Love. Exciting and new.
Come aboard. We're expecting you.
Love, life's sweetest reward.
Let it flow. It floats back to yooooooooooou.
The Love Boat! Soon will be making another run!
The Love Boat! Promises something for everyone!
Set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance.
And love...
Won't hurt anymore.
It's an open smile, on a friendly shore.
Yes, love!
It's love!
Welcome aboard, it's loooooooooooove!

It's Love, American Style on water! Or, "Nine Years of Constant Nautical Fornicating and Not One Sexual Harassment Law Suit?" CBS DVD and Paramount has released The Love Boat: Season One, Volume One on a three-disc, 12-episode collection that is, in my humble opinion, one of the three or four classic litmus tests for whether or not you truly love TV. Now I'm not just talking about "liking" TV. We all like TV, whether we admit it or not. And we all watch it, despite those few poor liars we work with or know who sniff, "I never watch TV." No, I'm talking about "loving" TV, as in "I was born and raised on endless hours and hours of absolute junk crammed into my head from the earliest possible age" kind of TV. Some of TV is good, or even great; a very small portion of it you could even call "art" (whatever that is). But an awful lot of it is puerile swill, and you have to love that - faults and all - before you can say you love the medium of TV as a whole.

Now, I'm making a point here. I don't think for a second that The Love Boat is "puerile swill" - not at all. In fact, I think it's light and fluffy, and rather charming in its openly calculated, commercial way. But most "TV critics" in 1977 certainly hated it, and over the years, the words "The Love Boat" have become an easy, convenient way for people who haven't seen the series to take a cheap shot when comparing other shows thought to be similarly brainless or trivial. But I take my stand and say, "Nay!" There are quite a few pleasures to be derived from The Love Boat, particularly in the earlier seasons, and just as importantly, The Love Boat gave a lot of pleasure to millions and millions of fans who responded to its silly premise and its sunny, innocent, sweet-natured attitude. And I'll take that aim any day over TV that deliberately offends, or shocks, or titillates, or exploits, in the specious pursuit of faux-gritty, spuriously "real," bogus "art."

Now, a little background for the younger viewers who have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. The Love Boat series grew out of a series of three TV specials guided by producers Aaron Spelling (Charlie's Angels) and Douglas Cramer (Dynasty), based loosely on a best-selling tell-all about cruise ships called The Love Boats. The first TV movie, The Love Boat, aired in September, 1976 (featuring none of the series' actors), and was a surprise hit in the ratings. A second TV movie, The Love Boat II was quickly commissioned for January, 1977. Fred Grandy as Gopher, Ted Lange as Isaac the bartender, and Bernie Kopell as the ship's doctor (called Dr. O'Neill here), all soon to be regulars on the series, appeared for the first time here. A third TV movie, The New Love Boat aired during the May sweeps of 1977 and garnered even bigger ratings, with new actors Gavin MacLeod (as Captain Merrill Stubing) and Lauren Tewes (as Cruise Director Julie McCoy) rounding out the soon-to-be iconic cast. High ratings for all three TV movies made it a cinch that The Love Boat would sail on ABC's 1977's Fall slate.

The premise for the series was quite simple (and therefore, comfortably predictable week after week). The crew of the Pacific Princess, docked in Los Angeles, welcomed aboard six hundred passengers every week for a three-day cruise down to Mexico (usually Puerto Vallarta). And among those six hundred passengers, the TV audience would get to know about half a dozen or so, featured (usually) in three subplots during the hour-long episode (structured similarly to ABC's earlier anthology hit, Love, American Style, but with the ship's crew providing better linkage and continuity between the three short stories). The ship's crew featured prominently within these subplots (particularly Julie, whose romantic life was fodder for many episodes), where they interacted with the passengers as well as having stories centered around their jobs and lives aboard the Pacific Princess.

Cruise Director Julie McCoy was the incredibly perky, corn-fed, blue-eyed beauty who was responsible for making sure everyone on board had a good time, aided frequently in her duties by good-natured goof Yeoman Purser Burl "Gopher" Smith (Fred Grandy). Isaac Washington (Ted Lange), the head bartender on the Pacific Princess, always had a ready smile for the passengers, while Ship's Doctor (and resident Lothario) Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell) always had a ready bed for any gorgeous girl who happened to cross his path (and there were plenty of them). Overseeing this energetic, happy crew was the stern, fatherly Captain Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod) who often had to warn his eager, rambunctious crew to stay in line and maintain the dignity expected of them on board ship. But often, Captain Stubing would let down his guard and show the crew that he was human, and capable of sharing in their fun.

As for the passengers this first half season, they consisted mainly of TV stars on the way up or on the way down (increasingly over the years, The Love Boat would become a haven for former glamorous stars of the silver screen). Lots of actors from other ABC hits show up (John Ritter and Suzanne Somers from Three's Company, Diana Canova from Soap, the incomparably gorgeous Jaclyn Smith from Charlie's Angels), along with visits from popular competing network stars like The Jeffersons' Sherman Hemsley or WKRP in Cincinnati's Loni Anderson, picking up a fast buck for a couple of days work.

