All language subtitles for TV.We.Love.S01E03.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[narrator]
The golden age of television.

I Love Lucy didn't just change
American television,

it invented
American television.

[narrator]
Back when one screen

brought everyone together.

Watching television
was a family event.

[narrator]
The shows that shaped us.

The Brady Bunch was
part of the American soul.

-It's timeless.
-[narrator] The familiar faces.

[man] Ralph Kramden was loved
on The Honeymooners.

-Pow, right in the kisser!
-He was a presence.

[narrator]
The unforgettable moments.

Dynasty captured
the essence

of what the 1980s were about
in America.

[narrator]
These are their stories.

[man] Cheers is the pinnacle
of how great the sitcom can be.

[narrator]
This is TV We Love.

It's 1976.

The Vietnam War
has finally ended.

America is celebrating
its 200th birthday.

People all over the country
celebrate.

Disco music
is on the rise,

and Jimmy Carter
has just been elected president.

There's a new sense of peace
and optimism in the air.

And with it,
a whole new kind of TV series.

[The Love Boat
theme song playing]

The Love Boat
started something new.

It had great characters
who we wanted to hang out with.

You know,
have little crushes on Gopher.

[narrator] It broke ground
by luring Hollywood legends

to television.

You just have to pinch yourself
when you're sitting

between Lana Turner
and Anne Baxter,

and you don't know
which way to turn.

[narrator] And giving
future megastars their start.

The Love Boat
very carefully made sure

there was something
for everybody.

It had enormous ratings.

[narrator] The Love Boat
was a ratings smash...

but incredibly,
almost didn't happen.

Reviewers said
that The Love Boat

is going to go down
like the Titanic.

[ship horn blowing]

The premise was very simple.

You get on a boat
with problems,

and it goes
to all these different ports.

And when it circles back
to Los Angeles,

you've figured out
how to solve the problems

that you got on with.

Jeraldine Saunders
wrote a book

called The Love Boats,
plural.

And so,
with her luck of the Irish,

brought her
to the attention

of ABC and Doug Cramer.

Doug Cramer was a producer
at Paramount,

and was
the original conceiver

of this idea.

[Jim Colucci] And so, when
he happened to be at the beach

with his boyfriend
one afternoon,

reading a review
of Jeraldine Saunders' book,

The Love Boats,
he said, that's it.

And so,
he put in a call

to Jeraldine Saunders' people.

And I called the author,

and I suggested

that we buy
her book.

She seriously
thought about it.

We discussed
a price,

and we bought it.

When Doug Cramer went to make
The Love Boat into a pilot,

he made it as a TV movie
for ABC,

which was common practice
in the day.

It was a smart idea,
because as a business practice,

you get a TV movie
out of it,

whether it becomes a series
or not.

And if it flopped,
we pretend it was just a movie.

The audience doesn't have
to know

it was
a pilot for a series.

So I read the script,
and it wasn't particularly good,

but I thought
it could still work.

The problem
with the first pilot

was that the crew
was not right.

The very first pilot,
I wasn't in,

Bernie and Fred
wasn't in.

Nobody on that crew was somebody
you really wanted to spend

a lot of time with,
or captured your heart.

They kept the boat
and threw out the actors.

[Colucci] One of the reasons
why the first cast

of The Love Boat pilot
did not work

was the casting
of the captain.

They cast an Australian actor
named Ted Hamilton.

Captain,
what's the emergency?

Ha, that was
your little monster.

He just set off every fire alarm
on board the ship.

And the president of ABC
was furious, and they said,

"Why? He's good looking,
he's a good actor."

And the president said,
"You don't understand.

The purpose of The Love Boat
is supposed to be

that these passengers
all want to [bleep] each other.

On this show,
they're all just going to want

-to [bleep] the captain."
-[ship horn blowing]

The captain
was too [bleep]-able.

Luckily, ABC did realize

that there's a good idea
buried here.

They had to figure out
a way.

They had an idea
for a show,

but they didn't know
how to execute it exactly.

Nobody believed
that this piece of junk

could do a 50 share,
so we didn't have

enough faith in it
to make a series out of it.

We said,
let's do another pilot.

And so they gave
Doug Cramer permission

to make
a second pilot.

