The Love Boat - General Discussion

[LaylaGirl]

Gavin MacLeod died today at the age of 90. I recently discovered that "The Love Boat" is on Paramount+ and it has been my most recent "comfort tv." I'm going to watch an episode tonight and have drink in memory of our favorite Captain.

 

[Feech]

Rest in peace Captain Stubbing as you go to the big Lido deck in the sky!

You will be missed!

Edited June 3, 2021 by Feech

[BetterButter]

 

[SnarkShark]

I'm currently watching the last episode of The Love Boat.  I've never seen it before.

I have to say, its MEGA weird.  I mean, outright bizarre. 

It starts differently from every other episode I've ever seen.  With folks off the ship.  It has the usual array of guest stars, but they're all essentially part of the same plot, not different ones (they have individual ones that dovetail).  A rich but reclusive guy brings them all onto the ship with free tickets through a fake travel agency, under the guise of a contest none of them entered.   Except for one lady, who KNOWS she's going on the ship because of him, because she arrived at his office for an attempt at an earlier business meeting and even though he was willing to go into business with her, he wouldn't physically meet with her. Her visit to the ship appears to be because he later invited her. 

It's got Marion Ross as an actual cast member.  I'm thinking she probably was for ALL of these final ones, and I just didn't recall it though.  Her plotline is actually the hilariously reflexive one that she's got no idea what to do on these cruises (as the Captain's wife). So her plot is basically identical to the actresses own problem with such an extraneous role. 

Weirdest of all, in addition to the normal guest stars, it seems to have about a dozen mid-range celebrities of the time on the cruiuse, playing themselves.  Even though pretty much all of them have previously been on the show as other people.   Well, except it also has Florence Henderson and Robert Reed cameoing as Carol and Mike Brady, and NOT themselves.  Edit - When Wally, Beaver and their Mom later appeared, in character, it finally became obvious there are cameos of celebs as themselves OR as their famous TV characters, all in the same show.

I'm only about twenty minutes in of ninety. I wonder if it gets weirder?  Showkiller Ted McGinley is almost the most normal thing so far.  I mean Isaac has a blue jacket instead of a red one.  How weird is THAT?  

 

Edit - It did.  Two scenes after I posted the above, we get a scene of Marion Ross, as the Captain's bored wife Emily, playing Ping Pong with Tom Bosley. Soooooo weird.  His character's name is "Howard Fister".   And I just realized there have to be a ton of cameos I'm not even recognizing.  Immediately after that, two ladies at the bar make a weird joke about how "Father Knows best".  It's obvious they have to be from that show (which I've never watched).

Edited December 3, 2021 by SnarkShark

[Maverick]

 That was and wasn't the last episode of the series.  The show ended after nine seasons, but the following season they did 4 or 5 movie of the week specials.   Gopher was gone but Julie was back.   Who Killed Maxwell Thorn was the final one of those specials.  I'm assuming they knew that and that's why there was the parade of cameos from actors from TV's past.  They had all appeared on The Love Boat in the past (many multiple times).

 The two women from Father Knows Best were Jane Wyatt and Elanor Donahue.   That interaction with Marion Ross and Tom Bosley isn't their weirdest one on the show.   Early in season nine, they play a married couple (but not the Cunninghams) in a plot involving Andy Warhol of all people where her character had been in an arty film produced by Warhol and she was afraid her husband would out.  This was a different character than Emily, who showed up at the end of the same season.  

[Egg McMuffin]

Carol Channing, who guest starred several times as Julie’s Aunt Sylvia, has a funny cameo in the final episode. She’s coming on board again, but when she finds out that Maxwell Thorn is on the ship, she denounces him, refuses to be on the same cruise with him, and storms off.

