be Revitalized Into Something New
The Current Era Of Avengers Started With Disassembled; It Ends With ARMAGEDDON
AVENGERS GROUP SHOT FROM DISASSEMBLED
Avengers: Disassembled is, of course, a play on the classic “Avengers assemble” rallying cry. During the course of its run, Disassembled lived up to its name and then some: characters were killed off, relationships were fractured, and the team’s long-time headquarters, Avengers Mansion, was completely leveled. It also served as the finale for the then-ongoing third volume of Avengers.
It is surprising to hear now, but following Disassembled, there was no main Avengers title until 2010. Disassembled spawned New Avengers and Young Avengers, but for years, these titles were meant to serve as replacements, rather than extensions. In Marvel lore, the team was officially disbanded for some time after the event.
The plot of Disassembled reverberated through the Marvel Universe like a shockwave. It led directly to Marvel’s next several major events, some of which had even more profound impacts on Marvel canon than Disassembled itself, but which were built on the Avengers event’s foundation. We are talking, of course, about what happened to the X-Men franchise next.
Seriously, major spoilers for Disassembled beyond this point!
Scarlet Witch’s Antagonistic Turn In “Avengers: Disassembled” Had A Profound Impact On X-Men History
Wanda’s Disassembled Role Precipitated 15 Years Of X-Men Lore
Scarlet Witch Avengers Disassembled Marvel
The apex of Avengers: Disassembled came when Scarlet Witch was revealed to be the source of the chaos engulfing the team. Traumatized by the loss of her children, Wanda had lost herself to grief, which then transmuted into a desire to punish her teammates, who she perceived as being responsible for her plight.
Wanda used her reality-warping powers to cause Tony Stark to relapse after years of sobriety; to send a phantom Kree war fleet to attack the Avengers, killing Hawkeye in the process; and to unleash a false-Ultron on the team, just to cite a few examples of the havoc she wreaked on the team.
Scarlet Witch’s dark turn in Disassembled did more than just take out Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In the follow-up House of M series, it led directly to Marvel’s controversial decision to reduce its mutant population by 99%. Wanda’s infamous “no more mutants” decree instigated the DeciMation-era, often considered X-Men’s low point.
Everything that happened in the X-Men franchise between 2005’s DeciMation and 2019’s Krakoan Era reboot was the product of Disassembled. In other words, fifteen years of X-Men stories were defined by an Avengers plotline. Which is why Marvel fans are already wondering: could similar happen again with ARMAGEDDON from 2026 onward?
“ARMAGEDDON” Is Still A Huge Mystery For Marvel Fans; “Disassembled” Is A Potential Blueprint
20 Years Later, Disassembled’s Impact Is Still Being Felt
In addition to its dramatic influence on X-Men, Avengers: Disassembled defined the next generation of Marvel stories at large, either directly, or indirectly, leading to the next decade’s worth of major events and plot developments. If nothing else, Disassembled set the stage for more and more events of its kind, arguably to the point where they have gone from exceptional to expected.
ARMAGEDDON is Marvel’s “next big thing,” but Marvel readers have long since become accustomed to “next big things.” The publisher’s nod to Disassembled indicates that it is serious about treating this like the closing chapter of the current Avengers era and starting a new, significantly different period for the franchise.
Of course, the title suggests that Marvel is once more ready to engage in some creative destruction before starting fresh. ARMAGEDDON is still firmly under wraps at Marvel, and until more details come to light, all readers can do is meditate on how it could truly be the Avengers: Disassembled of its time.
Demi Lovato earns her first No. 1 album on Billboard’s Top Dance Albums chart, as It’s Not That Deep opens at No. 1 on the Nov. 8-dated list.
Released Oct. 24 via DLG Recordings/Island/Republic Records, the set debuts with 31,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending Oct. 30, according to Luminate. It also debuts at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, becoming her ninth top 10, and at No. 2 on Top Album Sales and No. 4 on Vinyl Albums.
