The Love Boat: Ex Plus Y - Graham and Kelly - Golden Agers originally aired Saturday, October 8th 1977.

"Love... exciting and new. Come aboard... we're expecting you." For ten seasons viewers were often carried away to such exotic locations as Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco as the cruise ship Pacific Princess searched the high seas for both love and adventure. The ship's Captain (Gavin MacLeod) and crew, Yeoman-Purser Burl "Gopher" Smith (Fred Grandy), Doctor Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell), Bartender Isaac Washington (Ted Lange) and Cruise Director Julie McCoy (Lauren Tewes) all were around to insure that there would be plenty of fun, excitement and (most importantly) romance for everyone aboard! But it wasn't just the quirky crew, as a never ending succession of guest stars also paraded thru, has-been stars, want-to-be stars and soon-to-be stars would all come aboard and add to the fun. And if all of that wasn't already enough, every week you could count on the same basic storyline, one of the worst canned laugh tracks on television ever, and a really cool pure cheese theme song that is completely impossible to forget. Put all of these wonderful things together and you ended up with a tv show that was not to be missed on Saturday nights on ABC. Lame! Stupid! Cheesy! Yes to all of the above, but more important than any of that The Love Boat was just pure escapist enjoyable fun.

Married couple Terry and Ron (Loretta Swit and Richard Mulligan) have come aboard to just have a nice, relaxing vacation. Unfortunately Terry's obnoxious ex Barney (Robert Reed) is also aboard with his new girlfriend (Pamela Bellwood) and now they're all trapped aboard together, can they act like adults and just get along for the duration of the trip? Eccentric Mrs. Pickrel (Hermione Baddeley) and her grandson Graham (Scott Baio) have also come aboard to have a good time. When Graham meets fellow passenger Kelly Rixey (Kristy McNichol) they like each other right away. But Graham is shy and doesn't have any experience with girls, so if they're to make any progress it's probably going to be up to Kelly to make it happen. Mr. Wright, Jim Wright (Charles Frank) and Julie meet and immediately fall for one another. Unfortunately Jim is there to work. He is a tour director for a group of swinging seniors (including character actors Edward Andrews and Queenie Smith) and they hardly give him any extra time to get to know his new lady friend, will he and Julie ever find some time to get together?

This is a typical episode of the show, having three different storylines running together throughout. Nothing extraordinary here, just three amusing little stories about love and romance. Kristy and Scott Baio's segment is very cute and is the most memorable of the three; it perfectly illustrates that awkwardness of one's first love.

Buying note: This show has never been available on home video. But there are other sources for this and many other Kristy McNichol appearances that you might be looking for.

3-7-2007

Buying note update: This episode is now available as part of a special 3 disc boxed set, The Love Boat, Season 1 - Volume 1.

3-28-2008

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