MacGilligan

There were two shows I watched in my youth that offered a great possibility for transposition of characters. These shows were "Gilligan's Island" and "MacGyver".

Gilligan's Island had the professor, who could build all kinds of stuff out of raw materials on the island. "Hey Skipper, look! I fashioned a radio out of this coconut." "Hey Ginger, I made an X-ray machine out of some plankton and palm fronds." Yeah, all that stuff is great, but how useful is it? Why can't you use some "wood" and fix the hole in the boat?

Now, MacGyver on the other hand, was always Johnny-on-the-spot. He would have 20 minutes to prevent terrorists from using the stolen helicopter to blow up the White House, and he'd use some chewing gum, a paper clip, and a fingernail-full of earwax to build a bomb with a 19-minute timer. Problem solved.

If the Professor was in McGyver's position, the world would have ended about halfway through the first episode. "Professor, we need to stop the terrorists from blowing up the world!" And the Professor would use a lobster shell and some pebbles to make a toaster.

If McGyver was on Gilligans Island, that hole in the boat would have been fixed. Not immediately though, because first Ginger and Maryann would have gotten pregnant. Oh, and that pompous Mr. Howell would have accidentally stepped on a land mine made from chewing gum and paper clips.