Here’s an updated look at Lovato’s history on the Billboard 200:
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Title, Peak Pos., Peak Date
Don’t Forget, No. 2, Oct. 11, 2008
Here We Go Again, No. 1, Aug. 8, 2009
Unbroken, No. 4, Oct. 8, 2011
Demi, No. 3, June 1, 2013
Confident, No. 2, Nov. 7, 2015
Tell Me You Love Me, No. 3, Oct. 21, 2017
Dancing With the Devil…The Art of Starting Over, No. 2, April 17, 2021
Holy Fvck, No. 7, Sept. 3, 2022
Revamped, No. 60, Sept. 30, 2023
It’s Not That Deep, No. 9, Nov. 8, 2025
It’s Not That Deep is Lovato’s first album to appear on Billboard’s Top Dance Albums chart. One song from the project, “Let You Go,” also debuts at No. 10 on Hot Dance/Pop Songs. It’s the third song from the LP to debut on the chart, following “Fast” (No. 8 peak in August) and “Here All Night” (No. 13 peak in September).
Before Billboard launched its Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart earlier this year, Lovato charted four other songs on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs: “No Promises” (Cheat Codes featuring Lovato in 2017), “Instructions” (Jax Jones featuring Lovato and Stefflon Don in 2017), “Solo” (Clean Bandit featuring Lovato in 2018) and “OK Not to Be OK” with Marshmello (2020).
Lovato has an even more robust history on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, charting 14 songs at the format in her career, including four top 10s: “Cool For the Summer,” “No Promises,” “Sorry Not Sorry” and “OK Not to Be OK.”
If you’re not already full of the holiday spirit, MeTV Toons is ready to help you get there, with hours of Christmas cartoons every Saturday and Sunday from now until December 21, 2025! On weekend evenings, starting at 6pm EST on Saturdays and 5pm EST on Sundays, viewers can sit down to Christmas classics featuring your favorite toon stars, including Yogi Bear, the Flinstones, the Smurfs, Casper, the Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Bugs Bunny and more. Relive your favorite ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s holiday memories, as part of MeTV’s special holiday programming lineup, running all November and December.
Cystic fibrosis sufferers living fuller lives thanks to NHS miracle pills have told us of the hidden health complications no-one talks about in a new awareness campaign. New data from the CF Trust charity says with 11,300 sufferers, more Britons than ever before are living with the cruel genetic condition which can clog the lungs with sticky mucus.
During lockdown the Express helped secure life saving CF drugs Kaftrio, Orkambi and Symkevi on the NHS – with a deal last July agreed between US pharma giant Vertex and NHS England for new miracle pill Alyftrek. But as Alyftrek deals were also agreed in Wales and Northern Ireland on Monday, the CF Trust fears public understanding of the rare disease’s other complications like gut issues and diabetes remain worryingly low.
And sufferers have told the Express how the “life-long, life-limiting” condition that affects the whole body still requires multiple daily treatments and therapies just to stay well – 24/7, 365 days-a-year.
Almost one third of sufferers also battle CF diabetes (CFD), where the pancreas is prevented from producing insulin properly due to inflammation and the build-up of mucus.
We first featured CF diabetes patient Annabelle Brown, aged 20, in May 2019 when she told us how she was studying an MSc in biochemistry – as her childhood dream was to find a cure for her devastating genetic disorder.
Now aged 26 and a mum to 10 month-old baby Florence with partner Tom, 27, Annabelle described her life with CF and CFD as like “constantly being on a roller coaster.”
Annabelle, of Camberley, Surrey, who now works at Frimley Park Hospital in their testing labs, explained: “Sometimes the roller coaster is going up and you end up going really high and that makes you feel ill.
“Sometimes it goes really low and that makes you feel ill. And then sometimes you’re straight in the middle, which is great, but that doesn’t happen all the time.
“The difficulty with CFD is the unpredictability of it. It’s treated like type 1 diabetes, but because of the mechanisms that underlie it, I could eat the exact same thing one day and have an amount of insulin, and I’d be fine.
