VLVL2 (15): Gilligan's Island

[dedalus204 at comcast.net]

368.4:  "First time you ever noticed the Tube, remember, Frenesi?  A tiny thing, less than four months old -- 'Gilligan's Island' was on, Prairie, and your eyes may've been a little unfocused yet, but you sat there, so serious, and watched the whole thing -- [...]"


The Ballad of Gilligan's Island (Theme Song)
by George Wyle and Sherwood Shwartz 

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day,
for a three hour tour, a three hour tour………
The weather started getting rough,
the tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
the Minnow would be lost; the Minnow would be lost.
The ship took ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
with Gilligan, the Skipper too,
the Millionaire, and his Wife,
the Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann,
here on Gilligan's Isle.

http://home.mn.rr.com/classictv/Gilligan'sThemeSong.html


Of all the TV sitcoms to choose from (most of which with catchy theme songs), why would Pynchon choose to have Prairie become smitten with this particular song?  Isolation?  Rescue?  Cartoonish reality?  Coconuts, perhaps?