The original
1976 made-for-TV movie (titled
The Love Boat, that served as the pilot for the series, was based on the nonfiction book
The Love Boats by
Jeraldine Saunders, a real-life
cruise director for a passenger cruise-ship line. Saunders was also partly inspired by the German cruise ship
MV Aurora. The pilot was followed by two others (titled
The Love Boat II and
The New Love Boat, all of which aired before the series began in September 1977. The one-hour sitcom was set aboard , at the time a real-life
Princess Cruises cruise ship. The
Pacific Princess twin sister vessel was also used for the show, especially if the show's schedule conflicted with
Pacific Princesss cruises or her annual drydocking. Based in the
port of Los Angeles, the ship's regular ports of call were
Puerto Vallarta,
Acapulco and
Mazatlán. The series was primarily filmed on sets in southern
California:
20th Century Fox Studios for seasons one through five, and the
Warner Hollywood Studios for the remainder of the series, and occasionally filmed aboard the actual vessels. Regardless of where the episode was filmed, the actual ship was extensively shown in the
establishing shots. Along with use of the real-life
Pacific Princess and
Island Princess, the series was permitted to use some iconography owned by Princess Cruises. For example, Princess' logo is frequently visible in the establishing shots of the vessels, in the backgrounds of sets and even on props, such as name tags for the ship's crew. However, the ownership of this fictional representation of the
Pacific Princess is never explicitly stated as being Princess Cruises; instead, characters would use terms such as "the line" or "the company" in reference to the entity that owned and operated
Pacific Princess. Episodes set and filmed in
European and
East Asian locations became more frequent instead of the usual
west coasts along the
Pacific shore of
North America as the show continued. They traditionally aired as season premieres or during the
sweeps months of February, May, and November. Ships used in these episodes were: for an
Aegean Sea cruise and an Italian cruise, for a Chinese cruise,
Royal Viking Sky for a
Scandinavian cruise, for an
Iberian cruise, and and for
Caribbean Sea cruises. In 1981, P&O Cruises' line was also used for the two-hour episode "Julie's Wedding", set in and around Australia. The "star of the show", the now-world famous
Pacific Princess, after being renamed MS
Pacific and being sold then owned by another cruise line in Spain, was
scrapped in
Aliağa, Turkey, in 2013 after no further buyer could be found. Her sister ship,
Island Princess, which was later renamed MV
Discovery, was scrapped in
Alang, India in 2015 after she too failed to find a new owner. Both vessels' scrappings were controversial, but the previous owners justified it by saying that they were getting too old to continue operating.
Writing format Every episode contained several storylines, each written by a different set of writers working on one group of guest stars. Thus, episodes have multiple titles referencing its simultaneous storylines, e.g., the first episode of season one is "Captain & the Lady / Centerfold / One If by Land". Each episode typically featured three storylines. Storylines focused on members of the crew, the interactions between passengers and crew members, a single passenger, or interactions between several passengers. The three storylines usually followed a similar thematic pattern: One storyline (typically a "crew" one) was straight-ahead comedy. The second would typically follow more of a romantic comedy format (with only occasional dramatic elements). The third storyline would usually be the most dramatic of the three, often offering few (if any) laughs and a far more serious tone. A common plotline focused on a romance that had gone sour, with the parties reconciling at the end of the episode. On rare occasions, there were crossovers between stories. In one episode, actors
Robert Reed and
Florence Henderson, formerly of
The Brady Bunch, guest-starred in separate segments. In one scene, the two bump into each other at a buffet table, exchange a questioning look, shrug, and continue on their separate ways.
Laugh track The series was also distinctive as being one of the few hour-long series ever made for American television that used a
laugh track.
Theme song and title sequence The Love Boat theme song was composed by
Charles Fox with lyrics by
Paul Williams. It was sung by
Jack Jones in the opening sequence of the first eight seasons and, in a different arrangement, by
Dionne Warwick in the last season and the four specials that followed it.
Charo, who had also recorded and commercially released the song, performed it within the show in one of her guest appearances. The opening sequence of the TV movies featured an instrumental version of the song without the lyrics. Instrumental variations of the song were extensively used throughout the series as
incidental music. The opening sequence for the series underwent three major changes over the years. From seasons one to eight, the opening sequence began with a long shot of the ship in dock before the camera slowly zoomed in onto its bridge area. This was followed by posing shots of the crew members at different points on the ship or the set, revealed with a
weighing anchor graphic wipe. These posing shots were updated several times throughout all seasons due to cast changes. The long shot footage of the ship was used for the credits of the celebrity guest stars. For only the first season, the guest stars were credited by having their names appear on the screen while a radar/compass style circle with four hearts wrapped around them. Beginning with season two (and originally tested in the fifteenth episode of the first season), the compass was graphically put in place and at its center, the guest stars were shown posing for the camera on different parts of the set, the ship or on-location in special episodes, while their names appeared at the bottom of the screen. For the final season, the compass was replaced by a crescent wave and the long shot of the ship was replaced by a montage of the various locations traveled to on the series. At the center of the wave graphic, the guest stars were shown posing for the camera wearing their formal outfits against different colored backgrounds.
Broadcast and syndication The Love Boat aired in reruns on
ABC Daytime from June 30, 1980, to June 12, 1981, and from September 14, 1981, to June 24, 1983, at 11:00 a.m. EST/10:00 CST. The show entered the
syndication market in the United States in September 1983, with
Worldvision Enterprises handling distribution. As an alternative for stations with tight scheduling commitments, Worldvision offered edited 30-minute episodes in addition to the original hour-long programs beginning in the fall of 1986 after the series completed its original run on ABC. It is currently distributed in syndication by its successor
CBS Media Ventures. The series can currently be seen on
MeTV Sunday afternoons at 5:00 PM ET/4:00 PM CT and on sister network
Catchy Comedy Monday through Friday afternoons at 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM CT. Catchy also has done occasional weekend binges of the show as well.
The Love Boat is currently airing 24/7 on its own channel on Pluto TV under the "Classic TV" section, only airing the regular 9 season run. ==Home media==