The whole thought that it might
actually become a series,

and a successful series,
was a bridge too far.

This time,
Doug Cramer had a smart idea.

About that time,

Doug Cramer partnered
with Aaron Spelling,

because he was in the business
of creating this kind of magic.

[Colucci] Aaron Spelling
was the darling of ABC.

Well, I think
Aaron Spelling understood

what the audience wanted,

even at a time
if network executives didn't.

He had seven hours
of primetime television.

[Colucci]
Including Charlie's Angels

and Starsky and Hutch.

And in fact, ABC was nicknamed
around town,

around Hollywood,
Aaron's Broadcasting Company.

You know,
it makes sense.

A for Aaron,
B for Broadcasting,

C for...

Broadcasting Company.

So, Aaron and Doug made
a second Love Boat pilot.

This time just called
so inventively The Love Boat II,

the Roman numeral 2.

And while we're at it,
let's see

if we can get the casting right
this time.

The second pilot,
Ted Lange,

Bernie Kopell and I
were in it.

They decide to do
a cruise

on the Pacific Princess,

on a real cruise ship,
on a real cruise.

One of the most beloved things
from the second pilot

is the very first note
you hear,

that foghorn
leading into the theme song.

♪ Love, exciting and new ♪

Just about anyone you talk to
of a certain age or older...

♪ Come aboard,
we will welcome you ♪

...knows the song more
than they know the show.

♪ Love Boat ♪

♪ Soon will be making
another run ♪

That theme song
was unique.

It was what drew you
into the show.

That was the best thing
from the second pilot.

So, the second pilot,

the guy playing the captain
was having some difficulty.

Quinn Redeker
was a good actor,

but he was
a very serious actor,

and the captain had to have
a little humor.

And I think that was
one of the problems.

He didn't feel comfortable
with comedy.

[Grandy] There was
a different cruise director.

The girl wasn't working,

and the network looked at that
and went,

"Eh, I don't think so."

And the second pilot
didn't go.

Here's the problem.
ABC gets the pilot again,

and they air it,
and it's just not quite right.

So they didn't go ahead
with the show.

And Doug Cramer
was dejected.

He was
standing outside

ABC President
Brandon Stoddard's office,

really close to tears,

because this project
meant so much to him.

And Aaron Spelling
saw that.

And so,
Aaron walked into ABC and said,

"As the key producer
at ABC,

give us
a third chance."

Almost unheard of.

And so they gave
Aaron and Doug a last chance.

"Get it right this time."

The network never does
three pilots.

I don't know
of any other show

that had that many chances
at failure.

Normally, if you make a pilot,
it doesn't go,

you're out of the sketch,
it's over.

So we did a third one,

and we took another shot
at casting it.

We just couldn't seem
to get it right.

They agreed that Bernie Kopell
was good as the doctor.

You're the doctor.

And I'll be back
with your prescription.

Bernie was known
around town.

He'd been on shows
like Get Smart

and The Doris Day Show,

Bewitched and others.

So Bernie Kopell,
who played the doctor,

one of the great characters,
one of my favorite shows.

That Fred Grandy
was a great find as Gopher.

Going a little heavy
on the cologne, aren't you?

No, just gave myself
the usual dab.

With what, a mop?

I guess Gopher was
a comic foil

for the most part,

and dreamed of being
sweetly dangerous

among the women
and never was.

I usually got all the animals,
you know,

like the chimps and the dogs,
and a snake once.

Ted Lange was wonderful
as Isaac.

-Hi, I'm Alan Bundy.
-Hi, I'm Isaac Washington.

He didn't have to audition
for the show.

Apparently, he just went
into Doug Cramer's office

and answered a question
about being seasick.

He asked me if I got sick,
I said, "no."

-And then got a big contract.
-And he said, "That's it."

I, on the other hand,

had nine
or ten auditions,

and had to provide proof
of citizenship and a urine test.

You just need a captain
and a cruise director.

And so,
the search was on.

[dynamic melody playing]

Aaron Spelling, who had

all the muscle
in the world,

said, Mary Tyler Moore is over.

I'm going to go to Gavin MacLeod
and offer him this show.

My agent called
and said,

Aaron Spelling wants you
to do

this thing called
The Love Boat.

He says, "I think it sucks,
but do you want to read it?"