[SnarkShark]

21 hours ago, Maverick said:

 That was and wasn't the last episode of the series.  The show ended after nine seasons, but the following season they did 4 or 5 movie of the week specials.   Gopher was gone but Julie was back.   Who Killed Maxwell Thorn was the final one of those specials.  I'm assuming they knew that and that's why there was the parade of cameos from actors from TV's past.  They had all appeared on The Love Boat in the past (many multiple times).

 The two women from Father Knows Best were Jane Wyatt and Elanor Donahue.   That interaction with Marion Ross and Tom Bosley isn't their weirdest one on the show.   Early in season nine, they play a married couple (but not the Cunninghams) in a plot involving Andy Warhol of all people where her character had been in an arty film produced by Warhol and she was afraid her husband would out.  This was a different character than Emily, who showed up at the end of the same season.  

Paramount Plus has "Who Killed Maxwell Thorn?" as the last episode, which is why I referred to it as such.    But Wikipedia lists an addional special a whole three years later (in 1990) called  "The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage".  

It sounds pretty bizarre too, from the description:

 

Quote

 

Valentine's Day episode, centered around a suspended police lieutenant trailing a group of jewel thieves and Captain Stubbing and Vicki mourning Emily's sudden death and eventually returning to Bermuda (where the Stubbings honeymooned) to find closure. Also: The new cruise director sets her eyes on a passenger who is a TV star, but another ship employee is interested in her. Doc has to care for the pregnant wife of the ship's chief executive.

Guest Stars: Steve Bond as Kirk, Tom Bosley as Lt. Logan, Julia Duffy as Myrna Foley, Roddy Piper as Maurice Steiger, Shanna Reed as Nina Morgan, Joe Regalbuto as Tony Blanchard, Ted Shackelford as Paul Royce, Kim Johnston Ulrich as Kelly

 

I'd almost guess this had to be filmed in 1987 like the others, but not aired until 1990, but Emily suddenly being dead sounds more like Marion Ross simply not being willing to come back years later. So you've got a Valentine's Day episode, where Stubbing's wife died.  Yeah, weird.  Plus HER other TV husband back AGAIN, but without her, as yet another character.

Honestly, I thought The Love Boat Mermaids were weird.  But these specials are WAY weirder.  I mean Roddy Piper guesting?  That ALONE is bizarre to the nth degree.   Since Paramount Plus doesn't admit this episode even exists, maybe its on YouTube or something. 

[SnarkShark]

Apparently, Love Boat: The Next Wave had a sort of continuation too.  This ostensibly separate series apparently had one episode (Season 2, Episode 10--who even knew it lasted that long?) where the original crew, sans Gopher and lameass Ace, all returned.  Stubbing is married yet again, and is vice-president of the entire cruise line. 

[Egg McMuffin]

A Valentine Voyage was filmed three years later after they filmed the last two-hour ABC special, so it’s a reunion proper (unlike those three specials that aired the season after the regular series ended). It doesn’t have the same sets or even the same cast as the ABC specials - Ross, Ted McGinley, Fred Grandy, and Lauren Tewes are missing.

CBS ordered the Valentine special with an eye towards making it a recurring series of movies (TV movie franchises were big at that point, a la Perry Mason). And it was stocked with CBS stars like Ted Shackelford and Julia Duffy.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Kyle

[SnarkShark]

Just now, Kyle said:

A Valentine Voyage was filmed three years later after they filmed the last two-hour special, so it’s a reunion proper (unlike those three specials that aired the season after the regular series ended). Unlike those specials, it doesn’t have the same sets or even the same cast - Ross, Ted McGinley, Fred Grandy, and Lauren Tewes are missing.

CBS ordered the Valentine special with an eye towards making it a recurring series of movies (TV movie franchises were big at that point, a la Perry Mason). And it was stocked with CBS stars like Ted Shackelford and Julia Duffy.

Hmm.  It IS on YouTube.  Won't link it, but its easy to find. 

The Next Wave stuff with the original crew isn't up there in any form I could find.

