GENIUS ALERT!

The OG of the show, and I mean Original Genius, Robert Pine, is a guest on The Love Boat Podcast this week! I have not been able to listen to it yet, but I felt I should make everyone aware.

Yes, I realize it's odd that I haven't made time to listen to Robert Pine talking about The Love Boat. I have no excuse.

Brooks on Books: "This Is Your Captain Speaking" by Gavin MacLeod

What a wonderful surprise it was when my wife gifted me an autographed copy of Gavin MacLeod's autobiography. It's great just to have it in my TV collection, but of course I wanted to read the book as well as admire it.

It's a solid read that covers a lot of ground, though it is also breezy and a fast read. The conversational tone suits its subject, though. One of the charming aspects of the text is MacLeod's frequent interjections of how thrilled he was to be doing this or how honored he was to be working with whoever (Joe Flaherty's impersonation on SCTV comes to mind). It feels genuine, though, and is usually an aside after an anecdote. That is, it's not like he spends the whole book naming names and sharing "gee whiz" enthusiasm.

His enthusiasm for his life and career is palpable, though, and it makes for an engaging narrative. You may be surprised at some of the darkness in the early part of MacLeod's professional career. The most alarming story in the bio is Gavin's telling of nearly driving off Mulholland in despair, then ending up at the home of his good friend Robert Blake (!) to get advice. One of the biggest revelations for me is learning how miserable MacLeod was on McHale's Navy. He took the gig, which was a way smaller part than reflected his career status as an actor, because he wanted the security after buying a new house. With little to do on the series, though, he felt stifled, leading to depression and increased drinking.

He got out of the show, though (and out of Robert Blake's house), and has great things to say about his other high-profile gigs. He loved his time on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and was great friends with Ted Knight. As for The Love Boat, MacLeod appreciated the series, the joy it brought to people, and the opportunities it gave him, and it's nice reading him express that gratitude.

One of the amusing recurring threads in This Is Your Captain Speaking concerns his hairpiece. The story of how he got the piece he used in his early days is a good one, and before he finally discards it, it is a regular part of his career. MacLeod's self-deprecating humor about this topic is refreshing, and it's the kind of thing you don't always get in showbiz memoirs--both the honesty and the topic itself.

Later in life, after being born again, he took roles in faith-based projects, and his role in 2008's The Secret of Jonathan Sperry is one that gave him the most pride late in life. I hadn't heard of this film, but MacLeod's enthusiasm for it is appealing. Overall, his treatment of his faith is sincere and, while it does dominate much of the last third of the book, it seems like the natural progression of his life story. You don't feel like it comes at the "expense" of Love Boat stories.

MacLeod, with collaborator Mark Dagostino, tells his journey in an appealing manner. He draws you in with his casual, accessible style. He doesn't ignore the dark aspects of his life, like his drinking problem and early career stagnation, but he maintains an upbeat tone throughout the book that has you rooting for him and happy to get to the triumphs. I'm sure Love Boat fans would love even more about the show, but there are plenty of fun anecdotes about the cast, the guest stars, and the travels associated with that hit series. 

Tomorrow and Previously on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

12 Days of Christmas Watching 2022 Day #12: Love Boat brings us home!

What better way to end this "12 Days of Watching" adventure than with a look at what I like to call the quintessential TV show of the BOTNS era, The Love Boat? The program didn't produce as many holiday episodes as you might expect given its 9-year, 250-episode run, but it created one I had never seen: Season 6's "The Christmas Presence," highlighted by BOTNS fave Mickey Rooney.

After a debacle like yesterday's Saturday Night Live experience, I had to turn to a safe bet, and as always, the Pacific Princess brought us through the rocky waters of Christmas--OK, that's a little much because I loved everything except the SNL stuff, but still I am pleased to end this 12-day journey with a Love Boat.

As I said, we tend to love the Mickster around here. Hey, we never had to work with him! He is classic Later Years Mickey Rooney here, actually even underplaying a bit for the fantastical character he plays: Angelarum Dominicus, an elderly but lively gentleman who boards under  mysterious circumstances and proceeds to meddle in the lives of everyone on the ship--well, at least the credited guest stars and the main cast. It's fortunate that he works for the forces of good, albeit with a bit of a Rooneyesque impish bent, because he does magic. I mean, he does literal magic, pointing at things and making them disappear and appear, transmorgrifying things, and doing everything but pulling a rabbit out of Captain Stubing's hat. Folks, MAGIC IS REAL in the Love Boat universe!

I want to talk about Captain Stubing here because, as gracious as he is to Dominicus, he is a bit rough with the crew on this one. More important is his dogged focus on getting the Christmas tree decorated. In itself, no biggie. It IS a Christmas cruise, as Julie announces at the beginning. What disappoints me is that Stubing hasn't planned ahead more. Why is there not a big tree with decorations in place as soon as the passengers board for what is, after all, a themed voyage? Julie has done her part by getting the ship decked out, and Gopher got the tree, but the public should have been able to enjoy a fully trimmed tree from the get-go. Was there some logistical situation that prevented that? I hope so because this is uncharacteristic of Stubing, and perhaps sublimated guilt over it comes out in his riding Julie and Gopher to get that tree done.

