The Love Boat

The Love Boat was a lightly comic romantic anthology series (with laugh track) which ran on ABC from 1977 until 1986. The hour long series, set on a cruise ship, was generally divided into three individually titled stories per episode. As the title implied, the majority of the plots involved shipboard romance. The passenger manifest was filled by an array of celebrity guests, usually a mixture of older film and TV legends and current names, many of whom returned time and again. The regular ship's crew (led by Captain Stubing) bridged the storylines and were occasionally allowed a one-shot romance of their own.
==References==
* The series was spoofed in a Sesame Street insert, with Ernie as Captain Ernest. The good captain expresses his love for the boat itself, and Amanda (a female lounger), a grouchy gentleman, and eventually everyone on the entire ship join in.
* The opening credits of Love Boat introduced the regulars as "Your Yeoman Purser," "Your Ship's Doctor," etc. The 1996 video game Muppet Treasure Island spoofed this, referring to Stevenson as "Your Adventure Parrot."
* In the Elmo's World episode "Hats," the Hat Channel tells viewers that coming up next is "Love Boater."
* In Muppets Party Cruise, one of Gonzo's stock phrases used during the "Long Cruise" game has him asking where Isaac is (referring to Isaac Washington, the ship bartender).
* During the January 15, 2004, episode of Hollywood Squares, host Tom Bergeron asks Bear, "Where would you find sea whips, barrel sponges, and brittle stars?" Bear responds, "An old episode of The Love Boat?"
==Muppet Mentions==
* In the season four episode "She Stole His Heart/Return of the Captain's Brother/Swag and Mag,” Vicki notes that actor Darryl Brewster is on board to receive an award for “TV Hero of the Year.” Isaac responds, “Personally, I voted for Miss Piggy.”
* The season four episode "Tony and Julie/Separate Beds/America's Sweetheart," as part of the last named storyline, shows Captain Stubing talking to Vicki in her cabin, with a Scandecor prominently displayed. This can also be seen in season two's "Vicki's First Love/The High Cost of Loving/Accident Prone."
* In the season five episode "Green, But Not Jolly/Past Perfect Love/Instant Family," Julie accidentally dyes her hair green. As the crew speculates if she can get rid of the color, Gopher adds, "if not, we can fix her up with Kermit the Frog."
==Connections ==
The Love Boat often drew from the same celebrity pool as The Muppet Show and other Henson productions, and also shared a few crew members. Many of the guests made return voyages.
===Recurring cast/crew===
*Bruce Bilson directed several episodes of the original series as well as The Love Boat: The Next Wave
*Charo played entertainer April Lopez once per season and in the 1987 two hour movie Who Killed Maxwell Thorn?
*Billy Crystal wrote for the series and played the title character in a second season episode "The Kissing Bandit"
*Teri Hatcher played Amy, a "Love Boat Mermaid" (1985-1986)
*Ethel Merman played Gopher's mother Roz Smith in five episodes
*Alan Rafkin directed several episodes of the series
*Paul Williams composed the famous Love Boat theme song, and made a guest appearance
===Guest stars===
*Eddie Albert
*Debbie Allen
*Kirstie Alley
*Loni Anderson
*John Astin
*Catherine Bach
*Pearl Bailey
*Milton Berle
*Barbara Billingsley
*Raymond Burr
*Red Buttons
*Ruth Buzzi
*Sid Caesar
*Cab Calloway
*Carol Channing
*James Coco
*Dabney Coleman
*Jane Curtin
*Jamie Lee Curtis
*Tony Danza
*Richard Dawson
*Phyllis Diller
*Mike Douglas
*Sandy Duncan
*Erik Estrada
*Lola Falana
*Jamie Farr
*Conchata Ferrell
*Michael J. Fox
*Arthur Godfrey
*Harold Gould
*Lorne Greene
*Buddy Hackett
*Tom Hanks
*Kadeem Hardison (The Love Boat: The Next Wave)
*Mariette Hartley
*David Hasselhoff
*Sherman Hemsley
*Florence Henderson
*Hulk Hogan
*Arte Johnson
*Shirley Jones
*Gene Kelly
*Ted Knight
*Don Knotts	
*Harvey Korman
*Cloris Leachman
*Rich Little
*Heather Locklear
*Susan Lucci
*Robert Mandan
*Peter Marshall
*Anne Meara
*Brian Stokes Mitchell
*Belinda Montgomery
*Donny Most
*Richard Mulligan
*Jim Nabors
*Joe Namath
*Leslie Nielsen
*Donny Osmond
*Dolly Parton
*Donna Pescow
*Vincent Price
*Juliet Prowse
*Charlotte Rae
*Helen Reddy
*Lynn Redgrave
*John Ritter
*Joan Rivers
*Doris Roberts
*Ginger Rogers
*Richard Roundtree
*Soupy Sales
*Telly Savalas
*Avery Schreiber
*Martin Short
*Olan Soule
*Jerry Springer (The Love Boat: The Next Wave)
*Jean Stapleton
*Jerry Stiller
*Loretta Swit
*Jeffrey Tambor
*Fred Travalena
*Tanya Tucker
*Leslie Uggams
*Ben Vereen
*Nancy Walker
*Jessica Walter
*Frank Welker (dummy voice, "The Ventriloquists")
*Fred Willard
==Sources==
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:TV References
Category:TV Mentions