The Love Boat

There were only three networks, and PBS, when it first came on.

Everyone thought it was stupid, and everyone watched it anyway!

It was comfort TV. That concept is gone.

It was actually nice.

Were there any other shows similar to Love Boat? Fantasy Island kind of, but I can’t think of anything like it.

Can someone explain if the doctor was supposed to be seen as sexy? Every time he shows interest in a lady I feel a sense of dread.

[quote] Were there any other shows similar to Love Boat? Fantasy Island kind of, but I can’t think of anything like it.

“Hotel.” But it was several years later and felt much more. The distinction between the 70s and 80s was huge despite it being only a few years.

I was laid off from my lucrative job in November 2021 and I spent an entire 3 months during the holidays at home watching this on repeat. It helped me.

It was what helped me to feel held and comforted and to go to sleep each night.

It makes no sense to me at this point, but it definitely was my main source of comfort at that time. I guess the familiarity/predictability/disco outfits.

Aaron Spelling knew what America wanted to watch.

Agents and execs loved the conveyor belt of guest stars. Everyone from ageing contract players to up-and-comers to Andy Warhol used that show for a buck and some screen time.

R7 This is why I’d rather just binge older shows that I know I love already, rather than investing hours into some mediocre new show.

[Quote] Aaron Spelling knew what America wanted to watch.

And yet he still cast Tori in 90210.

The special, two-hour special episode with Carol Channing, Della Reese, Ethel Merman, Ann Miller, Van Johnson, and Cab Calloway almost broke camp forever.

ABC has tried to sell its new series "Doctor Odyssey" as a contemporary "Love Boat."

I don't see it.

The Actors Studio went black the night Sandy Dennis appeared on the show.

It was successful because it was better than Love American Style.

All those ABC stars whacked out on cocaine.

I’ve tried to watch a few episodes recently on Pluto TV. Godawful — cardboard sets, bizarrely layered background and foreground actors, weird music cues, and makeup did not do those old-timer guest stars ant favors. But, like Murder, She Wrote it was a venue for older audiences to see past favorites and for the network to spotlight their less than charismatic contractees. I was in my 20s during its initial run and I used to wonder who the hell sat home on a Saturday night watching TV.

Mindless entertainment, dear. Something we desperately need more of.

Spelling hit on the "day for scale" model of getting a lot of guest stars with "Burke's Law". Mostly semi-washed-up people occasionally paying against type.

I loved the E! True Hollywood Story they did on the Love Boat years ago.

Gopher got severely burned in Brazil. They were riding around in a car and Julie was freebasing in the backseat and it ignited a balloon that was filled with hydrogen instead of helium.

Comfort food for the lonely hearts who didn't have a date or any socialization on a Saturday night. ABC knew what it was doing and where to schedule it on the primetime schedule (Saturdays, 9 pm). And the cruise industry certainly benefited from it.

I remember reading an article saying that the 'cruise ship industry' practically quadrupled in business when this show was on the air - all these single men and women booking a cruise for their vacations. (Hence the exploding popularity in the 80s and beyond). TLB was reaching a target audience the cruise industry couldn't reach via advertisements before.

My grandmother and I would watch it on Saturday nights when I was just a young gayling.

She liked that people dressed up every night. Even the people who were supposed to be average, middle class people had three Nolan Miller gowns and tuxedos to wear to dinner.

Three stories. One low-impact serious, one light comedy and one throw away interstitial nonsense story to bind it all together. I think the third kind gets cut down a lot for the Pluto versions.

It was essentially an "Introduction to Camp" class for my younger self. I'll always have a fondness for it.

R3 They’re still making comfort TV in Merry Old England

Midsomer Murders

Grantchester

Father Brown

That’s just the first 3 that came to mind

How are you doing now R7? Well I hope

This thread calls to mind one of my favorite DL exchanges, from the thread about bizarre deaths.

"R24: Albert Dekker. On May 5, 1968, Dekker was found dead in his Hollywood home by his fiancée, fashion model and future Love Boat creator Jeraldine Saunders. He was naked, kneeling in the bathtub, with a noose tightly wrapped around his neck and looped around the shower curtain rod. He was blindfolded, his wrists were handcuffed, there was a ball gag in his mouth, and two hypodermic needles were inserted in one arm. His body was covered in explicit words and drawings in red lipstick. Money and camera equipment were missing, but there was no sign of forced entry.

R25: I can see how an experience like that would be so horrific that it would cause you to create The Love Boat."

The bartender looked like one of the Village People.

Aaron Spelling doesn't get enough credit for delivering content to American audiences that they wanted. Were his programs the most intellectual? Nope. But the reason they worked it because he showed fantasy, hope, something to take people's minds off their daily mundane routines. He was the king of producing pop culture television. And, to date, he was one of the most prolific television producers of all time. Love Boat is a prime example.

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I was too young to watch it first run. What you said, OP, people liked all the guest spots. It's a comfort thing. A simple idea of an exciting transformational vacation. It was corny but not hard to follow. Predictable, clear start/finish and it all happens in one place. Maybe it was glamorous enough...a lot fewer people had passports.

I kind of liked it as a little kid because it just seemed silly. I've been watching it some recently on Pluto too, and yes it's really bad -- it's fun to watch in small doses but after an episode or so, it really starts to grate.

That said, I watched one recently with Parker Stevenson and Kirstie Alley as a young couple. In one scene Parker was wearing a cashmere sweater/short shorts combo, and his legs looked fucking great.

The world moved slower. Love the slower pace of early 80s TV. I'd watch it again to trip out on the clothes and sets and questionable acting and dumb situations.

Andy Warhol was on LB - never saw it, but in his diaries he wrote about being a love interest for Marion Ross????

Is Dr. Odyssey the new Love Boat?

This thread brings back memories of an era. In Houston, in the 80s, a shyster named Michael Pollack shilled Colonial House apartments for swinging singles. I believe it was nicknamed VD House.

The Love Boat and this are such perfect time capsules of specific eras.

Captain Stubing had too much to drink on that last voyage...

Bernie Coppell as some hot on the prowl doc was hilarious miscasting.

R5, I think Doc was supposed to be seen as sexy but I could never understand why. To me he'll always be Don Hollinger's generic coworker.

Marion Ross was playing a former Factory superstar turned respectable actress, if I remember correctly, r32.

At its height, "The Love Boat" dominated the Saturday 9pm primetime slot, beating "CBS Saturday Movie" and NBC's "B. J. and The Bear" in the ratings. It was a silly show, but it was mindless lite faire and we didn't have a lot of tv viewing options back then. And the producers were smart. Not only did they hire old-time stars of yore that the grandparents would know, they also brought in popular child/teen stars and idols of the day to draw in young audiences.

R29 - In the 1970's/1980's, approximately 5% of the US population had a passport.

By the way, in that time period, Pacific Princess cabin prices makes SIlversea/Regent/Seabourn look cheap.

1979 135 sq ft inside cabin for a week in 2024 dollars was was $13,000.

Of course, you can't tell the difference between Princess and Carnival today.

R40 the Pacific Princess would look like a river cruise boat compared to the mammoth size of today’s ships.

I was swell in it!

First, last and always it was all about Lauren Tewes and the blow...

R41, Yes, and the garbage trucks that go down my street are really big too, but at the end of the day, they're still garbage trucks.