John Gabriel was a hunky Hollywood leading- man type, who originally landed the role of the Professor. He was a nice man, great to work with. All three actors were very good in their parts. After all, their work helped sell the pilot. This might make you wonder why they were let
go. Meddlesome interference from the networks is the answer to that one - always trying to 'fix' things. Their reasons for wanting changes were lame, but the producers were forced into
the recasting process anyway. You've gotta remember, these were the same network people who thought it would
be a really good idea if Gilligan had
a pet dinosaur. Somehow Sherwood managed to sidestep that one!

 

John Gabriel & Kit Smythe