Alas, Poor Dwyer/After the War/Itsy Bitsy/Ticket to Ride/Disco Baby: Part 1

I really recommend this episode! It actually is one of the mist modern episodes of the series. Excellent photography, landscapes and not to mention the great script. We need shows like this one now days. Fun dancing scenes, deep inner conflicts and struggles, forgiveness, reconciliation, funny scenes. Hope the shows today had this ingredients contrast with the negative and misandristic and negative content of now days!

It us pretty moving the scenes of the friends bring vulnerable with each other. The restauración between old relationships.

Also, the guy who use to play Gilligan has a cameo this time in a quiet way.

Anyway great show, great episode.

I graduated high school in 1983, so I remember so many of the fashions and fads and guest stars in this episode.

It also takes me back to how much more sexist we used to be as a society. The story line where Doc is so repelled by a strong, healthy woman who isn't a size 4, when he is a skinny, balding middle aged man himself...really??

Pretty good story lines, better than usual scenery, but as a PP pointed out, Bob Denver and Christopher George as former high school classmates of Lisa Hartman-Black and Lauren Tewes? Yeah....right.

Satin disco pants, feathered hair, big perms...it's all here. These early episodes are much more enjoyable than the later ones, IMHO. Next to the two parter with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and Ginger Rogers, this is probably my favorite episode, just for the walk down memory lane.

This episode is nothing but fat shaming on steroids and the character in question isn't even overweight. Pretty much unwatchable because it's so out of date . The episodes are often sexist but this is really bad.

At least once a season, the show would go all out and actually film aboard the Pacific Princess or one of her identical sisters. Usually a two-hour (or two-part) episode, you'd see the crew all over the actual decks of the ship instead of on obvious sets, and they'd film with the Mexican destinations as actual, real-world backgrounds. These would be Sweeps Week episodes that they were willing to spend extra money on. Often, they'd deal with deeper character issues, and they were usually among the better episodes.

This one is one of those.

However, come on. Most of the guest cast is supposed to be playing high school classmates of Julie's, who is presumably around 28 years old, so 10 years out of high school. It is said that they're not all the same graduating year, but they all appear to know each other, so they're intended to be around the same age.

However, the actors playing the characters vary WILDLY in age from early 20s to late 40s or beyond. It's a trope of TV and movies for much older actors to play younger characters, but in what world are Christopher George and Bob Denver in any way believable as contemporaries of Lisa Hartman? They're both plausible old enough to be her father.

Of course, it's The Love Boat, so the whole thing is kind of farcical, but really.

First the (small) negatives:

This episode is definitely dated as disco is prominently featured and several of the lines about fat women are cringeworthy. Bitsy isn't that much heavier than the other women, but in the end it shouldn't matter. Even though it is hard to hear today, the lesson of people going around judging someone based upon their weight being wrong is delivered well.

The cast is a bit light on big stars with having only Raymond Burr and Bob Denver, and there are many others I don't recognize at all.

The positives:

This episode is very well written, facing head on many issues in society that were definitely not romantic in nature. It has intense moments that make you truly believe in the struggles of these people and the emotions you can feel as you watch. I have watched many Love Boat episodes, and this one is amongst the very best in its content.