I said, "sure."

So, I invited Gavin to my house
and talked to him.

Aaron said, "Okay, they're going
to have big stars."

I said, "wow."

And these five regulars?
"Wow."

And the captain?
"Double wow."

He said, "I'm yours."

[upbeat music playing]

Gavin McLeod?
That's brilliant casting.

But that's why Aaron
is so good at what he does.

And Gavin McLeod is perfect.

Gavin was always
so fabulous,

and such a great state
of mind.

I mean,
he was just up all the time.

The character
of Julie McCoy was

the bête noire
for the casting people,

and they couldn't get
the right actress.

Candy Spelling,
Aaron's wife,

takes credit
for saying to Aaron,

"What about that girl who was
in that Starsky and Hutch

and that Charlie's Angels
that you made?"

Because Lauren Tewes
had indeed done an episode

of Charlie's Angels
and of Starsky and Hutch.

And so, they called in
22-year-old Lauren Tewes.

Now, she was
a really struggling actress.

She was driving
on a flat tire,

and had a blowout
the night before.

She was really on her last dime
as a struggling actress.

And she got the part.

But it was out of desperation,
it was down to the wire.

She got the part because
they were literally shooting

the next day.

[Ted Lange]
Literally the day before.

The day
before we go to shoot.

[Colucci] And I think she had
to borrow money to fix the tire

on her car to get herself
to the Queen Mary in Long Beach,

where the show would start
shooting that third pilot

the very next morning.

I'm Julie McCoy,
your cruise director,

also your girl Friday,

and your all-around chief cook
and bottle washer.

Everybody was so surprised

that we were even making
a third pilot.

And Gavin did like this,
"We'll run for ten years."

Man, oh man,
this guy's delusional.

When the third Love Boat pilot
aired as a TV movie...

...it had enormous ratings.

It was undeniable
that this was a concept

that people wanted
to watch.

For some reason,

the mix of the five of us
gelled.

And so, it finally got
the green light to go to series.

[bright melody playing]

So we gave them
13 episodes.

[Colucci] It must have been
a huge relief

to Doug Cramer
and Aaron Spelling,

after they put their necks
on the line

to get three pilots made.

And so,
it went right into production.

At that time,
there was no real show

dedicated to romance.

[Lange] You had these young,
hot girls,

young, hot guys,
going on a cruise,

falling in love.

And for some reason,
that hit a nerve.

And so, we put that on the air
at the end of Saturday night.

But back then,
Saturday was actually

a hot night of television.

That meant that
the hottest shows were on,

which was things
like The Bob Newhart Show

and The Carol Burnett Show.

And in fact,
The Love Boat

gets scheduled
on Saturdays.

It's going up against
The Carol Burnett show.

Everybody was
in a panic.

I mean, nobody looked at ABC
on Saturday night.

Everybody thought,
"Well, all right,

this is going to be a show,
goes for a bit, dies."

It was a paycheck.

You know, the people
who resented it the most

were the television critics
across the country,

they hated these shows.

"It's-- it'll sink
like the Titanic."

-"Down like the Titanic."
-Sink like the Titanic.

[Grandy] "It's banal

and trite and stupid.

And if it weren't
for Aaron Spelling,

it would be
in a watery grave."

The show was never going to be
a critical hit.

And we understood this.

But it was instantaneously
a popular hit.

And believe me,
in this business,

if you have to choose one,
you choose the popular hit.

We began, I believe,
in 1977.

At that time,
television was mostly

situation comedies
and evening dramas.

It was
just so silly.

Three different stories playing,

and almost everybody
who left the ship

at the end of the cruise
was engaged.

You are definitely invited
to the wedding.

Wedding?

Everyone's problems
could be wrapped up

within the space
of an episode.

-Well, Isaac. Gopher.
-Hi. Walter.

Thank you
for a very inventive cruise.

You're welcome.

And so, that was
a whole new way

of doing
a TV show.

The Love Boat
started something new.

Each episode would consist

of three, or four sometimes,
stories.

There were three writing teams
that would write

the three different storylines
per episode.

So, each of those writers
were really able to concentrate

on their own little
one-act play.

There would be
one melodramatic story.

Sally, wait a minute.
Sally, you don't understand.

Oh, believe me, I understand.

