When people look at the modern television landscape, there is no doubt that there are certain shows that excite people the most. The perfect example of that is loads of fans love Stranger Things so much that as soon as the fourth season finished, viewers wanted to know how much work was completed on the final season.
No matter how popular Stranger Things is today, its cultural impact still pales in comparison to how big of a deal a show like The Love Boat once was. After all, there are now so many viewing options between the traditional networks, streaming services, and online, that shows can't dominate the way they used to.
When The Love Boat was on the air in the '70s and '80s, viewers only had a handful of options they could choose between. On top of that, fans adored The Love Boat partially because it was exciting to learn which celebrities would guest star in each episode.
As cool as it was that so many stars made appearances on The Love Boat, it also has to be noted that most viewers couldn't get enough of the show's main characters. With that in mind, it is fascinating to look at whether the stars of The Love Boat got along.
What Was It Like To Film The Love Boat?
Over the last few decades, it has become increasingly common for show seasons to consist of a lot fewer episodes. A perfect example of that is the fact that all three seasons of the immensely popular show The Mandalorian only consisted of eight episodes.
If you asked the vast majority of today's TV viewers, they would agree that shorter seasons have been a wonderful thing since they allow shows to not feel so dragged out. At the height of The Love Boat's success, however, networks like ABC believed in getting the most bang for their buck.
Since the television mentality in the '70s and '80s was to get as many episodes of each show as they could, seasons of The Love Boat could be long. In fact, the fifth and sixth seasons of the show both consisted of 29 episodes.
One thing that a lot of fans don't realize about what it takes to make movies and TV shows is that there are a lot of extremely long hours. When you factor that in with the fact that there were so many episodes of The Love Boat, the show's cast wound up spending a ludicrous amount of time together.
If it wasn't intense enough that The Love Boat's cast spent endless hours working together, they had to deal with other major sources of stress too. For example, series star Bernie Kopell once told Closer Weekly about when the show's cast was reminded that it could be dangerous on set.
According to Closer Weekly, things got hairy during a 1979 cruise to Alaska when the ship the series was filmed on encountered rough seas off the coast of Washington. During that incident "a stanchion fell and almost hit a guest". Kopell told Closer Weekly about the ship's real captain sending everyone to their rooms and how everyone felt after that barely averted disaster.
“He said, ‘Please go back and reacquaint yourself with your life vest. Everyone was sick — they never showed that on TV!”
If an intense schedule and real dangers weren't enough to make things hard on the cast of The Love Boat, there is one more factor to consider. According to what Fred Grandy told Closer Weekly, the show's cast traveled the world making The Love Boat.
“We went everywhere! It doesn’t seem like a big deal now, but in 1984 we were one of the first shows to actually shoot in China.” As most people already know, traveling together puts a lot of stress on people's relationships.
Is The Cast Of The Love Boat Friends?
After The Love Boat's final special episode aired, the cast led fascinating lives including Ted McGinley who starred in a long list of shows including the underrated current series Shrinking. Still, no matter how much The Love Boat's cast went on to do, they were always linked to each other in millions of people's minds.
Considering that it is clear that making The Love Boat would have been an intense experience for everyone involved, it wouldn't have been shocking if the series' stars hated each other. After all, it is no secret that a lot of co-stars like Nathan Fillion And Stana Katic couldn't stand each other.
If the stars of The Love Boat didn't see eye to eye when they were filming the show, it would have been a pain in the butt to still be linked decades later. Fortunately for the actors who starred in The Love Boat, they adored each other from all accounts.
While speaking to Closer Weekly in 2021, The Love Boat star Lauren Tewes revealed that the show's cast have supported each other ever since they first worked together. “Over the 40-plus years, we have been through marriages, deaths, and divorces. We’ve always backed each other up when we could.”
In 2022, The Love Boat star Ted Lange was interviewed on Breakfast Television where he talked about making the show. During the resulting conversation, Lange described his experience making a previous show and how close The Love Boat's cast became.
"I had done a television series where not everybody in the cast liked each other. So, the great thing about The Love Boat was we all loved each other. We all protected each other. We all thought each other was funny. So, we really had a wonderful time working together."
From there, Lange went on to reveal that The Love Boat's stars have since worked together, and he spoke about whether the show's cast still talked decades later.
"I just shot a pilot episode for Jill, who is now 50 years old. I shot a comedy pilot for her in Los Angeles. So, yes, we all stay in touch. I write plays. Bernie Kopell has been in my plays, and we've done them in L.A. and around the country. Uh, Gavin, I see [him] all the time. Gavin does plays in Palm Springs. So, yeah, we stay in touch. We love each other."
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