Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week is all about mistaken identity!

Episode 3.7 “The Reunion/Haven’t I Seen You?/Crew Confessions”

(Dir by George Tyne, originally aired on October 20th, 1979)

After discovering that a guy that he went to high school with in Oakland is now a published author, Isaac decides that maybe he should spend the cruise writing a novel of his own.  The other members of the crew encourage him to try his hand at being a literary genius because, seriously, how hard can it be?  (Gopher suggests that anyone can be a writer!  Okay, Gopher….)  Isaac attempts to write a western, just to discover that he can’t get past the first two sentences.  He then tries to write a romance and can’t get past the first two sentences.  Finally, he attempts to do a science fiction novel and can’t get past …. well, you get the idea.

Finally, Isaac realizes that his mistake is that he’s not writing about what he knows.  Instead, he starts writing a book about life on a cruise ship!  (There’s a bit of an inside joke here as The Love Boat itself was inspired by a “non-fiction” book written by a former cruise director.)  Unfortunately, the rest of the crew soon recognizes themselves in Isaac’s writing.  Doc is offended at being portrayed as a sex-crazed womanizer who rarely practices medicine.  Gopher is upset to discover that the fiction ship’s purser is a klutz named Muskrat.  Julie is upset at the character of the “perky” cruise director.  Only Captain Stubing seems to be truly supportive of Isaac.  Upset that his friends are upset, Isaac rips his book in half.  Guilt-stricken, the rest of the crew decides to support Isaac and they start giving him ideas for his novel.  For instance, Doc Bricker tells Isaac that he served in the U.S Navy after medical school, adding yet another piece of the puzzle to the enigma of Adam Bricker.

The novel-writing storyline, I liked.  I could relate to it because I’ve noticed that people are always willing to support your literary ambitions until they realize that you’re writing about them.  I kind of hope that Isaac will keep writing.  Knowing The Love Boat, though, I know this is probably one of those things that will be forgotten by the next episode.

As for the other storylines this week, they were okay if slight.  Don Knotts plays a shoe salesman named Herb Groebeck who looks just like a television start named Devon King.  At first, Herb keeps correcting everyone about his identity but, when he’s approached by Marla (Julie Newmar), he decides to pretend to be Devon for a while.  Marla reveals that she has a baby and she says that Devon is the father, the result of a one-night stand in Las Vegas.  Herb, having fallen in love with Marla, asks her to marry him.  Marla suddenly reveals that she’s never actually met Devon and that she was lying about him being the father because she wanted a husband who could take care of her baby.  Herb says that’s okay because he’s not even Devon King.  Marla and Herb share a good laugh and leave the cruise as an engaged couple which …. I mean, is this really a relationship that’s really going to last?  It’s pretty much built on lies.

Speaking of lies, Laurette Ferot (Jane Wyatt) has boarded the boat so she can be reunited with her long-missing husband, Gilbert (Jean-Pierre Aumont).  Laurette and Gilbert were married in 1939 but the Nazi invasion of France tore them apart.  Laurette was taken off to Denmark.  Gilbert vanished and was presumed dead.  Laurette has spent the last 40 years looking for Gilbert.  Unfortunately, the man who shows up on the cruise is not her Gilbert.  Instead, he’s a former member of the French Resistance who befriended the real Gilbert in a concentration camp and who fell in love with Laurette as a result of listening to the real Gilbert talk about her.  When the real Gilbert died in the camp, the fake Gilbert assumed his identity.  Having survived the war, the fake Gilbert came to America and made millions as a lock manufacturer while also looking for Laurette.  Laurette is surprisingly forgiving of Fake Gilbert and even goes through with the ceremony to “renew” their vows on the ship.  Laurette marries Fake Gilbert and they leave the ship together.  Jane Wyatt and Jean-Pierre Aumont both gave heartfelt performances but this storyline, involving concentration camps and Nazi cruelty, felt a bit out-of-place when partnered up with stories about Isaac writing a salacious book and Don Knotts pretending to be an action star.  It was a bit too serious for The Love Boat format.

Overall, this episode was uneven but genuinely well-acted.  Just as last week’s episode gave Fred Grandy a chance to show off the fact that he actually could act, this episode gives the spotlight to Ted Lange and Lange, again, proves himself to be capable of more than just making drinks and pointing.  I hope his book was best seller.