#The Love Boat: ABC TV Series Cast Reunites for Charity Tonight

(ABC)

“Come aboard, we’re expecting you!” For nine seasons, ABC encouraged viewers to board The Love Boat on Saturday nights. The series ran from 1977 until 1986 and was the fifth-most-watched network series for the 1980-81 season.

Tonight, at 8:00 PM (EST), the complete cast of The Love Boat — Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing), Fred Grandy (Gopher), Ted Lange (Isaac), Bernie Kopell (Doc), Lauren Tewes (Julie), and Jill Whelan (Vicki) — will be reuniting on Stars In the House.  The cast will be joined by frequent guest star Charo (April Lopez) and Jack Jones, who sang the series’ theme song.

Hosted by SiriusXM host Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley, Stars In the House has been airing nightly since the coronavirus pandemic shut Broadway theatres nearly a year ago.

Viewers are encouraged to donate whatever they can to The Actors Fund, a non-profit that helps everyone (not just actors) in film, theater, television, music, opera, radio, and dance with programs including social services and emergency financial assistance, health care and insurance counseling, housing, and secondary employment and training services. Contributors can then submit their receipt to the hosts and the guests often read the names during the show. Stars In the House has helped to raise $689k to date.

The show frequently reunites Broadway show casts, as well as the casts of TV series like Star Trek: Voyager, Family Ties, LA Law, Taxi, Scandal, Frasier, and Melrose Place. 

Episodes are available for streaming on YouTube after they’ve aired.

What do you think? Did you watch The Love Boat when it first aired? Would you like to see a new version someday?