Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Another Run

I missed this news item, but it appears that "The Love Boat" is being prepared for DVD release.

You don't need me to tell you about this (in short: Julie was on drugs, Captain Stuebing was bald, Vicki was annoying, Charro said "Coochie-Coochie" a lot, and no one really believes that Doc was popular with women). I will note that I never saw this show as a kid, and when I finally did encounter it, I was both appalled and fascinated by the look of it. It ran from 1977 to 1986, yet the staging, blocking, set design and above all the lighting made it look like it was filmed in the mid-'60s. It was like the crew from "Mr. Ed" moved over to a boat set.

The other notable thing about "The Love Boat" is that it has been the inspiration for countless easy pop-culture references in the last twenty years, particularly Isaac. You can basically assume that any comedy show with a scene on a boat will have an Isaac reference. A more creative version of this was on the show "Weird Science," where the characters are abducted by aliens, and are greeted by an alien holographic projection of Ted Lange:


ISAAC (Ted Lange): Now who's up for a little shopping excursion into Puerto Vallarta?
CHETT (Lee Tergesen): Which Puerto Vallarta would that be, my man? The one with the dissection tables and the butt-probe? Thanks, but I've been there and it was no day at the beach!!!

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