There would be
a romantic comedy story.

You're the one
who interests me.

Why don't we go back
to my cabin

and discuss it over a drink?

And then there would be
a slapstick comedy story.

[audience laughing]

That combination

of romance and escapism

was absolutely unique.

I really thought
that boat was real.

I thought
it was amazing.

The Love Boat
is a fantasy set

on what people think
a cruise ship was like

in the 1970s
and 1980s.

Now, you have to remember
that cruising,

after World War II,
was totally out of fashion.

At the time,
the cruise industry was dying.

Then they started saying,
"Okay, now we're going to film

an entire episode
on a real ship,

on a cruise to Mexico."

As far as shooting
on a ship,

there were always conditions

that we had to deal with.

To actually shoot
on a cruise ship

the first time
is a daunting challenge.

We ran
into some problems

that we could not
have anticipated.

The real passengers
on the ship

were not particularly delighted

to have large camera cables
and lights

and people disrupting
their vacation.

The ceilings of these ships
were very low.

The lights were so close
to the ceiling,

they set off
the sprinkler system.

[laughs] So, you know...

the flaming baked Alaska parade
was drowned out.

We had one cruise

from San Francisco up to Alaska,
and we hit...

a tremendous gale.

And the ship was listing
like this.

They were putting out barf bags
in the lobby,

because everybody
was sick.

It was undeniable

that this was a concept
that people wanted to watch.

So that meant,
"Okay, now we have to make

26 episodes of this
every year."

The Love Boat
became this machine

that devoured guest stars.

Make way for
the star of my son's show.

Mom!

If you were anybody
in the 1970s,

you wanted to be a guest star
on The Love Boat.

They were
the first show

to not only have guest stars
on the show,

but have guest stars clamoring
to be on the show.

It was fun to go down
to the set

and say,
"Who's shooting today?"

"Oh my God, I turn around
and I'm in a scene

with Ginger Rogers,
and we're dancing."

-Vincent Price.
-Richard Roundtree.

-Florence Henderson.
-Alan Thicke.

-Joan Fontaine.
-John Ritter.

-Eva Marie Saint.
-Mark Harmon.

-Milton Berle.
-Craig Stevens.

-Ernest Borgnine.
-Colleen Dewhurst.

-Ray Milland.
-Shirley Jones.

Cesar Romero.

Betty White, oh my God.
Betty White.

-Bob Guillaume.
-Olivia de Havilland.

-Debbie Reynolds.
-Hayley Mills, Elizabeth Ashley.

-Charo.
-Koochi, koochi, koochi!

One smart cookie.

Peter Graves.

Don Ameche
came on the show.

There were just so many
fun guest casts every week.

Part of the fun
of The Love Boat

was seeing who was going
to show up.

That's part
of why we tuned in

Saturday nights
at nine o'clock.

It was
a lifetime of show business

compressed into eight
or nine seasons of television.

We'd get casting lists,

suggestions from Doug Cramer
or Aaron Spelling.

We would have to tell them
which ones were still living.

Aaron Spelling said
early on,

"We're going to honor
old stars."

[Colucci]
Aaron Spelling and Doug Cramer

were just fans of old movies.

And so, they were excited
to get to bring

some of these people back
for a victory lap.

And for some of these people,
it would end up

being the last thing
they ever did.

You know what else was good
about working with old timers?

Is their professionalism.

Greer Garson.

Big MGM movie star,
came on the set.

She knew
everybody's name.

She knew
the cameraman's name.

You know,
I mean, that's old school.

You know, somebody
like Ray Bolger does the show.

He comes not just to do
his role,

but he's got
all of these stories to tell.

Have yourself
a wonderful cruise.

I'm sure I will,
I'm sure I will.

It was really
one of those things

where you just have
to pinch yourself,

where you're sitting between
Lana Turner and Ann Baxter,

and you don't know
which way to turn,

because they had
such great stories.

[Colucci] Now, Lana was,
at that point,

a little bit frail.

She plays this woman
who meets Stewart Granger,

who is managing
the musical group Menudo,

-including Ricky Martin.
-Oh, I love soccer.

The young men can't play,
Mrs. Raley.

She's like,
"Let me show you some moves!"

Well, let's go, boys,
I'll show you how it's done.