The revolving subplots on The Love Boat didn't vary greatly from episode to episode, consisting of standard romantic comedy conflicts such as a suitor pursuing an unwilling lover, a married couple trying to rekindle their old flame, the sudden appearance of a former lover disrupting someone's current relationship, or the inevitable attraction of total opposites. Leftover "shocking" taboos that hadn't been shocking to anybody for years - such as divorce, living together unmarried, one-night stands - were grafted onto the familiar stories (some straight, some slapstick) to give them an air of "with-it-ness" while giving the whim-whams to all the grannies out their waiting to see their favorite stars on the tube. And of course, any troubling suggestions that this largely dysfunctional romantic world view pictured on The Love Boat might actually be real, were gleefully dashed at the end of each episode: happily, all the newly formed (or reconstituted) couples filed out past the crew, letting the audience know that love had once again triumphed.

A real trip down memory lane for viewers who grew up during the 1970s, The Love Boat is a great exercise in, "Hey, who the hell is that? when spotting actors who look vaguely familiar, but for whom a name can't be placed. At this early point, the series hasn't yet employed the neat trick of superimposing the faces of the guest stars over their names in the porthole opening credits, so we can say, "Hey, David Groh! Rhoda's husband's going to be on tonight!" As well, The Love Boat provided a low-charge vicarious thrill for many Americans who still viewed taking a cruise as a relatively luxurious novelty in 1977. With quite a few scenes staged on the actual cruise liners, viewers were given the impression that all one had to do was buy a ticket on a cruise, and all their unhappy romantic realities would be whisked away by the smiling, friendly Love Boat crew (according to some, the series was instrumental in broadening the appeal of cruising to the general public).

Certainly the spirited, talented cast had something to do with the popularity of the show, as well. Gavin MacLeod, an unusual choice to head up the show, was probably the most familiar name in the cast, having just come off the highly successful The Mary Tyler Moore Show as that series' resident one-liner king - a role that Bernie Kopell, also familiar to TV fans for his numerous appearances on previous series like Get Smart! and Bewitched, inherited here as the wisecracking, bed-hopping Dr. Bricker. Getting most of the good jokes (as well at being the most adept at delivering them), Kopell acted as the show's resident Lothario, which the matrons at home ate up. I remember reports at the time, as well, commenting on MacLeod's status as a middle-aged "sex symbol" for all the little dears out there watching the show (my grandmother thought he was "cute" with his shiny bald head, piercing blue eyes and blazing white shorts). I don't think anyone would have predicted that out of all the cast members of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Gavin MacLeod would be the one to have the most successful post-series career, but he's excellent here, providing just the right amount of authority that the role needs, while balancing his skillful comedy timing.

Initially premiering in September, 1977, at 10:00pm on Saturday nights, The Love Boat moved back down an hour to the more family-friendly 9:00pm time slot at mid-season, and stayed there on Saturday nights for the next seven and a half years, becoming a Saturday night tradition for many families. Initially put up against former powerhouse The Carol Burnett Show (which had dropped out of the Nielsen Top 30 the year before), and the underperforming The NBC Saturday Night Movie, The Love Boat proved to be an immediate hit with audiences, coming in as the 14th most popular show of the year. Saturday nights were weak for the networks in 1977. CBS' sterling Saturday night lineup had lost some of its luster, with The Bob Newhart Show and The Jeffersons out of the Top 30. NBC's The Bionic Woman, a hit the year before, was soon to disappear, while ABC's run-up to The Love Boat was faltering, as well, with Fish, Operation Petticoat and former hit Starsky and Hutch failing to perform.

So The Love Boat, coupled with Spelling's other soon-to-be smash Saturday night hit, Fantasy Island, which came in as a mid-season replacement in January, 1978, in The Love Boat's old 10:00pm slot, seemed like a sunny breath of fresh air for audiences looking for a little bit of escapism during the weekend. Sure it was silly and corny overall, and even maudlin at times, but it never talked down to its audience. The Love Boat was very clear about its intentions: if viewers took the time to tune in, The Love Boat would provide an hour of light entertainment that might make them feel just a little bit better than they did when the show started. The Love Boat respected the experience of watching "disposable" TV by making the series as pleasant as possible. A little romance, a little humor, some glamour from by-gone stars, and some exotic locales to liven up an hour of escapist TV watching. That's what The Love Boat was, nothing more nor less. And what's wrong with that?

