"The Love Boat" is the first of three made for TV movies and eventually it became a TV series. Why three? Because they really had trouble getting the formula right...and that's REALLY obvious in this first pilot movie. The chemistry simply isn't right...for a variety of reasons. First, the crew is pretty much faceless or annoying. The Doctor, who is perpetually chasing skirts, is oddly played by Dick Van Patten...the LAST person you'd expect in such a role. As for most of the rest of the cast....they simply aren't interesting and offered little to like or dislike...they were just there. Second, the writing and acting is very broad....even compared to the TV series. Many times, the characters seem like caricatures and subtle they are NOT. Among these annoying passengers are Stan (Gabe Kaplan) who 'falls in love' with a woman he just met, Arnold (Jimmy Baio) who is a super ill-behaved and annoying brat*, Monica (Florence Henderson) who is completely obsessed with her MANY pets so that's ALL she talks about, George (Tom Bosley) who is a rich slob who later goes fishing off the side of the ship, as well as Ellen (Karen Valentine) whose only real attributes are that she's lost her luggage and is a klutz...and a secret. If it sounds like their parts were way underwritten and broad, well, you'd be right. Poor writing really made it obvious why the networks said 'thanks, but no thanks' to the first pilot. In fact, had I been in their shoes I never would have considered seeing the second pilot!
By the way, when this show was made, Princess Cruises had three ships--each with a capacity of about 700. Today, they are 15 ships and have capacities of 2500 or more for most ships. Also, unlike the TV series which took place on the Pacific Princess, this one is on the Sun Princess.
*Any child THIS annoying would have been put off the ship at the first available port along with the rest of the family. He wasn't funny...just annoying and hateful.
