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Captain Ernest loves his boat

Loveboat-Americassweetheart

Miss Piggy adorning Vicki's cabin in a 1981 Love Boat

Stevenson-credit

Love Boat style credit in the Muppet Treasure Island CD-Rom game

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. It featured a parody of the Love Boat theme (composed and sung by Joe Raposo[1]). (First: Episode 1958)
  • 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 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).
  • In the Elmo's World episode "Hats," the Hat Channel tells viewers that coming up next is "Love Boater."

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 Miss Piggy poster prominently displayed.
  • 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[]

Sources[]

  1. BMI Work #1938250
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