CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH

CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH

General Mills, Inc.

            Cinnamon? Check. Sugar? Check. Part of a complete breakfast? Check.

The original 1984 packaging.

            Hitting shelves in 1984, General Mills and Nestle's Cinnamon Toast Crunch (CTC) was a cereal designed to invoke the taste of cinnamon toast (hence the name). The cereal has been produced in square flake form since its inception, gaining only the addition of brown sugar swirls in 1995 that prompted the marketing slogan “The taste you can see.” In 2014, for the cereal’s 30^th anniversary, the cereal began being promoted as having “now more of the cinnamon taste you love.”

 

            In 1986, the cereal featured three chef mascots who would each take a turn saying part of the cereal’s name in commercials. Wendell was the eldest, having white hair, a jolly grandpa appearance and glasses. His other two cohorts were never officially named by the company, but had gained the names Bob and Quello by fans that seemed to have unofficially stuck (Wendell’s name was revealed on a 1990 box). Bob was the youngest of the group, with black hair and a stocky build. Quello, who seemed to be the next-ranking chef after Wendell, was tall and thin with brown hair. The three of them adorned the boxes of cereal and commercials until 1991 when, after consumer feedback, General Mills decided to retire the two younger chefs and made Wendell the sole mascot everywhere the cereal was sold outside of Europe. 

The Crazy Squares: so good, they eat themselves.

Over the years, Wendell’s prominence in the commercials began to steadily decline as the ads turned to more gimmicky means to attract attention to the cereal, especially in the adult market. He did, however, remain on the box before new mascots were introduced in 2009: the Crazy Squares. The Crazy Squares were a group of anthropomorphic CTC pieces that found their own taste so irresistible. They were basically portrayed as cannibals always trying to eat each other with the slogan “Crave those crazy squares.” Eventually, they replaced Wendell entirely on all CTC marketing.

The Toast cereal family.

1995 saw the debut of CTC’s first spinoff cereal, French Toast Crunch, which lasted until 2006 when it was discontinued. Constant fan outcry led to a comeback in December of 2014. 2003 saw the limited edition release of Monopoly Cereal, which added marshmallows to the CTC formula that resembled the pieces found in the Monopoly board game. In 2004, Peanut Butter Toast Crunch was introduced, adding a peanut butter flavor to the CTC squares. It was discontinued for a time but revived in 2013, complete with Wendell on its packaging. However, Wendell did make a return appearance the year prior when they introduced Frosted Toast Crunch, which added a vanilla flavor to the CTC squares. In 2013, Chocolate Toast Crunch was introduced, giving a chocolate flavor to the cereal squares. For the 2014 holiday season, a limited edition cereal called Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch was released, giving the cereal a sugar cookie taste. The Crazy Squares promoted that one. For the 30^th anniversary, General Mills partnered with Tastemade to create cinnamon-inspired recipes by chefs.

The cereal is currently available worldwide, produced by Nestle. In the United Kingdom, it was produced under the name Cinnamon Grahams before eventually becoming Curiously Cinnamon. In French Canada, it’s known as Croque-Cannelle. A variant with a different taste known as Cini Minis is available in other European countries. 

GILLIGAN'S PLANET

 

GILLIGAN’S PLANET

(CBS, September 18, 1982-September 3, 1983)

Filmation Associates

MAIN CAST:

Bob Denver – Gilligan

Alan Hale, Jr. – Skipper Jonas Grumby

Jim Backus – Thurston Howell, III

Natalie Schafer – Eunice Lovelle “Lovey” Wentworth Howell

Russell Johnson – Professor Roy Hinkley, Ph.D.
Dawn Wells – Ginger Grant, Mary Ann Summers

With 1960s sitcom Gilligan’s Island doing well in syndicated rerun ratings, the time was ripe to cash in on its new popularity with an animated series. The New Adventures of Gilligan was commissioned by ABC and produced by Filmation, featuring the return of all the sitcom’s actors except for Dawn Wells, who had another commitment at the time, and Tina Louise, who was trying to distance herself from the role she felt damaged her career. After two seasons, the cartoon was cancelled by ABC when the network severed all ties with Filmation over the failure of Uncle Croc’s Block.

Promotional still of the castaways from Rescue from Gilligan's Island with the Professor, Thurston Howell, Lovey Howell
the Skipper, Gilligan, the new Ginger and Mary Ann.

In the meantime, Dusty's Trail premiered in 1973 as a western-themed reworking of the Gilligan concept, starring Gilligan himself Bob Denver in the title role as the Gilligan-like Dusty. The other characters were all analogues of the other castaways. The series only lasted a single season in syndication. Three made-for-television Gilligan movies were commissioned by NBC. Beginning with 1978’s Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, the castaways ended up rescued but then later stranded once again on the same island. In 1979, The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island was intended to be the pilot for a new series with the castaways hosting tour groups on the island after it was converted into a resort by Howell, however it fell through and was later recycled as the plot for short-lived series Aloha Paradise. Louise was replaced by Judith Baldwin in both films. 1981’s The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island featured the Globetrotters helping the castaways thwart two villains from taking over the island to get a rare element. Constance Forslund played Ginger that time, with David Ruprecht standing in for Howell as his son, Thurston Howell IV (despite it being established the Howells were childless). Backus, in poor health at the time, made a brief appearance at the end.

