| Runtime: | approx. 50 minutes |
| Creator: | Richard L. Bare |
| Company: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television |
| Starring: | William Reynolds James Philbrook Diane Brewster |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | ABC |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 24 |
The Islanders is an American adventure drama series which aired on ABC from 1960 to 1961, starring William Reynolds, James Philbrook, and Diane Brewster.[1]
Stated a UPI article on September 20, 1960, "Basis of the show is a one-airplane airline run by the three principals in the lush East Indies. The men are soldiers of fortune and Diane [Brewster] plays a Dutch girl attempting to regain her family’s property."[2]
At the beginning of the series, Sandy Wade (Reynolds) and Zack Malloy (Philbrook), co-owners of a Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft, start their one-plane airline in the Moluccas or Spice Islands of the southwest Pacific Ocean. Throughout the series they experience a variety of adventures where seemingly harmless charter flights put them into danger. They are frequently aided in their endeavours by the unusually-named Wilhelmina "Steamboat Willy" Vanderveer (Brewster) and Shipwreck Callighan (Roy Wright).
"The boys get into lots of messes," said Brewster "and things aren't helped for them by the way I play one of them against the other in whatever romantic notions they have about me."[3]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
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William Reynolds stated in an interview, "The series went from being sort of like a Terry and the Pirates or a Maverick type of concept to becoming just a bunch of people skulking around. It wasn't very good."[4]
"We have a show that has all the meat and potatoes," said Reynolds during filming. "All it lacks is the gravy... we may be trying to place too much in a small screen."[5]
In February 1960 a plane carrying five crew members from Montego Bay to Miami crashed off the coast of Jamaica into the water. The men were Reynolds, Bare, Glenn Kirkpatrick, pilot Howard Smith and camera man George Schmidt.[6] All but Schmidt were picked out of the water.[7]
The Islanders, primarily sponsored by Liggett & Myers' Chesterfield cigarettes, aired at 9:30 Eastern time on Sunday evenings opposite The Jack Benny Program and Candid Camera on CBS and the second half of The Dinah Shore Show and the last season of The Loretta Young Show on NBC.
The Los Angeles Times said the show was like many other adventure series on ABC at the time (Hong Kong, Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye) and said "it did achieve a certain flavour with its tropical background" adding "if the series scores at all - and it does show some promise - it will largely be due to Reynolds."[8]