Back to the guests: A bearded Donny Osmond pouts because wife Maureen McCormick is late. Never get a wife with a career, he whines, because she will, like, show up late for stuff. A pair of nuns (Teresa Wright and Jan Rooney) brings a boys' choir on board after having to cancel their tour due to the lead singer's throat issues. A couple of suspicious "businessmen," Keenan Wynn and Henry Gibson, are apparently smuggling gold. The Mickster involves himself in all these situations, plus provides an assist on that tree thing AND ensures Isaac can talk to his mom for Christmas. What about Doc? Well, let's just say Adam Bricker gets to show he is more than just a lothario and display some actual medical skills.

I KNEW I could count on Love Boat for the holiday cheer that I lacked yesterday! Unlike most of the series' efforts, this has one single story credited to one pair of writers. It's appropriate since The Mickster appears in all of the various stories and really sticks his nose everywhere he can (Talking about the character, not the actor...I think).

And look at the Christmas splendor on display in this Getty Images pic:

We get it all here--laughs, tears, relationship drama, life-or-death drama, and the mystery of a whimsical stranger on board. And it all ends with a goofy but charming shot of Merrill Stubing's big blue eyes gazing up at the stars and acknowledging the same higher power that Dominicus had addressed moments earlier:

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Great Moments in 70s and 80s TV History: Captain Stubing asks Isaac about one of the great mysteries of life

 

YouTube Spotlight: Sonny Bono IS Deacon Dark

One of the more intriguing clips in this week's playlist based on our 3-2-1 Contact episode is this clip from The Love Boat:



Yes, that is the late Sonny Bono as an Alice Cooper/Gene Simmons type (the band is clearly suggesting KISS, but the performance itself is a bit more Cooper, I think), singing Smash It!  This is from the second-season episode Murder on the High Seas/Sounds of Silence/Cyrano De Bricker from March 17, 1979.

What a showman! You have to see this classic to watch his story of looooove unfold, but I think Captain Stubing says it all at the end of the performance: "He's no Jerry Vail."

And admit it, aren't you a little curious about Cyrano De Bricker?

Merry Christmas from BOTNS and the crew of the Pacific Princess!

Promo Theatre: What a night of television!

Ah, to be in 1979, when the Pittsburgh sports teams ruled the world, oil was in short supply (OK, that one wasn't so good), and TV was awesome on Saturday nights! Just check out this brilliant Ernie Anderson promo (courtesy of the great Bionic Disco YT channel)  for ABC's lineup on Saturday, November 3, 1979:




Imagine the hijinks when the Ropers have to move in with the Brookes!

And how about Detective School? This series lasted 13 episodes, July-November 1979, and was not well received in the fall after its summer debut.

CBS ran Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown and Avalanche as a movie double feature, while NBC countered with a new CHiPs and part 1 of MacArthur with Gregory Peck.  So maybe this Saturday night wasn't hot stuff all over the dial (although the CHiPs episode is Hot Wheels), but that ABC lineup has a little something for everyone.

Tomorrow On Battle of the Network Shows...

Show Notes: Episode 3-13: Love Boat

*Love Boat's first-season episode "Winner Take Love/The Congressman Was Indiscreet/Isaac's History Lesson" premiered on ABC January 28, 1978, against Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze on NBC and the combo of The Jeffersons and Maude on CBS.

*The series racked up 250 episodes from 1977 to 1986. Only the first 3 of those 9 seasons are on DVD at this time. Yet somehow this is still considered a first-world country.

*Fantasy Island aired 1977 to 1984, following The Love Boat on Saturday night in each of those seasons.

*Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant, and God were never guests on The Love Boat.

*The Andy Warhol episode is from the series' final season. A lot has been written about this appearance. Here's an example. I like a  quote the blog's author selects from a Warhol bio:

Not that Andy was always as enamored of celebrity and showbiz as he seemed. Bockris:

After The Love Boat episode was aired, he complained to a friend that people in Hollywood were “idiots.” They didn’t buy art, he said. They stank.

*Jeraldine Saunders' Love Boats, which inspired the series, is available from third-party sellers but not yet in an official e-reader format.

*Charo debuted as a stowaway in season 1, and Captain Stubing planned to dump her at the nearest port, but was charmed after seeing her perform on the ship and got her a gig as a Pacific Princess entertainer.

*Gopher's name is Burl Smith.

*Bobby Sherman's big Top 40 single was 1969's "Little Woman," but he had many other charting hits in that era. Maureen McCormick's character is named Suzy Corbett, and this is her second appearance on The Love Boat in this very season. She showed up just a few months earlier in the sixth episode of the season as Robert Hegyes' love interest.

*Deney Terio hosted Dance Fever, a show which we will attempt to discuss in a future season if I have anything to say about it.

*The theme song, written by Charles Fox and Paul Williams, is sung by Jack Jones in the first 8 seasons and Dionne Warwick in the ninth. I am stunned to learn there is a cover version playable in Just Dance 2014. I may have to find a copy of that game because I usually get up and get down when the TV show starts and the song starts blaring.

Episode 3-12: The Love Boat "Winner Take Love, The Congressman Was Indiscreet, Isaac's History Lesson"

All aboard The Love Boat for our season 3 finale. In this fascinating, timely, yet very much of its time episode: Marcia Brady competes in a beauty contest and contends with a jealous boyfriend (Bobby Sherman); our man DVP (Dick Van Patten) plays a disgraced politician courted by Mama (Vicki Lawrence) for the wrong reasons; and Isaac (Ted Lange) learns about his people from an unlikely source. Plus, Rick argues that The Love Boat is the quintessential TV show, and we try to figure out what Gopher does.


Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...