All episodes Season 1 S01E06 1977-10-29 60 min 1970s ABC

The Love Boat

The Joker is Mild / First Time Out / Take My Granddaughter, Please

TV Flash files “The Joker is Mild / First Time Out / Take My Granddaughter, Please” as hour 6 of 245 in the TV Flash guide — The Love Boat (1977–1986) on ABC, season 1, episode 6, aired 1977-10-29, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S01E06: listed hour 6 of 245 in the The Love Boat guide, hour 6 of 25 in season 1. It aired 1977-10-29 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Help! Murder! / Isaac the Groupie / Mr. Popularity” (S01E05). Next is “The Identical Problem / Julie's Old Flame / The Jinx” (S01E07).

The Love Boat — The Joker is Mild / First Time Out / Take My Granddaughter, Please (S01E06)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

In "The Joker is Mild," has-been comedian Barry Keyes (Phil Foster) abuses his family tie with cruise director Julie in an astonishing attempt to make a comeback. Richard Kinon directed the script by David Ketchum and Tony Di Marco. Academy Award-winner Ruth Gordon plays Mrs. Warner, a lovable but pushy grandmother who wants to find a husband for her attractive granddaughter, Shirlee (Patty Duke Astin). Granny decides that Doc would be perfect for Shirl, but the young woman becomes smitten with Dave (Tab Hunter), a school teacher. Barry Blitzer wrote the script and Richard Kinon directed. In "First Time Out," Danny (Robert "Welcome Back, Kotter" Hegyes) has had virtually no experience with women, and his fraternity brothers (W.K. Stratton, John Mark Robinson and Meegan King) are determined to arrange a romantic liaison. But Danny meets Barbara (Maureen McCormick) and nature takes its course.

Viewer FAQ

Where does The Joker is Mild / First Time Out / Take My Granddaughter, Please sit in the The Love Boat guide?

S01E06 is listed hour 6 of 245 — hour 6 of 25 in season 1, season 1 episode 6.

When did The Love Boat S01E06 air?

The Joker is Mild / First Time Out / Take My Granddaughter, Please aired 1977-10-29 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Do I watch in order?

No. It is a multi-story guest-star anthology with a regular crew. Sample any cruise; Stubing's ship is the constant.

In the series

Why this series still plays

Gavin MacLeod's Captain Stubing hosts three guest-star storylines a week while Julie, Doc, Gopher, and Isaac keep the Pacific Princess meddling. Aaron Spelling cruise-ship anthology as comfort franchise: formula as feature, theme as furniture. Bon voyage, subtlety — the cameo sport still photographs.

The first image is white: uniforms, rails, Pacific soft-focus, and Gavin MacLeod's Captain Merrill Stubing hosting three guest-star storylines before the dessert cart. ABC's The Love Boat (1977–1986) turned cruise vacation into Aaron Spelling's floating hit factory — nine seasons, 245 episodes, formula as feature. Lauren Tewes's Julie McCoy, Ted Lange's Isaac, Bernie Kopell's Doc, and Fred Grandy's Gopher never age out of meddling. Jeraldine Saunders' nonfiction about cruise life inspired the premise; Wilford…

Open the The Love Boat package · Season 1 hub

Filed against

Also in season 1

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