The Love Boat

Exciting and new...come aboard, we're expecting you.

In 1977, television viewers set a course for adventure and put their minds on a new romance as The Love Boat made its maiden voyage. The show was the brainchild of legendary producer Aaron Spelling, who had already given TV history such gems as The Mod Squad, The Rookies, Starsky and Hutch, and Charlie's Angels. Spelling's inspiration was a best-selling memoir penned by Jeraldine Saunders, who at the time was the world's only female cruise director. The book focused on the romantic exploits of a ship's crew; the new series would extend that premise and concentrate on the lives and loves of the passengers as well. A series of specials aired during the 1976-77 viewing season, and the actors which would soon be known as the original crew of the Pacific Princess were featured in a Charlie's Angels episode titled "Love Boat Angels." The regular series launched on ABC Saturday, September 24, 1977.

The Love Boat was a blending of old formulas that turned into an entirely new television concept. Like Love, American Style, each episode contained several comic sketches about love. Like The Fugitive, every week introduced a new group of characters as seen through the eyes of regular characters. The Love Boat, however, combined these elements by presenting several separate storylines and interweaving them with the lives of the core cast members. Since each week's episode centered around a different cruise, every episode opened with the introduction of a new group of passengers and their respective stories.

Several factors combined to make The Love Boat an instant ratings winner. Arguably the most popular was the weekly parade of guest stars, which was truly amazing in its scope. Famous names and faces from the past, like Helen Hayes and Milton Berle, shared deck space and played shuffleboard with up-and-coming talent like Charo and Billy Crystal.

The show's exotic locations were also a major attraction. Episodes were shot both in Hollywood and on board actual Princess Cruise Lines ships during voyages from the Virgin Islands to Alaska. The ship's regular paying passengers were given raffle tickets in exchange for serving as extras, and any cruise where filming took place was sure to be completely booked months in advance. During the run of the series, The Love Boat's destinations included Acapulco, Barcelona, London, Paris, and Sydney; as the series' ratings diminished, the locales grew more and more attractive.

An important part of The Love Boat was its instantly recognizable theme music, written by Charles Fox and Academy Award-winner Paul Williams (who reportedly said "I could find the cure for cancer, but what I'd be remembered for is writing the theme to The Love Boat"). The theme was sung by Jack Jones for the show's first eight years, with Dionne Warwick crooning a new version for the last season.