L is for : The Love Boat!!

(First off, let me start by saying how sorry I am that I haven't had the time to get around to visit or respond to the comments here. Know that I truly appreciate each and every one and I'll be around soon...I promise! Now, on with the show..... )

It was a very familiar tune on Saturday nights. For those of us who actually watched t.v. on Saturday nights, that is.

The Love Boat was an Aaron Spelling production that ran on ABC from 1977 to 1986. It starred Gavin MacLeod (as Captain Merril Stubing), Bernie Kopell (as Doctor Adam Bricker), Fred Grandy (as Yeoman Purser Burl "Gopher" Smith), Ted Lange (as Bartender Isaac Washington), and Lauren Tewes (as Cruise Director Julie McCoy) and the plots (usually there were three stories per show) revolved around different guest stars and their character's romantic escapades.

And, speaking of guest stars, in the nine years this show was on the air, I think almost every actor who ever graced a screen, large or small, made a guest appearance. Everyone from Milton Berle to Hulk Hogan graced the Pacific Princess and 'climbed aboard for a new romance'.

As with most things, though, the show began to go downhill (in my opinion) with the introduction of Capt. Stubing's daughter, Vicki (played by Jill Whelan). Also, near the end of the series, a replacement was brought in for Laruen Tewes' Julie (your Cruise Director) McCoy in the person of Patricia Klous, playing Juile's sister, Judy. It's always been my experience that when a show starts mixing up the cast, adding here, dropping there, it's a sure sign that things are on a downswing.

Now, when Ted McGinley shows up....you know you're sunk...no pun intended. It wasn't soon after Ashley (seriously?) "Ace" Covington Evans, the ship's photographer and resident pretty boy appeared, did the Pacific Princess dock for the last time.

It was a fun show, while it lasted and one of the best things about it was seeing old stars you hadn't seen in, literally, decades and watching them mixing and mingling with Hollywood's next generation. Sure the stories were a bit hackneyed and formulaic, even doing "crossover" segments with other shows such as Charlie's Angels and Fantasy Island , but they were still a lot of fun and more imaginative than almost any sort of "reality" show you'll find littering the airwaves today.

Honorable Mentions: Laverne and Shirley, The Lone Ranger, Lost in Space.

Tune in tomorrow for......well, I'm not quite sure, actually. To be honest, I only had up to today's prepped (show pick, pictures, etc.) so tomorrow is up in the air. I have four contenders for "M" and, since that'll put us midway into this crazy blog-a-thon, I'm going to make you...my awesome commentors...do the heavy lifting. Don't worry, it's not too heavy of lifting, but I'd like you to cast your vote for one of the following:

• Magnum P.I
• M.A.N.T.I.S
• Manimal
• MacGuyver

If there's a tie (or I don't get any comments...which is entirely possible :) ) I'll randomly draw one from a hat. 

No, I swear I will!

Until then.....