User Reviews

This is an appropriate day to watch The Love Boat. It's my Uncle Derb's birthday. Poor Uncle Derb loved this show. Then he was hit by a rose truck. Never the same, Uncle Derb. I have no particular indication my Uncle Derb ever watched this particular episode. Billy Crystal is here. I was never really a fan. Around this time he was on SOAP. He plays a character named 'Newton Weems.' He's shy, but he wears a costume, speaks French, and kisses women. (Who writes this stuff?) Laurie Walter is after him. Walters was in The Harrad Experiment. She's cute. Nancy Kulp tries a judo chop at Doc's head. Robert Reed is back. Oh yeah, and there's Toni Tennille too. She's a tall woman. Usually I don't go for tall women. Toni's alright though. (She towers over Gopher.) Mr. Brady makes Toni cry. I don't think he's the man for you, Toni. Oh yeah, there's a family too. Todd Bridges is their kid. (Gary Coleman wasn't available?) His parents are musical performers. They should spend more time on the kid and less on the music. Oh well, they get to do a musical number with Isaac next to the pool. (I'm just trying to swim here.) Dad refuses to teach his kid the 'doo-wop.' Bad dad. Come on, dad! Take Todd skeet shooting! Isaac can be Todd's new dad. I can't relate to this storyline. I never had a hard-working, successful dad. Mostly my dad was successful in getting in trouble. Elsewhere, Captain Stubing watches the stars, while his date gets smooched by the kissing bandit. It occurs to me that the name Lenore was ruined forever by that jerk Edgar Allan Poe. On Kafka's Love Boat Scale, this episode gets 2 1/2 * out of a possible 4*

There was a time I tried sorting out what three stories played out on Love Boat episodes, so I did here.

The standout here obviously is Billy Crystal as a masked kissing bandit, done in an amusing manner, as well as it being Billy Crystal doing the nefarious deed. At this time, he was more a TV star of sorts, nothing big in films. That would come along later. So as I recalled this episode, I remembered the very entertaining pairing (or it seemed entertaining) of Nancy Kulp and Pat Carroll as two nervous old ninnies sailing on the ship (They're 'storyline', if it could be called that, basically would run along the same lines as Ann Davis and Jane Withers in their appearance, as well as Mary Treen and Meg Wyllie when they sailed). Yet I couldn't remember who the third story in this episode might be.

Rather startling later when I finally saw the episode to see Todd Bridges, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr, along with Toni Tennille and Robert Reed? -- All crammed in the same episode.

Didn't remember their stories.

So Laurie Walters of Eight Is Enough becomes the object of Billy Crystal's affections.

In rewatching this episode, perhaps the most intriguing part is Capt. Stubing pursuing a woman (Sharon Ackers).

In the end, the biggest clunker of this episode is Tennille and Reed being used in such an overly serious, dramatic episode. Rather tiresome.

Shame she didn't end up singing with Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr, but oh, well.

Still a very unique episode for the show.