 

The rocket that "saved" the castaways from Gilligan's Island.

In 1982, producer Lou Scheimer pitched a revival animated series to creator Sherwood Schwartz, and it was sold to Gilligan’s original home of  CBS. The castaways traded an island for a strange planet when The Professor (Russell Johnson) managed to cobble together a working spaceship on the island in order to get them off once and for all. Unfortunately, something went wrong and the ship crash landed on an unknown planet, leaving them stranded once again. The show basically followed the same formula as the two previous series, replacing island themes for intergalactic ones. The same character models were used from The New Adventures of Gilligan with the sitcom actors once again reprising their roles, and Gilligan was given a new animal sidekick in the form of Bumper, a reptilian alien. The key difference between the shows was that Dawn Wells was able to reprise her role as well as assume that of Ginger, replacing Jane Webb from the previous animated attempt.

The castaways in animated form.

Gilligan’s Planet debuted on September 18, 1982. The series was written by Marc Richards, Tom Ruegger, Robby London and Paul Dini with music by Ray Ellis (as Yvette Blais). Filmation co-founder Hal Sutherland returned from semi-retirement to direct the entire series. The show only ran for a single season of 13 episodes before being cancelled.

Comic book ad for CBS' Starcade Saturday Morning, 1982-83.

            The series is notable for being the last one Filmation made for the Saturday morning market, choosing instead to focus on syndication due to declining network interest in their product, and the last to use Charley Douglass’ adult laugh track as the practice had been phased out by then. It was also the first to feature executive producer Scheimer’s signature-style credit, replacing the rotating Scheimer/Norm Prescott credit as co-founder Norm Prescott went into retirement over previous bad experiences with their new parent company, Group W. “Let Sleeping Minnows Lie” was the only episode released on VHS until Warner Archive released the entire series to DVD in 2014.

            The same year as the cartoon, the full cast reunited for the first time on Good Morning America with host Kathy Lee Gifford (although Backus had to do so from a remote feed). The cast reunited one last time, along with Gilligan creator Sherwood Schwartz, in 1988 on The Late Show with Ross Shafer. In 1987, Bob Denver, Alan Hale, Johnson and Wells all guest-starred on ALF as dark versions of their characters in a dream sequence. Denver and Wells would return for another dream in a 1992 episode of Baywatch while Denver would don the costume again for a 1991 promotional flyer for the Bally/Midway pinball machine based on the original show. In 1995, the characters of Roseanne played the characters of Gilligan in a fantasy sequence, with Louise, Denver, Johnson and Wells appearing at the end as their Roseanne counterparts along with Schwartz as the episode's writer. In 1997, Denver, Johnson and Wells again reprised their roles for the short-lived sitcom Meego. The three of them also participated in the 2001 docudrama, Surviving Gilligan’s Island.

Hale who so loved his role, would continue to appear as The Skipper at his restaurant, Alan Hale’s Lobster Barrel, and would even wear the full costume when he and cast mates appeared on celebrity Family Feud episodes. Wells would go on to publish Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook with Ken Beck and Jim Clark, as well as star as “Lovey” Howell in the stage adaptation Gilligan’s Island: The Musical.

EPISODE GUIDE:

“I Dream of Genie” (9/18/82) – Gilligan finds himself with a magic lamp and three wishes.

“Turnabout is Fair Play” (9/25/82) – A prank war begins between Gilligan and the Skipper.

“Let Sleeping Minnows Lie” (10/2/82) – The Professor builds a spaceship out of their huts and sends the castaways hurtling into space.

“Journey to the Center of Gilligan’s Planet” (10/9/82) – The Professor suggests the castaways explore their new planet.

“Amazing Colossal Gilligan” (10/16/82) – Gilligan falls into a radioactive crater and turns into a giant.

“Bumper to Bumper” (10/23/82) – Gilligan organizes a search party for the missing Bumper.

“Road to Boom” (10/30/82) – Mary Ann can’t get the courage to tell Gilligan she likes him.

“Too Many Gilligans” (11/6/82) – Gilligan accidentally drinks the Professor’s cloning serum.

“Space Pirates” (11/13/82) – Gilligan must save the castaways from space pirates.

“Invaders of the Lost Birque” (11/20/82) – The castaways become addicted to an old intergalactic board game.

“Wings” (11/27/82) – Gilligan claims an angel saved him from a crater, but only Mary Ann believes him.

“Super Gilligan” (12/4/82) – A mystic sage gives Gilligan a cape that grants him super powers.

“Gilligan’s Army” (12/11/82) – Gilligan plays army with some robots he finds, but they accidentally become his ACTUAL army.

Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2020.