Edited for Syndication: The series was syndicated in two lengths - the original hour long version with two guests per episode, and a half hour version featuring only one guest. New York's WPIX-11 bought both versions in 1990 and ran them back to back as needed to fill random early 2AM - 6AM day parts after the late movie ended in the days before infomercials.
Hostility on the Set: Ricardo Montalbán and Hervé Villechaize did not get along, and this is fairly obvious when watching the show as Montalban made little attempt to conceal his irritation at Villechaize in their scenes together. Even reports sympathetic to Villechaize usually apportion the lion's share of the blame on him; he let his newfound stardom get to his head and saw himself as the show's true star as opposed to part of a double act with Montalban. This also led to Villechaize demanding equal pay with Montalban and, eventually, him being dismissed from the show.
Inspiration for the Work: Aaron Spelling admitted the original pitch was a joke. Spelling and production partner Leonard Goldberg were pitching ideas to ABC executive Brandon Stoddard. After the executive rejected all of their plans, at least six in all, Spelling blurted out: "What do you want? An island that people can go to and all of their sexual fantasies will be realized?" Stoddard loved the idea.
Real-Life Relative: Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows in "What's the Matter With Kids?".
Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Before production began on the seventh and final season, Hervé Villechaize was involved in a salary dispute. One big reason for this was that Villechaize (whose salary was $25,000 per episode) not only felt under-appreciated by his co-stars, but his wife Camille Hagen had divorced him; he therefore requested a salary on par with Ricardo Montalbán. Unfortunately for Villechaize, he was dropped from the series, which permanently stunted his career; offers dried up for him. This, combined with the chronic pain and health problems stemming from his congenital dwarfism, led him to commit suicide in 1993. Twenty-five years later, the last few days of Villechaize's life would be turned into the film My Dinner with Hervé, starring Peter Dinklage.
What Could Have Been: The network wanted Orson Welles for Mr. Roarke, but Spelling rejected him, knowing of his irritable nature on sets. He also rejected the idea of a sexy female sidekick to join Roarke and Tattoo.
Ironically, the sexy sidekick idea was used for the 1998 revival.
You Look Familiar: Wendy Schaal played different characters in two separate stories before returning the next year to play Tattoo substitute Julie.
It was quite common for guest stars to appear in two (or even three) episodes as completely different characters.
1998 Series
Keep Circulating the Tapes: After it got cancelled, the Syfy Channel re-ran it a bit in the 2000s before eventually stopping and the show was thought lost, with not even a DVD set to at least allow that fans of this version could re-watch it again. It wasn't until Tubi finally manage to gain the episodes and run it on their streaming platform that it saw the light of day once more.
Screwed by the Network: Was put on a Saturday night slot with barely much advertising and only lasted a season as a result.
