Trivia / The Love Boat

• Acting for Two:
  • Gavin MacLeod also plays the captain's brothers when they visit the ship, as well as a jewel thief impersonating Stubing in a scene of one episode.
  • A trip to Italy has Gopher briefly replaced by a lookalike, also played by Fred Grandy.
  • A dream episode set in World War II at first indicates Doc (Bernie Kopell) is a German spy. It turns out to be a Master of Disguise posing as Doc.
  • Luise Rainer played both a socialite and her long-lost twin sister, who was a maid on the boat.
  • An episode of The Next Wave has Doc Parker exhausted by a woman who seems to bounce between personas and always eager for sex. It's not until the passengers disembark that he realizes he's been seeing a pair of identical twin sisters, played by one actress.
• Completely Different Title: In France, the series is titled La croisière s'amuse ("The Cruise has Fun").
• Creator Backlash: In their interviews with the Archive of American Television, both Doris Roberts and Randy Mantooth expressed embarrassment at having appeared on the show.
• Directed by Cast Member: Ted Lange, who plays Isaac Washington, also directed twelve episodes.
• Edited for Syndication: The version of "The Starmaker" on the DVD set and Amazon streaming omits the scene where Isaac performs "He's So Shy" with The Pointer Sisters. Seeing as how this performance was the entire point of the plot, its removal did not amuse fans.
• He Also Did: Shortly after the final season as a full series; Fred Grandy successfully ran for a Congressional seat in his native Iowa; eventually holding the seat for four terms before giving it up to make an unsuccessful run for Governor in 1994 (being defeated by incumbent Terry Branstad in the Republican primary); later becoming CEO of Goodwill Industries for five years, hosting a conservative talk show in Washington, D.C. and most recently working with the right-leaning Center for Security Policy think tank as a Senior Fellow.
• The Other Darrin: The first pilot movie had an entirely different cast playing the ship's crew.
• Prop Recycling: For over a decade, the final fate of the Pacific Princess (the ship used in the show) was anyone's guess, appearing to be set for scrapping, restoration, or continued use by various companies. The vessel was taken to Turkey for demolition in 2013. Tragically, it didn't go well at all.
• Referenced by...: In Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, after the Turbo Rangers fight the Putra Pods on the Ghost Galleon, Tanya Sloan quips "This sure ain't The Love Boat." This prompts Justin Stewart to ask her, "What's The Love Boat?".
• Stunt Casting:
  • Over the years, the show had earned a notorious reputation as "the show washed-up celebrities guest star on". Virtually every guest star was a name actor, including Billy Barty and Patty Maloney as a dwarf couple accompanied by their normal-height son.
  • One episode was a treat for fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show as Richard Deacon plays a psychiatrist on vacation, with Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, and Jerry Van Dyke as three of his patients who come along as a surprise.
• Written by Cast Member: Bernie Kopell, who plays Dr. Adam Bricker, helped write five episodes, the Season 1 episode 17 segment "Isaac's History Lesson", the Season 2 episode 6 "Mike and Ike" and "The Kissing Bandit" segments, Season 2 episode 12 segment "The Folks from Home", the Season episode 23 segment "Funny Valentine", and the Season 7 episode segment "Bricker's Boy".

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