Come on, I'll teach you.

And she's, like,
kicking the soccer ball.

She can barely walk
at this point in real life,

but it's this old white lady
kicking a soccer ball

to this Latin group
of boys,

and they were like,
"Wow, you're really good."

So Lana Turner
taught Menudo

everything they needed to know
about soccer,

that's believable.

[ship horn blowing]

The Love Boat
very carefully made sure

there was something
for everybody.

If you had Betty White
in an episode

that was appealing
to an older audience,

you had Scott Baio, that was
appealing to the teenagers.

And you would find
Tom Hanks,

or Courteney Cox,

or Michael J. Fox,
or Kathy Bates,

or Jamie Lee Curtis,

playing alongside
Luise Rainer.

And you'd get to see
the only time

these people would probably ever
get to share a screen together.

Lauren Tewes, on a break,
went up

to Ruth Gordon and said,
"Miss Gordon, I'm such a fan.

I loved you
in Harold and Maude,

but I have to ask,
why are you doing this?

Is it
for the visibility?

Is it for-- to get
a new set of fans?"

And Ruth Gordon's answer was,
[bleep] the visibility,

I need new drapes.

[producer laughing]

So, sometimes the actors
were doing it

for a very mundane reason,
the paycheck.

And the paychecks were good
on The Love Boat.

What do you remember most
about the show?

What did you love most
about it?

The money was so great.

I tell you,
I got so rich doing that show.

Sometimes in order to get
a big star on the show,

Aaron had to be
very generous.

There might have been
some bribes

strung in there
along the way.

Jackie Smith
from Charlie's Angels,

She didn't want to do
our show.

And so, Aaron says,
"What's your favorite car?"

She said "Jaguar, green."

She got a Jaguar, green.

I don't feel
somehow deprived

because Aaron never bought me
a car.

All he did was fly me
around the world first-class.

One of the things
about The Love Boat,

where there was
a little bit of a slush fund,

was when it came
to wardrobe.

[soft piano playing]

And it was really
a training ground

for Aaron and Doug's
later show, Dynasty.

When there would be
a big star coming on board,

money was no object.

Aaron would be like,
"Make it work.

We'll figure out
how to pay for it."

We were known as a company
that used guest stars

and took care
of guest stars.

We sent a limo
to pick them up.

They had a dressing room
with red carpet.

But they appreciated
the treatment.

Word got out, and word got out
that if you do this show,

it will bring you visibility
with a whole new audience.

It may help boost your comeback
that you're looking to do.

It also will certainly be
a great experience.

They will treat you well,
everything is first class.

It's first class hair
and makeup,

it's first class wardrobe.

They have
all the tricks of the trade,

the wigs, the tape,
anything you need

to make you look
your absolute best.

So that was really
a lure

for a lot
of old Hollywood.

That was part of the selling
point of the show,

everybody was glamorous.

You knew
you were going to look great

and be dressed well.

The attitude was gratitude
on that show.

And it really began

to spread the reputation
for the show.

I mean, there were always
certain actors,

"So I'm not going to do
Love Boat, that's beneath me,"

but very few.

They also realized
that the stories they were doing

were not Shakespeare.

And the crew's stories
would be silly.

And they were okay
with it.

I love you, Coral,
but I have to let you go.

[somber piano music]

[echoing] Alan! I love you!

[ship horn blowing]

[The Love Boat
theme song playing]

The Love Boat
had kind of the air

of an MGM musical to it.

And they said,

"Why don't we actually do
a musical?"

"The Follies" is the ultimate
Love Boat episode.

They got Hollywood
and Broadway royalty

to act out this show.

It features

Della Reese, Ethel Merman,

Carol Channing, Ann Miller,

Van Johnson, Cab Calloway.

That's six legends from Broadway
and from Hollywood,

still able to be
at the top of their game.

[Kim Friedman] They would
rehearse musical numbers

like we were doing
a Broadway show.

And I said, "Well, you know,
we can leave it.

They said,
"No, we want to do it again,

and again, and again."

They were perfectionists.

The one
who can sit the longest

without moving wins.

They said Ethel Merman was kind
of near the end of her life

and would sit and slump over
in the director's chair.

But when they called action,
it was, you know, curtain up!