Here are the 12, one-hour episodes of the three-disc set, The Love Boat: Season One, Volume One. A brief note: in very small type on the back of the DVD box, it states: "Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions." If you're at all familiar with TV on DVD, you know, then, that this issue of edited TV episodes is probably the most hotly-debated discussion concerning the DVD format (with some people believing that the studios put this disclaimer on all vintage TV sets to cover any potential lawsuit). There is no indication of what the cuts might be (I noted the word "music" weren't included - which usually is to cover licensing problems), with the episodes timing out to around 50 minutes each, which seems about right for these 1977 run times (minus the commercials):

DISC ONE

Captain & The Lady / One If By Land / Centerfold
Meredith Baxter Birney tries to cover up her past centerfold shoot; Jimmie "J.J." Walker plays an pest exterminator trying to win the heart of his long-time live-in girlfriend (with the help of Suzanne Somers), and Captain Stubing must deal with his ex-wife, Bonnie Franklin.

Oh, Dale! / The Main Event / A Tasteful Affair
Brunette bombshell Jaclyn Smith has a suspicious husband who sends Dennis Cole to spy on her - only to have the two fall in love; Sherman Hemsley and LaWanda Page are a bickering married couple, and John Ritter dresses up in drag to share a room with a pretty brunette.

Ex Plus Y / Graham and Kelly / Golden Agers
Robert Reed and Loretta Swit, since divorced, cause headaches for their new partners Richard Mulligan and Pamela Bellwood; Kristy McNichol tries to figure out how to land Scott Baio, and Julie falls for a handsome tour guide for senior citizens.

Message For Maureen / Acapulco Connection / Gotcha! Milton Berle has pulled one too many practical jokes for his fed-up wife, Audra Lindley; Bill Bixby falls - literally - for athlete Brenda Benet, and Charo's an illegal immigrant stowaway!

DISC TWO

Help! Murder! / Isaac the Groupie / Mr. Popularity
Michele Lee thinks her husband, David Groh, is trying to kill her; Isaac bags a superstar, the sexy Diahann Carroll, and everyone thinks Jim Nabors is the most boring person alive.

The Joker is Mild / First Time Out / Take My Granddaughter, Please
Maureen McCormick decides to help out virgin Robert Hegyes; Patty Duke Astin's romance with Tab Hunter is squashed by her grandmother Ruth Gordon, and Phil Foster, a friend of Julie's father, guilt-trips her into letting him perform his old stand-up act.

The Identical Problem / Julie's Old Flame / The Jinx
Diana Canova stars as identical twins - one of whom likes Doc; Ray Bolger and Harriet Nelson are the ship's jinxes, and David Hedison, Julie's former lover, shows up unexpectedly.

The Understudy / Married Singles / Lost & Found Steve Allen and Polly Bergen break up (with Steve finding solace with Loni Anderson); Sandy Duncan and Jim Stafford try to forget the death of their son, and Jo Ann Harris tries to steal Julie's job.

DISC THREE

Romance Roulette / The Captain's Captain / Hounded (A Dog's Life) Jane Curtin finds love with the ship's plumber; Captain Stubing's father, Phil Silvers, shows up to terrorize the crew, and Gary Burghoff gets locked in his cabin with an attack dog.

Dear Beverly / The Strike / Special Delivery Leslie Nielsen almost leaves his "Dear Abby" wife, Ava Gabor; famous chef Al Molinaro almost gives Captain Stubing heartburn, and Pamela Franklin gives birth on board, while husband Robert Urich plays shuffleboard.

Lonely at the Top / Divorce Me, Please! / Silent Night John Gavin and his wife Donna Mills try to escape his prison past; Shecky Greene's and his wife Florence Henderson's private thoughts are exposed for everyone to hear, and Captain Stubing gets some good advice on Christmas from Father Dick Sargent.

The Old Man & The Runaway / A Fine Romance / The Painters Will Geer befriends a hapless runaway; Anson Williams has a big surprise for admirer Julie, and Pat Morita and Arte Johnson paint the Captain's cabin...incorrectly.

The DVDs:

The Video:
Astonishingly, someone has done a superior job in either restoring or returning to the original elements for The Love Boat: Season One, Volume One, because it looks better than it ever did on TV in 1977, or in the thousands of its reruns. I've included a comparison of a shot from an episode promo (which approximates how the series looked the last time I saw it on TVLand) and from the cleaned-up episodes for DVD - it's quite a remarkable difference. Colors are saturated and correctly valued, and the full screen, 1.33:1 image is remarkably sharp for a 31-year-old series. The Love Boat: Season One, Volume One looks terrific.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 mix is in big fat mono, which is fine for this series (there's a Spanish mono mix, too). All dialogue is cleanly rendered, and English and Spanish subtitles are included.

The Extras:
The only extras, criminally, are the original episode promos that ran right before the credits rolled for the show. You can view the episodes with or without them.

Final Thoughts:
Synonymous with "junk TV," The Love Boat actually is a feather-light little confection, expertly conceived and executed, with a good cast and a well-meaning intention: to entertain. That's all. And it does so quite well. I recommend The Love Boat: Season One, Volume One.