'The Love Boat' was nostalgic voyage
LOS ANGELES — More than 35 years have passed since the final voyage of the TV classic “The Love Boat,” set aboard a luxurious cruise ship, aired in 1986. But time has not dulled the nostalgic glow around the series and its irresistible gimmick — an ever-changing rotation of major and minor celebrities involved in various rom-com adventures about the ship.
Through nine seasons and several reunion specials, more than 500 celebrities from classic Hollywood (Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers), Broadway (Ethel Merman), television (Don Adams), music (The Pointer Sisters, Engelbert Humperdinck) and sports (Dick Butkus, Joe Namath) appeared on the ABC series. Also boarding were unlikely guest stars (Andy Warhol among them) and up-and-comers (like Tom Hanks).
Interacting with the colorful passengers and steering them through their romantic highs and lows was the attentive crew, headed by Capt. Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod). The crew members also engaged in their own hijinks.Two of those members — Ted Lange, who played bartender Isaac Washington, and Jill Whelan, who played Stubing’s daughter, Vicki — are reuniting for a reality series inspired by the comedy.
CBS’ “The Real Love Boat” features singles looking for love aboard a Princess Cruises liner. The winning couple will receive a cash prize and a cruise.
Whelan has kept acting, as well as writing and producing various projects. Lange has stayed active in the theater world as a director and playwright, with a passion for Shakespeare.Lange said the experience of being on “The Love Boat” was life-changing. “I was just trying to build my career, and I hit this home run.”“The Love Boat” (original episodes are streaming on Paramount+) was a Saturday-night staple during its entire run, and the formula never deviated: three different stories all meshed together during the hour-long installments. A year following its 1977 premiere, the series was paired with “Fantasy Island,” another anthology with new guest stars every week. Both were produced by Aaron Spelling.
“People remember it affectionately because they were younger when they (first) watched it,” said Neal Sabin, an executive at Weigel Broadcasting.
He also said the series had the quality of many series that endure through time: “The key is, are these people you would like to be friends with? The characters on this show were written and acted like they really liked each other.”
