The "Lost" Pilot Episode - The "lost" pilot, as it is known, was not seen by the general public (you and I) until October 16, 1992, when Turner Broadcasting dug it out of the vault, and gave us our first look! Back in 1964, when the CBS Executives viewed the Pilot Episode, they liked what they saw enough to buy the series and put it on their Network. However, for some reason, they also decided to recast three of the parts. In the Pilot Episode, Kit Smythe had played the part of Ginger, John Gabriel was the high school teacher known as "the Professor," and Nancy McCarthy played a secretary named Bunny. By the time the series premiered with "Two on a Raft" on September 26, 1964, the cast as we knew them was in place. The addition of Russell Johnson (as the Professor), Dawn Wells (as Mary Ann), and Tina Louise (as Ginger) gave us the seven castaways that we have all come to know and love.