I mean, Ethel Merman
played my mother.

I sang "You're the Top"
with her.

Who's going to get
to do that?

♪ But if, baby,
I'm the bottom ♪

♪ You're the top ♪

[audience applauding]

They were incredible
to work with.

They got it.

They knew
what they were there for.

They were in
on the joke.

It is an amazing episode
to watch.

[audience applauding]

The show
was always looking

for more and more high-profile
guest stars,

particularly
in the 9th season,

when the show was suffering
a ratings decline.

And Doug Cramer,
he had this idea,

let's have Andy Warhol on
as a guest star.

-Hello, I'm...
-...Andy Warhol.

Maybe my favorite guest star
we had on the show

was Andy Warhol.

And of course,
he was a legend by then.

I've read all about you.

Andy was a character.

Very shy, very, very shy.

Andy was extremely shy.

And people were afraid of him,
intimidated.

But one of the reasons
he was shy

is he was intimidated,
by the cameras

and by the process
of television.

He was so nervous,
he couldn't speak.

The moment
they would yell "action,"

he would lose his voice
and clam up.

And he was shaking,
he was terribly nervous.

Hi, Marina.

[audience laughing]

So, we had another actor

play his assistant.

And gave him
most of Andy's lines...

[William Bickley]
...who would speak for Andy.

If you don't mind, please.

So that Andy
could just stand there

and croak out
maybe a thank you and nod.

-Thanks.
-[audience laughing]

So they have Andy Warhol,
but barely saying anything

because he was so nervous,
which is very endearing.

Hi.

Rachel Johnson,
reporting for her first cruise.

I certainly hope
it won't be your last.

Are you trying to tell me
the captain is a rotten driver?

A story
that I keep thinking about,

because of the political climate
we live in these days,

was an episode in which
Mackenzie Phillips

came on the ship.

And she had been
an old college pal

of Gopher's
when she was a man.

Oh, that's funny,
I had a roommate

my freshman year
named Ray Johnson.

I mean,
you are Ray's sister, right?

Gopher, I am Ray.

I'm your old college roommate,
Ray Johnson.

So she had had

a profound
sex change operation

and was now a woman.

Well, it's obvious
that I'm embarrassing you.

-No, I'm not embarrassed.
-Oh, no?

Well, then how can you
keep looking around

to see if anyone can overhear
our conversation?

I'm not doing that.

I really thought I could hang on
to some of my old friends.

You proved me wrong, though.

You're doing a show about that
on The Love Boat?

We were good friends in college,
we had a lot of laughs together.

Now, why shouldn't I like you,
just because you're...

just because
you're a woman.

That was
the beauty of our show.

We could tackle anything

and get a message over
about compassion

and empathy and tolerance.

All of that was
in our show.

-Okay, you can come out now.
-Are you traveling alone?

Oh, I'm with my partner,
I'm in men's clothing.

Oh, I certainly hope so.

Otherwise,
I'd be very embarrassed.

It was,
I think to some degree,

very forward-looking
and very unlike what we did...

I'm very lucky
to have a friend like you.

No, I'm the lucky one.

...but it was handled
with respect and grace.

[Gopher] Passengers taking
the Puerto Vallarta tour,

please report to the desk
in the purser's lobby

at 11:00 a.m.,
hey, that's 11 a.m.,

and this is
Burl "the Pearl" Smith saying

"Thanks for listening."

The third season,
they began to say,

"Why not the world?

Why don't we go to Australia?

Why don't we go to Greece
and the Mediterranean?

Why don't we go
to England,

and Norway, and Copenhagen,
and places like that?

And eventually,
why don't we become

the first show
to ever go to China?"

[Colucci] And for a lot of us

who didn't have
the means to travel,

or a lot of Americans
at that time

didn't have passports,

this was introducing
new parts of the world

to our living rooms
every week

from the comfort
of our easy chairs.

They took you
around the world

to these beautiful places.

[Bickley] Whenever
we were shooting overseas,

you would have thought they were
the Beatles or something.

There were
huge crowds of fans,

and we were treated
like royalty, by the way.

All those years traveling
all over the world,

first-class,
and all we had to do

was know our lines
and hit our marks.

When there was travel involved,

it was first-class
to a whole other level.