“And then I can eat the exact same thing another day and have the same amount of insulin and be off, because sometimes our bodies do release insulin and sometimes, they don’t.”
Annabelle says Florence, who does not have CF, has been a blessing but she has found life hard raising her while keeping her own health, CF and diabetes all in check.
CF sufferers’ average life expectancy has soared from 56 to 64 in just two years, thanks to wonder drugs the Daily Express helped secure on the NHS.
In 1997 the average life expectancy for CFers born that year was 31 and in 2010 it was 39 years – but in recent years it has soared from 56 to 64, more than double that of 27 years ago.
She added: “Running around after the baby, my control isn’t as good. CF is also a mentally a burden. There are the hidden factors of CF.
“I’ve been diagnosed with depression and anxiety because there’s always been like a bit of a stop clock above my head since I found out CF can shorten your life expectancy.
“And even though it has increased, it’s obviously still not as long as the general population would probably live.
“Now having a baby and starting a family, I’m more aware of creating memories in case my life is not as long. I want to give Florence the full life she deserves.”
She also thinks more employers need to be educated on CF so they can fully support any employer who may have it.
Cambridge University Forensic science student Margot Clark, 21, has CF and also Distal Intestinal Obstruction Syndrome (DIOS), a gastrointestinal symptom of the genetic condition.
She told us: “My day-to-day life consists of loads of medication, rest, snack breaks and Creon for digestion.
“I’ve been really lucky to not have any chest treatments as my lungs are fantastic, but I still have around 30 tablets of Creon and 20 tablets for other treatments every day – this really surprises people.
“Explaining CF is difficult for me without comparing it to other, more common conditions to draw examples from. As a result, I think people underestimate how complex CF can be, and how difficult it can make day to day life.
“Growing up I realised that on the outside, I looked healthy, and this made it difficult for others to ‘see’ the CF I was describing – especially when I was energetic and leaping around hockey pitches.
“If I could educate everybody in the UK in one go, I’d show them what both a good and bad day looks like in my life.”
Explaining her DIOS she added: “It is actually more common than people realize it is with CF patients. My guess is that about half of us suffer from DIOS at least. Essentially the pancreas is not producing the enzymes we need.
“It can cause a very dangerous, painful and severe form of constipation. It can get dangerous very quickly, and that’s why a lot of people don’t really talk about it.
“The biggest thing I’d talk about is awareness, because people really don’t realise what it is. When people think of CF, they don’t think of the stomach, they think of the chest. It’s very misunderstood.”
On Monday, Wales and Northern Ireland joined England by agreeing deals with Vertex for next-generation drug Alyftrek. Scotland is assessing Alyftrek through their own, separate process.
Alyftrek (also known as the ‘Vanza Triple’) is a new once-a-day triple combination modulator drug that can help some of the 10 percent of CF patients who are unable to take Kaftrio – as well as the 90 per cent of sufferers who can.
David Ramsden, Cystic Fibrosis Trust Chief Executive, said: “People with CF live with a 24 hour a day, 365 day-a-year life-limiting condition that affects the whole body and impacts every part of their lives.
“We’re funding vital research to understand and treat the symptoms of CF throughout the body, and providing information and support to enable people with CF to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
“With NHS budgets under strain, it’s critical that specialist, multi-disciplinary CF teams have the resources needed to respond to the complex and changing needs of a CF population. We won’t stop until everyone with CF can live a life unlimited by the condition.”
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For a show that became such a big pop cultural hit, “Gilligan’s Island” had a somewhat fraught history. For one thing, the pilot episode didn’t even air after CBS decided Ginger, Mary Ann, and the Professor needed to be recast. That particular network interference turned out to be for the best, however, as Tina Louise, Dawn Wells (who passed away in 2020), and Russell Johnson proved to be much better suited to their characters than their predecessors. Removing the island from a show called “Gilligan’s Island,” on the other hand, has to be one of the most misguided network suggestions in TV history.
