The Love Boat

infobox television
show_name = The Love Boat


caption = Title screen
format = Sitcom
runtime = 52 minutes
creator = Aaron Spelling
starring=Gavin MacLeod
Bernie Kopell
Fred Grandy
Ted Lange
Lauren Tewes
Jill Whelan
Pat Klous
Ted McGinley
Marion Ross
opentheme = "The Love Boat" by Jack Jones
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = September 24, 1977
last_aired = May 24, 1986
num_seasons = 9 + 4 specials
num_episodes = 249
imdb_id = 0075529
tv_com_id = 517|

"The Love Boat" (simply "Love Boat" in its final season) is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from 1977 until 1986. It was part of ABC's Saturday night "one-two punch" along with "Fantasy Island", until the latter show ended in 1984.

The original 1976 made-for-TV movie on which the show was based, also titled "The Love Boat", was itself based on the nonfiction book "The Love Boats" by Jeraldine Saunders, a real-life cruise director. Two more TV movies (titled "The Love Boat II" and "The New Love Boat", respectively) would follow before the series began its run.

The executive producer for the series was Aaron Spelling, who produced several successful series for ABC in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The sitcom was usually set aboard a cruise liner called the "Pacific Princess," whose passengers and crew had romantic and funny adventures every week. Other ships used were twin sister "Island Princess", the "Stella Solaris" (for a Mediterranean cruise), "Pearl of Scandinavia" (for a Chinese cruise), the "Royal Viking Sky" (for European cruises) and the "Royal Princess" (for a Caribbean cruise).

Guest stars

The series' attraction was in the casting of well-known actors in guest-starring roles, with many famous film stars of yesteryear making rare television appearances. Although it wasn't the first series to use the all-star cast anthology format—"Love, American Style" used the same device a decade earlier—"Love Boat" perfected the genre and future shows in similar style ("Supertrain" and "Masquerade" to name two) were inevitably compared to "Love Boat".

Laugh track

The series was also distinctive as being one of the few hour-long series ever made for American television that used a laugh track ("Eight is Enough", on the same network and produced at the same time, being another example).

Writing format

Another unique aspect of "The Love Boat" was its writing format. Each episode contained several simultaneous storylines, and each one was written by a different set of writers. Each set of writers worked on one group of guest stars and their story of the week. So episodes ended up with ungainly titles like "Disco Baby/Alas, Poor Dwyer/After the War/Ticket to Ride/Itsy Bitsy: Part 1".

There were usually three storylines. There was a pattern to the three storylines: One storyline focused around a member of the crew, a second storyline would often focus on a crew member interacting with a passenger, and the third storyline was more focused around a passenger (or a group of passengers). Additionally, the three storylines usually followed a similar thematic pattern: One storyline (typically the "crew" one) was straight-ahead comedy. The second would typically follow more of a romantic comedy format (with only occasional dramatic elements). The third storyline would usually be the most dramatic of the three, often offering few (if any) laughs and a far more serious tone.

The show was based on the same premise as the 1956-60 television hit, "The Gale Storm Show" (aka "Oh! Susanna").

Theme song

"The Love Boat" theme song was sung by Jack Jones (except for the last season, where a cover version by Dionne Warwick was used). The lyrics were written by Paul Williams with music by Charles Fox.

Cast

*Gavin MacLeod - Captain Merrill Stubing
*Bernie Kopell - Dr. Adam "Doc" Bricker
*Fred Grandy - Burl "Gopher" Smith, "Your Yeoman Purser"
*Ted Lange - Bartender Isaac Washington
*Lauren Tewes - Cruise Director Julie McCoy (1977–84)
*Jill Whelan - Vicki Stubing, the captain's daughter (1979–86)
*Pat Klous - Cruise Director Judy McCoy (1984–86)
*Ted McGinley - Ashley "Ace" Covington Evans (1984–86)
*Marion Ross - Emily Hayward Stubing (1986)

equels and spin-offs

*A TV movie, "The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage", followed in 1990, four years after the show was cancelled.
*A second TV series, "" aired on the UPN Network from 1998 to 1999. It starred Robert Urich as Captain Jim Kennedy, a retired U.S. Navy officer. Heidi Mark was cast as the cruise director. Several members of the cast of the original series guest-starred on one episode, where it was revealed that Julie and "Doc" had been in love all along.
*In Germany, the TV series "Das Traumschiff" started in 1981 as a German-made version of "The Love Boat". It airs as 90-minutes-specials instead of a weekly basis, traditionally with an episode airing each Boxing Day (Dec. 26) and New Year's Day on the ZDF network. In 2005, the 50th episode was broadcast. Contrary to the original American series, ALL episodes of "Das Traumschiff" are shot entirely on location aboard the ship and in the ports of the ship's stopovers. No scene was ever shot in a television studio. Due to this lavish production style, each season consists of between 4 and 6 episodes only. The ships used for the series were MS "Vistafjord" (1st season: 1981/1982), MS "Astor" (2nd season: 1983/1984), MS "Berlin" (3rd to 10th season: 1986 - 1998) and MS "Deutschland" (11th season till present: 1999 - present).

Other airings

ABC also aired reruns of the show in their daytime lineup from 11:00 a.m.-noon (10 a.m.-11 a.m. Central) from June 1980 to June 1983 (with the exception of June 1981 to September 1981 when back-to-back reruns of "Three's Company" aired instead).

DVD Releases

CBS Home Entertainment has released Season 1 of "The Love Boat" on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Season 2, Volume 1 will be released on January 27, 2009. [http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Love-Boat-Season-2-Volume-1/10658]

International

ee also

* List of guest stars on The Love Boat
* Pacific Princess

External links

*imdb title|id=0075529|title=The Love Boat
*tvtome show|id=517|title=The Love Boat
* [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=8250 Love Boat Theme Songfacts]