[Egg McMuffin]

The sad thing about that Next Wave reunion episode is that since Gopher wasn’t there, they included a storyline where Julie and Doc reveal that they were in love all along. That was clearly supposed to be Julie and Gopher.

[SnarkShark]

9 minutes ago, Kyle said:

A Valentine Voyage was filmed three years later after they filmed the last two-hour special, so it’s a reunion proper (unlike those three specials that aired the season after the regular series ended). Unlike those specials, it doesn’t have the same sets or even the same cast - Ross, Ted McGinley, Fred Grandy, and Lauren Tewes are missing.

CBS ordered the Valentine special with an eye towards making it a recurring series of movies (TV movie franchises were big at that point, a la Perry Mason). And it was stocked with CBS stars like Ted Shackelford and Julia Duffy.

Joe Regalbuto in a dress, from the little I just saw.   Heh.

Also, The Sky Princess and almost as bad a redo of the theme as The Next Wave had. 

[Egg McMuffin]

2 hours ago, SnarkShark said:

Apparently, Love Boat: The Next Wave had a sort of continuation too.  This ostensibly separate series apparently had one episode (Season 2, Episode 10--who even knew it lasted that long?) where the original crew, sans Gopher and lameass Ace, all returned.  Stubbing is married yet again, and is vice-president of the entire cruise line. 

One nice touch from that episode was that Captain’s new wife was played by Pat Crowley, who played his love interest in a couple of episodes of the regular series. They changed her name slightly - likely because they didn’t want to pay a royalty to the original writer - but it seemed like it was supposed to be the same character.

 

[Maverick]

 Wasn't she the one that was married and didn't tell Stubbing that until he was on the verge of proposing to her?   Not the best choice for a deep cut from the series.  I barely remember The Next Wave and I'm surprised it had a season two.   Unfortunately I don't think there's any way to do shows like that anymore.   

 The specials were weird but the show itself had some weird episodes, especially toward the end.  In addition to the Andy Warhol episode (which, like him, was super weird) there was a wrestling cruise episode (I think Rowdy Roddy was on that one too) and fashion designer cruise with Gloria Vanderbilt and Bob Mackie and had Julie filling in for a top fashion model in a runway show.    

Edited December 4, 2021 by Maverick

[SnarkShark]

On 12/4/2021 at 10:46 AM, Kyle said:

One nice touch from that episode was that Captain’s new wife was played by Pat Crowley, who played his love interest in a couple of episodes of the regular series. They changed her name slightly - likely because they didn’t want to pay a royalty to the original writer - but it seemed like it was supposed to be the same character.

 

That's kind of a punk move though.

 

Maybe that explains Tom Bosley being "Howard Fister" too.  They didn't want to pay anyone, ever.

I wonder how many characters Bosley played on the show over the years?  I know he was in the first pilot.  And as a faux-Cunningham. And as Howard Fister.  And as the police detective, Logan. 

Okay, Imdb says he's played guys named Herbert, Howard, George, Harry (multiple times), and Lt. Fister. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by SnarkShark

[KWalkerInc]

Next Wave actually started out getting pretty high ratings for its first episode (possibly even winning the time slot!) and only had six episodes the first season, so UPN (with not very high standards) renewed it.  I didn't like how they fired the actress who was playing the cruise director to replace her with someone hotter, and then made the security chief character decide she wanted to be a cruise director too, just so the two women could fight all the time.  I thought the doctor was cute, so I felt bad for him when the new cruise director was oblivious to the fact that he liked her.  I have all the Next Wave episodes on VHS, but it was never a top priority to get copied to DVD, and then the recorder broke a couple years ago.

[greekmom]

Episodes are on in Canada on CHCI which loves to rerun the classics. So far in Season 1.

I remember watching this as a kid along with Fantasy Island. 

Gopher use to be my favourite when I was younger. I always did think that Fred Grandy was a nice looking man.

It also made me wish I can take a cruise. Before i grew up and realized that cruises were just  a big petri dish full of germs. LOL