When creator Sherwood Schwartz first pitched his idea for the beloved sitcom, it wasn’t exactly met with resounding enthusiasm. Even the writer’s agent wasn’t convinced, telling his client, “Who the hell is gonna watch the same g**damn seven people on the same g**damn island every week?” as Schwartz recalled”
But the island wasn’t really the point of the show. Instead, as Schwartz explained to the Archive of American Television, it was much more about seemingly disparate and mismatched people being placed in a situation where they were forced to interact and get along. “Everybody is a human being,” he said, “and that’s at the basis of most of my thinking. All my shows, actually. How do people learn to get along with each other?” With that in mind, Schwartz conceived of his island setting as a way of forcing his characters from various backgrounds into a shared social situation.
But it seems CBS was initially unconvinced. In his 2011 book “Inside Gilligan’s Island: From Creation to Syndication,” Schwartz recounted the trouble he had after it became clear that the network’s television president, James T. Aubrey, wasn’t a fan of the show’s premise.
The CBS Television president wanted to send Gilligan on his travels
CBS
In “Inside Gilligan’s Island,” Sherwood Schwartz recounts attending a meeting with James T. Aubrey, CBS President Frank Stanton, and Board Chairman William S. Paley. According to the “Gilligan’s Island” creator, despite being surrounded by two of the most influential people at CBS, Aubrey spent much of his time throwing paper airplanes around the office as if he could act however he pleased with impunity. Why? Well, as Schwartz saw it, it was all a way to convey just how much he disliked the “Gilligan’s Island” premise.
“Was Mr. Aubrey trying to tell me something?” he wrote. “Although this was Mr. Paley and Dr. Stanton’s first exposure to the concept of ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ Mr. Aubrey and I had discussed the show many times. And we had a major disagreement.” That disagreement came down to the fact that, as Schwartz remembered it, Aubrey wanted the show to break out from the island that Schwartz had so carefully envisioned as a venue for bridging the divide between characters. “Mr. Aubrey loved the idea of Gilligan, the Skipper, and their little charter boat,” he continued, “but he wanted me to call the series ‘Gilligan’s Travels.'”
In Schwartz’s recollection, Aubrey’s version of the show would have begun with an episode set on the titular isle, but in succeeding episodes, “Gilligan, the Skipper, and the rebuilt S.S. Minnow would take other passengers on other trips to other places.” This travelogue version of the sitcom might well have seemed to Aubrey like it had more mass appeal, but it directly undermined its creator’s intent, and Schwartz stood firm.
The Gilligan’s Island theme song saved it from becoming a travel show
CBS
A sitcom about characters from different social backgrounds forming relationships was more than just light comedy to Sherwood Schwartz. As the show creator said during his Archive of American Television interview, “They had to get along with each other. That was the idea of the show, and it’s the most important idea in the world today. For people who toss away the show as just a silly broad comedy, it’s deeper than that.” As such, the writer wasn’t about to let anyone, including the CBS Television president, upend the entire premise of “Gilligan’s Island.”
As Schwartz recalled in his book, James T. Aubrey’s opinion was that the desert island premise “would need an enormous amount of explanation each week, expository scenes to explain why this group of people was marooned on the island.” He continued, “Exposition is the most deadly obstacle to entertainment, whether it’s a comedy show or a dramatic show.” But when you’ve got one of the best TV theme songs of all time, you don’t need exposition, and it was this that ultimately allowed Schwartz to keep his version of the sitcom.
To alleviate Aubrey’s concern about the exposition, Schwartz reassured him that the show’s theme song would be all viewers needed to get their bearings. “There would be no need for exposition,” he wrote. “Because the opening song would tell the story in an entertaining way.” But as Schwartz went on to note, in 1963, “few TV themes had ever been used for this purpose.” Still, Aubrey was a fan of the Gilligan and Skipper characters, which likely played into his eventual decision to let “Gilligan’s Island” be “Gilligan’s Island.”
