Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Chantel Contreras It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Itsamoomoo Yes, that's right. Horrible. And so predictable, too! It seemed like a good idea at first. Stars you love, stars you hate, all sailing on a boat with Gavin McLeod as Captain, fresh off the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Some interesting characters around Stubing, like the bartender and the cute cruise director. But after a few episodes every episode became the same old formula. Stars would board ship, everyone greets each other, music comes in, confetti flows, ship honks horn, ship sails, Charo can't find her room, picture of ship goes sailing by, stories begin to unravel, Toni Tennille wheels by in a wheelchair, picture of ship going in the opposite direction pops up, Barry Nelson with a beaver on his head walks by smiling, another picture of the ship sailing shows us they're on a "real" ship, Pearl Bailey laughs heartily, stories get wrapped up, picture of ship sailing into port comes on, passengers disembark, music plays, tune in the following week and it's the same thing only with Don Adams, Diana Canova, and Charlie Callas! Horrible! And it lasted ten seasons? Eye yi yi.The show has never been popular in syndication. A true testament to how much people want to see this forgotten series. It goes to show you that anything can get on television.

jasongibbonsxxx Seriously people actually watched and loved this show back in the 1970s? Times must have really changed because I have seen several episodes now and it is just a stupid show. They introduce "guest celebrities" as people taking cruises on the Love Boat and then play out stupid (usually very predictable) romantic stories between them all. The characters are super cheesy and the only one that is cheesy in a fun way is Isaac the frequently parodied bartender. "Hey!" The doctor on the ship is also apparently a womanizer even though he's not exactly handsome or anything, in fact he is usually just plain creepy. I can't believe this show was a huge hit, the only value I get out of it is the unintentional comedy I get from how serious they take these ridiculous stories and how terrible the acting usually is.

soneill "the love boat" was so predictable as to be a spoiler unto itself, but i checked that spoiler box just in case. how can one spoil that which is already rotted? but that's just what i love about "the love boat": the toupeed and face-lifted guest stars; the oddly effeminate captain stubing (ever notice that "Merrill Stubing"/"Murray Slaughter" parallel? one of my fantasies was to feature the wjm newsroom crew as passengers on the ship, years after Murray Slaughter got conked on the head on a second honeymoon on the pacific princess, got (what else?) amnesia, minced off in a daze and resurfaced as suddenly naval Merrill Stubing); Gopher, whom i am afraid i had a crush on—gleeps! then there was that walking pillar of saccharin, cruise director Julie McCoy, who luckily turned out to be a huge coke-head, which at least explained her unflagging perkiness. leave us not forget the luckless Isaac Washington, black bartender and romantic interest or platonic friend of each nonwhite guest star, be it Diahann Carroll or Scatman Crothers, Florida Friebus or Roosevelt Grier. and who could forget Doc (no matter how they tried), that Hippocratic lecher in aviator glasses? i used to love when he and Captain Stubing had one of their Adam-Merrill heart-to-hearts (as in "Adam, she fills my life with wonder"). and of course no-neck-monster Vicki, an apparent escapee from a community theater production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." then there was harbinger of doom Ted McGinley, a fellow whose addition to the cast of any show meant it was about to be canceled. i could talk about "the love boat" for hours, a sad commentary on the state of my mind.

Syl Let's face it, it was not the best of shows but not the worst either. It had lots of wonderful guest stars who livened up the show. When I finally took a cruise to Alaska, I was expecting a love boat scenario but that's not what I got. Love Boat is indeed fantasy with a great theme song sung by Dionne Warwick and a decent cast that included Gavin McLeod, Jill Whelan, Lauren Tewes, Fred Grady, Bernie Kopell, and Isaac (what is his real name?). Anyway the scenario was usual about a three day cruise to Mexico and back to Los Angeles with guest stars that included several of Hollywood top stars and the ones that were not on top. For a while, I think the Love Boat provided a great service of keeping the B-list guest stars working. I won't name names but we know who they were and we don't care. Love Boat is a comedy mixed with a little bit of drama. They never did anything serious or offensive. Of course, it was a Spelling show which meant that it was eye candy, sugar and sweet, and everything nice.