F is for : Fantasy Island!!

Smiles everyone....smiles! My dear guests, I am Mr. Rourke....your host....welcome to Fantasy Island!!

Before I "discovered" girls and going out on Saturday nights, this show was a staple of my Saturday evening, "must see", t.v. viewing along with The Love Boat.

A very interesting show that featured the enigmatic Mr. Rourke, played by the great Ricardo (Khaaaannnnnnnn!!) Montelban and his trusty sidekick, Tattoo (Herve' Vilachez). Each week Tattoo would run up the tower to ring a bell as the seaplane approached shouting, "De Plane, de plane!"

Each week, the mysterious Mr. Rourke would host a different set of guest stars and make their fantasies come true. Many times, though, the guest's fantasies weren't everything they expected. It seemed as if Mr. Rourke (or just "Rourke" to his friends) had some sort of mystical powers that was touched on in quite a few episodes. This element was highlighted more when ABC revived the show in the 90s with Malcom McDowell in the lead.

I think the thing I liked the best about Fantasy Island was that, like some stories about genies and three wishes, the fantasies never seemed to work out like the guests wanted, but did work out for their benefit in the end. There was, usually, some sort of life lesson that Mr. Rourke would try to teach though, for the most part, he always warned that he was forbidden to interfere. Now, whether that was self imposed, or not, we never knew.

Just like The Love Boat, Fantasy Island was a vehicle to showcase numerous guest stars, each week.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this show was the pseudo-supernatural aspect of some of the episodes. You never quite knew just what to think in terms of who, exactly, Mr. Roarke was. Angel, devil, deity?

Who knew?

In the end, though, it was a fun (if not formulaic) show asked one of my favorite questions each week.....

What if?

Honorable Mentions:  Fawlty Towers, The Fall Guy, Firefly

Tune in tomorrow to see what happens when a getting super powers isn't all it's cracked up to be...