Gilligan and his fellow castaways are out of the vault and back on television: MeTV Toons has returned the animated series The New Adventures of Gilligan to its schedule, giving viewers another way to see a vintage spin-off that had been largely confined to DVD sets. The move brings a piece of 1970s Saturday-morning animation into a channel dedicated to classic cartoons, and it may introduce the series to a new generation of viewers.
MeTV Toons — a channel that curates older animated programs — added the series to its Sunday evening lineup late last month. The network, carried on platforms such as DirecTV, Dish, Fubo and Flio as well as some cable packages, bills itself as a destination for “classic animation,” and the Gilligan spinoff now sits alongside other vintage titles on the schedule.
The original live-action Gilligan’s Island debuted in the mid-1960s and ran for multiple seasons, eventually producing nearly 100 episodes. Its animated successor arrived in the 1970s as a Saturday-morning series; that spinoff lasted for two seasons and about two dozen episodes before leaving the air in October 1975. MeTV Toons is now airing those animated installments again, restoring regular broadcasts that fans haven’t seen on linear TV in decades.
For viewers wondering where and when to tune in, MeTV Toons has placed the series in a late-evening slot on Sundays. This weekend’s scheduled showing is the episode titled “Raven Mad,” listed for Sunday at 11:30 p.m. ET. Prior to this reintroduction, the animated series was most commonly available only through physical media.
- What’s airing: The New Adventures of Gilligan (animated spinoff)
- When: Sundays, late evening; next broadcast — “Raven Mad” at 11:30 p.m. ET
- Where to watch: MeTV Toons on DirecTV, Dish, Fubo, Flio and select cable providers
- Context: Original live-action series (1964–1967) produced 98 episodes; animated spinoff ran in the mid-1970s for roughly 24 episodes
The revival is part of a broader programming slate that includes well-known animated franchises such as The Jetsons and Sonic the Hedgehog, along with series like The Real Ghostbusters. For nostalgia-driven audiences and collectors, the return of the spinoff to linear TV restores an easy way to rewatch episodes without purchasing discs; for younger viewers it offers a chance to discover a quirky corner of television history.
MeTV Toons’ decision also reflects a growing appetite among networks for archive material that can fill niche schedules while attracting dedicated fanbases. Whether the channel will expand airings or rotate episodes more frequently remains to be seen, but for now the catalog’s reappearance on the airwaves means the Professor, Gilligan, Mary Ann and the rest of the island crew are once again visible on TV screens across the country.
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