The Love Boat was a TV series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from 1977 until 1986.

Action was always, with one exception, set about a cruise liner called The Pacific Princess, whose passengers and crew had romantic and funny adventures every week. One double episode was made in China on board the Pearl of Scandinavia.

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 Boat perfected the genre and future shows in similar style (Supertrain and Masquerade to name two) were inevitably compared to Love Boat.

The series was also distinctive as being one of the only hour-long series ever made for American television that used a laugh track.

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

The Love Boat theme song was sung by Jack Jones. The lyrics were written by composer Paul Williams.

Cast

• Bernie Kopell - Dr. Adam Bricker
• Fred Grandy - Burl "Gopher" Smith
• Gavin MacLeod - Captain Merrill Stubing
• Jill Whelan - Vicki Stubing, the captain's daughter
• Lauren Tewes - Cruise Director Julie McCoy
• Pat Klous - Judy McCoy
• Ted Lange - Bartender Isaac Washington
• Ted McGinley - Ashley "Ace" Covington Evans
• Andrea Blanken - Andrea Fluffer

Sequels

• There was a TV movie after the show was cancelled, The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage (1990).
• A second TV series, The Love Boat: The Next Wave aired on the UPN Network from 1998 to 1999. It starred Robert Urich as Captain Jim Kennedy. Several members of the cast of the original series guest-starred on one episode.

External links

• tvtome.com (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/CastGuide/showid-517/)
• IMDb entry (http://imdb.com/title/tt0075529/)