Not only are you going to go
on a real cruise,

you get to bring
your family.

Not only you get
to bring your family,

you all fly first class.

You'll go places
where American tourists

don't normally get to go,
because the show has such clout.

And so,
when you go to China,

you'll go to the Forbidden City.

When you go to Egypt,

you'll get a private tour
of the pyramids.

[Grandy] I think one of the
things that bonded us together

is we all traveled
together,

and that was true
of the guest stars too.

Many of them that went with us
have very fond memories.

We got to go
through the Panama Canal.

I mean, come on,
how can you say no to that?

[Colucci] But also,
you would be shooting

maybe one or two days
out of the seven-day cruise.

The rest of the time was yours,
and it was all expenses paid.

It was so much fun
on this magnificent ship.

It was something
they didn't want to turn down.

[upbeat disco music playing]

The thing
about the '70s and '80s

that you have
to keep in mind now

is that
it was a party time.

It was great fun,
because they'd shoot all day,

and then
we'd all party at night.

[Grandy] "Was there drinking
on the ship?"

Yes, people go
on these ships to drink,

and that's true
to this day.

We'd party together,
we'd get drunk together,

we'd have dinner together,

you'd think
we'd get tired of each other.

There was a party atmosphere
in many cases,

particularly, you know,
when you had

all of these high-priced players
working together.

It was actors, it would be
writers or producers,

people across the board

just letting loose,
it's letting your hair down.

There was
a disco on every ship,

and that was usually filled
at night,

and there was
a casino.

As Fred liked to say,
"Our relationship lasted longer

than our first marriages,"

which is true.

Let's face it, I mean,
this is a business

where a lot of people use
controlled substances

in one way, shape,
or form.

[serious tone playing]

Lauren Tewes,
she really made headlines

when she was fired
from The Love Boat ostensibly

for having
a drug problem.

For me,
it was an issue with cocaine

when it was
a popular drug,

but if you ask anybody,
I was the only one doing it.

In all of Hollywood,
it was just me.

[Friedman] Lauren Tewes was
ridiculously let go.

Everybody was doing drugs,
every actor, every crew member.

A lot of men were caught
at the time

and didn't get fired.

They got suspended,
they got reprimanded.

It was bad.

It was a different time.

I was a woman,
so I was blacklisted for that.

In those days...

if you did that kind of thing,
you were punished.

You didn't get help.

I really wanted somebody
to say,

"You need help,
can we help you?"

Unfortunately,
by the time she made headlines

for having a drug problem,
she actually was in recovery.

But also, she was playing
this goody-two-shoes,

The Love Boat character,
you know,

so I guess maybe they were
worried about the brand,

but it wasn't right,
you know?

My one regret
about her situation

was that
I never really

came forward and defended
and supported her

in a way
that we should have, so...

there is
some regret there,

at least
as far as I'm concerned.

Fans loved Julie McCoy.

It's Julie, it's Julie!

Sylvia!

The pressure was there
to bring back Julie,

and so,
she did come back.

She was
so untimely thrust

into this very highly
visible role

on this phenomenally
successful show.

Much was expected of her.

There was
a lot of fussing about her hair

and the size
of her breasts.

We were there at 10 o'clock
at night,

cutting her hair,
changing the color,

working her over,
redoing her.

And that can be

terrifying
for a young woman.

I'm proud now
to have been a part of it,

and I'm glad to be part
of American history

and American television.

Any show,
as it goes on through the years,

starts to show
its age.

The formula wears thin.

The fluff element
of The Love Boat

wasn't necessarily going
to play

to young audiences who wanted
younger and hipper.

And so,
just as The Love Boat

had reinvented TV
in its own way,

and now
a new generation was coming.

And so,
they needed to do things

in the later days of
The Love Boat to spice it up

and to bring in
particularly younger viewers.

They brought in Ted McGinley,
a very successful change.

[both] Ace!

Incredibly good-looking guy,

tall, muscular, blond.

He was just like, oh, come on,
this is not a real human.

On screen and off,
just heart-stopping good looks.

Is there an imperfection
that you see

when you look
in the mirror?

A couple little things
that bug me.

You know,
they tried to do things

to revive

the thing
that they had at the opening.

But you can't do that.

Aaron thought
it was saveable.

