THIS IS 46 MINUTES LONG, SO GRAB A DRINK AND
A CIGARETTE AND REVEL IN 1970s and '80s POP CULTURE.
I was kind of shocked by some of the people I saw. It just blew my mind to see such older luminaries as Virginia Mayo, Olivia deHavilland, Evelyn Keyes, Dorothy Lamour, Dennis Morgan, Patsy Kelley, Lana Turner, Claire Trevor and Walter Slezak. Gloria Vanderbilt was an unexpected surprise too.
I also noticed that Marla Gibbs (of The Jeffersons fame) is MARIA GIBBS.
And yes, you will tire of Jack Jones and the theme song since it never, ever ends.
What there are is gobs of TV people, folks who were on other shows. I barely recalled many of them. There were also a bunch of faces & names where I drew a blank. I wondered if there might have been a separate Love Boat UK franchise? I don't remember what night this show aired, but my feeling is Friday and if that's right, then I missed lots of these since I was out trying to get laid.
I will choose my moment to click "play" and wallow in this one, as I fear the excitement may be too much to bear... Jx
ReplyDeletePS The UK "equivalent"? We had a really, really bad attempt at a soap opera based around a ferry - yes! a ferry - service running between Felixstowe, Gothenburg and Amsterdam. It was called Triangle. It featured Kate O'Mara, implausibly sunbathing on deck in what looked like perpetual icy temperatures. It was mercilessly mocked, until it was finally put out of its misery...
PPS I vaguely remember the "real" Love Boat being shown here (no idea whether it was broadcast nationally, or just regionally, nor how much of it actually aired but I doubt it went on as long as it was shown Stateside). I never caught any of it at the time - I also was too busy going out and getting laid!
Can't tell you how happy I am to read that you too were out, "pressing the flesh." Yum.
DeleteYour "equivalent" sounds kinda dreadful. Guess there wasn't a British version of Aaron Spelling, more's the pity.
On one of our over-the-air sad rerun stations I occasionally come upon a Love Boat & often linger. The stories were always the same, that wasn't the hook. It was seeing 100 year old Ethel Merman doing the Hully Gully with with the bartender or Jane Powell being molested by Cornel Wilde.
Nowadays, we don't have the elder statesmen & women, once sparkling stars turned into plodding dowagers. Instead they get yanked & pulled (no judgement!) and carry on!
Oh, the UK had plenty of showbiz impresarios - most famous being Lord Lew Grade, who was the power behind such classics as The Saint, Thunderbirds, The Prisoner and (saving Jim Henson from being forever just "the kids' educational show puppeteer" in the process) The Muppet Show, and much more besides - but Britain in the '70s was a country in semi-permanent recession, so we could never quite afford the "gloss" afforded to US telly.
DeleteAnd, yes, I agree - where are all the "faded-divas-turned-camp-matrons" these days? Bette Midler comes closest I suppose, but even she's desperately trying to defy the ageing process... Jx
Jon asks, "where are all the "faded-divas-turned-camp-matrons" these days?"
DeleteThey're Infomaniac Bitches, of course.
When isn't Jon spot on?
DeleteNorma, it use to air on Saturday night at 9 right before Fantasy Island. The only reason I know this is because I loved the song so much, right before Tattoo came one next to yell The Plane! the Plane! I too will settle to watch this. My personal favorite episode was one where the Love Boat's cruise members had their mothers visiting all at the same time. Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, hair helmet Goddess herself, Ann Miller, and Della Reese all showed up to hog the spot light. Ah....great tv viewing those days.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think they had the Barnstable sisters over the Lander sisters! Or did I miss Audrey Landers? I also quivered in the male parts when John Davidson came on. He always floated my boat. I would swear, every cast from every show must have been on this show. About the only people never on were us Informaniac bitches. Or were you on, but just incognito? I thought I caught glimpse of a ear trumpet.
Ah ha! Even more of a reason I missed it. At 9:00 on a Saturday night I was just waking up from my after dinner nap, popping into the shower in preparation for my arrival at, the club. Couldn't arrive too early!
DeleteAnd no, I was never on Love Boat. I would've thrown up all over the poop desk.
Norma, perhaps it's true that you would've thrown up all over the poop deck but you would have managed to make it look glamorous. And I would have held your wig while you upchucked.
DeleteThe camera is always running.
DeleteI think it was shown on a Sunday in the UK, and my parents wouldn't let me watch it - but eventually I got my own TV in my room and such exotic programmes became available to me, albeit in black and white.
ReplyDeleteSx
The Love Boat, exotic.
DeleteI need to lay down now.
😜
The Promenade Deck could get a little saucy.
Delete