Tonight on The Love Boat, the part of John Mills will be played by David Niven. We just had a double-length episode. Now we've got a 90 minute outing. This might be peak silly Gopher, before he got much more serious. This plot is called 'The Secret Life of Burl Smith' and sees our Assistant Purser having a series of fantasies. In one fantasy, Double 0 Gopher faces Captain 'Fu Manchu' Stubing. In another fantasy, we get a band performance from our crew. Gopher has giant Elton John glasses and platform shoes. Suddenly we're in Tommy. They all perform 'Dream Girl.' Julie has a black wig! Then Gopher has a Bogart fantasy (who doesn't?) This stuff is really silly, but I tend to think the silly The Love Boat is better than the serious The Love Boat. That's just me. The whole Mills clan is here. They get a scene together, even though they're in different stories. Suddenly Gopher is a huge fan of Hayley Mills, even with a poster of her on his wall. He's even got her t-shirt. She plays 'Cheryl Tyson.' Isaac (briefly) sings her a song. John Mills is a chaffeur following the lady he serves. Juliet Mills is here with her son, played by Keith Coogan. My generation knows him from Adventures in Babysitting and Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. Juliet is a long way from Beyond the Door. The dad is played by returning David Hedison. This isn't the first episode where a neglectful dad has promised to take his son skeet shooting. Reggie Jackson is on board, and he's apparently an old friend of Issac. Reggie wants to travel incognito. He wants to be left. Then he spots Telma Hopkins. Hubba hubba. His baseball metaphors aren't working with Telma. Reggie's got some good advice to cheer up Keith Coogan. This will be a certain nadir for some, but for me it's rather average. On Kafka's Love Boat Scale, this get 2 1/2 * out of a possible 4 *.
The Love Boat (TV Series)
A Good and Faithful Servant/The Secret Life of Burl Smith/Tug of War/Designated Lover (1979)
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