And we had a meeting
at his house.

His very expensive house.

And listened to him
pitch the idea

that he thought
would save The Love Boat.

"We're going to add girls,
like the Ziegfeld Follies."

[Bickley]
Not gross sex.

Sexy, but not gross sex.

Ziegfeld Follies,
that is not a young, hip idea.

That is like the oldest,
creakiest idea

you could possibly
think of.

So that was
Aaron's contribution.

So, they brought in
The Love Boat mermaids.

Amy.

[in chorus] Dance!

[in chorus] Dance!

[audience applauding]

At one point,
they tried to bring a dog on.

We had a dog,
that little, white, husky dog.

-What's her name?
-Tundra.

That's because
she reminds us of Alaska.

And her nose is cold, too.

Sadly, the dog
was not a good actor.

[whimpering]

We needed, what--

We needed another dog story
to add to the other three?

No. [laughs]

By the time
Love Boat

really found its audience,

there was an entire new industry
that was created.

[Colucci] Now, at the time,
there were very few ships

sailing the oceans,
because it was viewed

as old-fashioned
to take a cruise.

The Love Boat
completely flipped that.

And so,
cruises exploded in popularity.

The show was wonderful
for the cruise industry.

Princess Cruises
are still reaping the reward.

Every cruise line
still is reaping the reward

of the Love Boat
being on the air.

If you look at the statistics
of how many people

took cruises pre-Love Boat
and post-Love Boat,

it was
a game-changer.

Princess Cruises,
which I think had

reluctantly taken on

the sponsorship of this show,
I think realized,

this is the most successful
product placement experiment

in the history of media.

It was essentially
a weekly commercial

for 10 or 11 years for
the cruise industry in general,

and Princess Cruises
in particular.

Because of that, Princess,
which had two small ships,

now I think Princess has
18 ships.

And today,
these ships accommodate

between 3,500
and 4,000 passengers.

And the Pacific Princess
that we were on

could fit inside
these ships.

[heartfelt piano playing]

By the end of the ninth season,
Fred Grandy had already decided

in season nine that
he wanted to leave the show.

[audience applauding]

This has been
a great run for me.

Nine years on Love Boat.

I've had everything
that I ever wanted

out of a television show.

He also didn't see
his future in showbiz.

As he said, "I was now like
the fifth banana on a series,

so what was the future
for me?

I wanted to try
to get a show

where I could be
the fourth banana?"

It ran out of gas.

TV has a shelf life.

After losing Julie
and seeing ratings drop,

they were now going
to lose Gopher

and see ratings drop,

and so,
ABC finally pulled the plug

on The Love Boat
after season nine.

I really shut down
when it was over.

Anyway, that's show business,
so what do you do?

You just go,
you just roll with it.

And you think that
it's going to go on forever.

The Love Boat,
which was predicted to sink

like the Titanic
by every television critic,

went on to do nine years
and six weeks.

It lasted
a long time,

and had
enormous ratings.

It was a phenomenon

that I don't think
any of us saw coming.

Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome
to the Captain's Farewell Party.

This is
our last night on board

before we arrive
in Los Angeles tomorrow,

and I hope you all had
a wonderful cruise.

[audience applauding]

I think there is...

a kind of bittersweet nostalgia
for the show

for a lot of people
that say,

"Oh, I remember
the world then,

and I remember
The Love Boat then,

and it's too bad
it's not like that anymore,

but at least
we still have this."

Just the phrase, The Love Boat,
the opening bars of the song,

it brings us all back
to that same place.

You feel like you could
practically smell the salt air.

A lot of the people
that are now

quite well-known
in the business, for example,

Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey,

and people who I've worked for
on their shows,

grew up
with The Love Boat.

It wasn't too trite or banal
for them.

It was
a Saturday night experience,

and that's why I think
the show now has

at least three generations
of followers.

And I still am very grateful
for that,

because it changed everything
in my life.

It gave me
a bank account.

And it also,

and this is something
about The Love Boat

that unfortunately,

I think is unique,

is it makes you
feel good,

and there just aren't that many
shows that do that anymore.

♪ You're the sail
on my love boat ♪

♪ You're the captain
and crew ♪

♪ I'd be lost without you ♪

[ship horn blowing]

[jazz melody playing]