The Love Boat
The Captain and the Lady / One if By Land / Centerfold
Season 1, Episode 1 · Aired 1977-09-24
Synopsis
In "The Captain and the Lady," Bonnie Franklin appears as Capt. Stubing's infuriatingly sarcastic ex-wife who creates havoc aboard the Pacific Princess when she arrives for a cruise with her present spouse (Robert Symonds), the captain's boss. "One If By Land" stars Jimmie Walker and Brenda Sykes as a couple who have been living together in unwedded bliss, until the young lady decides that matrimony is a "must". To forget her unhitchable man, she escapes aboard the luxury ship where she befriends fun-loving Suzanne Somers, who helps her acquire a new outlook on life. "Centerfold" finds Ms. Meredith Baxter-Birney as a girl who once posed in the nude for a photographer. Now engaged to a political candidate (Shelly Novack), she is horrified to learn that the picture is the centerfold of a current magazine. She sets out to recover all copies aboard ship before her future husband sees the centerfold picture.
In the series
This episode is part of The Love Boat (1977–1986) on ABC.
Excursion of the week — guest stars, cupids in white, and Pacific soft-focus.
Key cast
- Gavin MacLeod as Capt. Merrill Stubing
- Bernie Kopell as Dr. Adam Bricker
- Fred Grandy as Burl 'Gopher' Smith
- Ted Lange as Isaac Washington
- Lauren Tewes as Julie McCoy
Also in season 1
- S01E02 Oh, Dale! / The Main Event / A Tasteful Affair
- S01E03 Ex Plus Y / Graham and Kelly / Golden Agers
- S01E04 Message for Maureen / Acapulco Connection / Gotcha
- S01E05 Help! Murder! / Isaac the Groupie / Mr. Popularity
- S01E06 The Joker is Mild / First Time Out / Take My Granddaughter, Please
- S01E07 The Identical Problem / Julie's Old Flame / The Jinx