Julie and the Producer”

Posted on June 24, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, everyone’s singing!

Episodes 7.25 and 7.26 “Dreamboat/Gopher, Isaac & the Starlet/The Parents/The Importance of Being Johnny/Julie and the Producer”

(Dir by Robert Scheerer, originally aired on May 5th, 1984)

A Hollywood film crew is setting sail on The Love Boat. They’ll be shooting a movie called Dreamboat and the passengers and the crew will be acting as extras! Dreamboat is a musical which means that, for the next two hours, everyone on the Pacific Princess is going to be randomly breaking out into song.

From what I’ve seen online, there’s a tendency to dismiss the musical episodes of The Love Boat but I have to admit that I kind of enjoy them. Our Love Boat crew may not have been the most musically talented group of people but they all seemed to be enjoying the chance to show off and try to hit those high notes. The songs themselves are nothing special. It really is more of a community theater production than a Broadway show. But I like community theater productions. It’s always nice to see everyone trying their hardest and doing their best.

What’s happening on the ship in between songs? A lot!

Star Faye Marsh (Juliet Prowse), who is insecure about her struggling career, holds up shooting with her demands. The only time she’s truly happy is when she’s spending time with Doc Bricker, who is a longtime fan.
Gopher and Isaac try to get a role in the film. When they fail to impress director Bennett Barton (Ben Vereen), they then team up to try to help a passenger named Shelley Rush (Melba Moore) get a role.
Julie is shocked to discover that the film’s producer, Marty Chenault (Dean Jones), is the brother of her former fiancé. (Julie’s former fiancé was previously played by Tony Roberts so it was apparently decided to give Dean Jones a perm so that he could look more like Roberts. It doesn’t really work) Julie and Marty seem to be falling in love but is it Marty that Julie likes or is she just missing the former lover of her life?
Vicki has a crush on singer Johnny Lovett (Jimmy Osmond), who is nervous about making his film debut in Dreamboat. Johnny sings Spinning Wheel while Vicki snaps her fingers.
Captain Stubing falls for Johnny’s mother, Angela (Alexis Smith).

There’s a lot of people to keep track of in this episode but ultimately, the stories don’t matter. This episode is about singing and dancing and having a good time. Everyone seems to be having fun. I felt happy while watching them.

That said, I know what you’re wondering.

On a scale of 0 to 10, Julies scores a perfect ten this week. When she first sees Marty, her eyes flash with an energy that is generated by more than just love. This week, Julie never stop smiling and she often seems to be sniffing whenever she’s in the background.

And you know what? As long as Julie’s happy, I’m happy for her. This was a very happy episode.

Next week, we reach the end of the seventh season!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 2.10 “The Mandrake Root”

Posted on June 19, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night 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 Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.

This week, on Monsters, a root leads to temptation!

Episode 2.10 “The Mandrake Root”

(Dir by Brian Thomas Jones, originally aired on December 10th, 1989)

While cleaning out her recently deceased grandmother’s basement, Angela (Melba Moore) discovers a Mandrake root that is not only sprouting though the floor but which also appear to be “wearing” her grandmother’s ring. She grabs the ring but pricks her finger as she does so, allowing her blood to drip down onto the root.

The next day, the root has been replaced by a shirtless, handsome man (Byron Minns), who promises Angela a world of sensual pleasure on the condition that she provide the blood that he needs to live. At first, Angela resists but the Root is persistent and he certainly seems to care more about her than her inattentive (if well-meaning) husband (Frankie Faison).

This episode was full of atmosphere, it had an intriguing premise, and it featured good performances from Melba Moore and Frankie Faison. (It’s always interesting to see Faison playing someone other than a cop or a military officer.) Unfortunately, Byron Minns was fairly bland in the role of Angela’s tempter. He was handsome but he didn’t have the screen presence necessary to believable as a centuries-old tempter. As a result, this episode is good without quite being the classic that it could have been.

Retro Television Reviews: The Love Boat 3.14 “The Stimulation of Stephanie/Life Begins at 40/The Next Step”

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Come aboard! They’re expecting you!

Episode 3.14 “The Stimulation of Stephanie/Life Begins at 40/The Next Step”

(Dir by Allen Baron, originally aired on December 1st, 1979)

After being unexplainably absent last week, Vicki returns this week and is once again somehow a member of the Love Boat crew, despite only being 12. Nobody asks where she was last week and certainly, no one asks her how she’s doing in school. In fact, not only the crew but also the passengers seem to be totally accepting of the idea of a 12 year-old working as the assistant to the cruise director. I guess the 70s were a different time.

If I seem to be harping on the strangeness of Vicki living on the boat, that’s because this week’s episode really isn’t that interesting. This week’s episode is a fairly bland one. It’s so bland that it really leaves you with no choice but wonder about the logistics of how the boat works. And really, that’s something that should never happen when you’re watching a show like The Love Boat. If you’re worrying about real-life questions while watching a show like this, it means that you’re watching an episode that just isn’t working. The Love Boat, like Fantasy Island, should be an escape from reality and not an excuse to wonder about how it all works.

As usual, we’ve got three storylines to deal with. Jo Anne Worley plays Dottie Anderson, who is 39 years old and still unmarried. She’s booked herself in the honeymoon suite because she is determined that she is going to meet a man and get married over the course of the cruise. Julie assures Dottie that there’s nothing wrong with being single when you’re 4o, which is easy for Julie to say because someone asks her to get married during almost every cruise. Anyway, Dottie flirts with a lot of men and ultimately, she comes to realize that Julie was right. She embraces being single and leaves the boat happy. Yay! This storyline didn’t add up too much but at least Jo Anne Worley knew how to deliver a joke.

Meanwhile, pro football player Virgil Plummer (Roosevelt Grier) is upset because he’s about to retire from the game that he loves and he doesn’t know what the future holds for him. With the help of his wife (Melba Moore) and Isaac, Virgil realizing that he can pursue a career as a cook. Personally, I’m not sure why he wouldn’t just retire and live off the millions he made as a football player. Or maybe he could become a coach or one of those “fight for every inch” motivational speakers. Grier and Moore had a likable chemistry (even if it did feel more like a close friend chemistry as opposed to a married chemistry) but again, this storyline just didn’t add up too much.

Finally, sex research Norman Bridges (Dick Martin) and his assistant, Stephanie Champman (Char Fontane) board the boat. Bridges wants to research the roots of sexual simulation. Stephanie is in love with Bridges, though you have to wonder why because he’s kind of a boring jerk. Still, when Norman thinks that Doc Bricker is trying to seduce Stephanie, Norman goes down to Bricker’s cabin and punches him. Unfortunately, Norman wasn’t wearing his glasses and didn’t initially realize that the woman in Doc’s cabin was not Stephanie but was instead a passenger named Lena (Judy Landers). Eventually, Norman does figure out that Stephanie loves him and they leave the boat together. Somehow, Norman got away with assaulting the ship’s doctor. This storyline was just dumb. No one in their right mind would fall in love with someone as clueless and self-absorbed as Norman.

This was a less-than-satisfactory cruise. But that’s what happens when you break child labor laws.