The Greek cruise:
Beginning like a Pink Panther movie, with a precious diamond stolen from a museum in Istanbul (done without a laugh track, though it merits one) and with a detective (Jamie Farr, "MASH") hot on its trail, the story rattles on with:
old-time movie star Alexis Smith ("Dallas") as a woman from a powerful family sailing with her over-protected daughter (Jan Smithers, " WKRP in Cincinnati") . . .
Or is she over-protected?;
Harvey Korman as a hick . . . Or is he?;
Mike Connors ("Mannix") as a loner with a mysterious past who finagles his way into the life of Polly Bergan;
and David Hedison ("Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea") as a once-famous, now down-and-out fashion photographer desperate to salvage his career by a shoot in Greece with a former model/lover (Linda Evans, "The Big Valley," "Dynasty").
Evans's career shows an interesting trend: from the 1960s to the 1980s the rich and powerful changed from being cowboys to pirates in modern three-piece suits. And while in the 1960s the rich and powerful ranchers on shows like "Bonanza," "The Big Valley" and "The Virginian" were good guys who helped communities survive and thrive, by the 1980s they were cut-throats engaged mostly in personal and fairly nasty feuds.
I'm not a cultural historian so I can't explain the change but it may have to do with Hollywood writers and exectives who had helped win or at least lived through a war against murdering National Socialists and were in the 1960s defending a capitalist way of life in a cold war against "non-national" murdering socialists; but who, by the 1980s, were young punks with no grounding or understanding of capitaliam who hoped America would lose the cold war and by the 1990s would be appalled to see the domino effect working backward until eastern Europe Iron Curtain countries (and finally the Union of Soviet Socialist "Republics," ha-ha) collapsing in the name of freedom, which is the engine of capitalism. Hoo-ray.
Anyway, the Greek cruise is also a Turkish cruise (hence, Istambul). But it's not that special. Fewer laughs and a ridiculous cops-and-robbers subplot. Except for Smithers the cast is getting on in years. So we glimpse fewer beefy young men lounging by the poolside who proudly show off their nipples and gorgeous ladies who proudly don't.
Oh, and Julie gets another marriage proposal. After the Alaska disaster one felt sorry for Julie, though she was largely to blame by failing to communicate; but with the chimpanzee guy one began to wonder if she was a Jonah, jinxing the lives of men under her spell.
One of the truly fantasy elements of "The Love Boat" we put up with all those years is that all the crew were sexually irresistable. Especially Julie, who started out perky but with too many teeth, apparently, for her mouth.
What will happen this time? Will Julie leave the Love Boat and live with her new lover at the point where Europe and Asia meet? Well, in retrospect we know she tucked a few more cruises under her belt before they tossed her unceremoniously in the drink for the sharks. Say no more. My lips are sealed.
Not one of their better notions, despite showing Mike Connors with the Hagia Sophia in the background. After five full seasons "The Love Boat" is getting a bit leaky.
Beginning like a Pink Panther movie, with a precious diamond stolen from a museum in Istanbul (done without a laugh track, though it merits one) and with a detective (Jamie Farr, "MASH") hot on its trail, the story rattles on with:
old-time movie star Alexis Smith ("Dallas") as a woman from a powerful family sailing with her over-protected daughter (Jan Smithers, " WKRP in Cincinnati") . . .
Or is she over-protected?;
Harvey Korman as a hick . . . Or is he?;
Mike Connors ("Mannix") as a loner with a mysterious past who finagles his way into the life of Polly Bergan;
and David Hedison ("Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea") as a once-famous, now down-and-out fashion photographer desperate to salvage his career by a shoot in Greece with a former model/lover (Linda Evans, "The Big Valley," "Dynasty").
Evans's career shows an interesting trend: from the 1960s to the 1980s the rich and powerful changed from being cowboys to pirates in modern three-piece suits. And while in the 1960s the rich and powerful ranchers on shows like "Bonanza," "The Big Valley" and "The Virginian" were good guys who helped communities survive and thrive, by the 1980s they were cut-throats engaged mostly in personal and fairly nasty feuds.
I'm not a cultural historian so I can't explain the change but it may have to do with Hollywood writers and exectives who had helped win or at least lived through a war against murdering National Socialists and were in the 1960s defending a capitalist way of life in a cold war against "non-national" murdering socialists; but who, by the 1980s, were young punks with no grounding or understanding of capitaliam who hoped America would lose the cold war and by the 1990s would be appalled to see the domino effect working backward until eastern Europe Iron Curtain countries (and finally the Union of Soviet Socialist "Republics," ha-ha) collapsing in the name of freedom, which is the engine of capitalism. Hoo-ray.
Anyway, the Greek cruise is also a Turkish cruise (hence, Istambul). But it's not that special. Fewer laughs and a ridiculous cops-and-robbers subplot. Except for Smithers the cast is getting on in years. So we glimpse fewer beefy young men lounging by the poolside who proudly show off their nipples and gorgeous ladies who proudly don't.
Oh, and Julie gets another marriage proposal. After the Alaska disaster one felt sorry for Julie, though she was largely to blame by failing to communicate; but with the chimpanzee guy one began to wonder if she was a Jonah, jinxing the lives of men under her spell.
One of the truly fantasy elements of "The Love Boat" we put up with all those years is that all the crew were sexually irresistable. Especially Julie, who started out perky but with too many teeth, apparently, for her mouth.
What will happen this time? Will Julie leave the Love Boat and live with her new lover at the point where Europe and Asia meet? Well, in retrospect we know she tucked a few more cruises under her belt before they tossed her unceremoniously in the drink for the sharks. Say no more. My lips are sealed.
Not one of their better notions, despite showing Mike Connors with the Hagia Sophia in the background. After five full seasons "The Love Boat" is getting a bit leaky.
