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The Love Boat in Oz

Catch these Aussie faces on a 1981 episode of The Love Boat

A little piece of nostalgia sneaks onto screens early tomorrow (late tonight) with a 1981 episode of The Love Boat filmed in Australia.

“The Expedition” was the season premiere of Season 5 and guest starred Patrick Duffy, Jose Ferrer, Harry Morgan, Anthony Andrews, Katherine Helmond, Jenilee Harrison, Donna Dixon and Michelle Phillips.

According to IMDb it also features some Aussie faces including Delvene Delaney, Gary Frank, Patrick Ward and Queenie Ashton.

Part One airs at 2am Thursday on ELEVEN and Part Two is at 11am.

In the episode at 11am next Wednesday morning you can see Alan Fletcher, Graham Kennedy, Margaret Laurence, Grant Goodeve mingling with the likes of Ethel Merman, Jim Nabors, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Evans and Lloyd Bridges.

Elizabeth The Koala and Tiny The Kangoroo also appear!

10 Responses

  1. @ Menicci LOL ….atrocious wasn’t it? although sorta fits into the ‘so bad its good’ category of viewing. It seems every foreign, usually American, show that references Australia gets it all so embarrassingly inaccurately wrong (for us that is!), if you’ve seen the episode of the Simpsons set in Australia you’ll know what i mean, i know that show lends itself more to fantasy than a live action one, but toilets that flush the other way & the whole stupid kicking punishment to Bart, i don’t know where they got those ideas from, they weren’t even funny. I can’t think of any other examples at the moment but i’m sure there are some out there in Tv Land!

    1. The booting of Bart was based on the whipping of a US youth in Singapore at the time for graffiti (if I recall correctly). Sure the accents were dodgy but remember in a Simpsons world all things merge incorrectly for all cultures, including America.

  2. I have just watched this and words (almost) fail me. I barely know where to start with the absurd Australian references and plot floors, along with the other mysteries. But here goes;

    * Delvene’s China Plate, Billy Lids rubbish, who wrote this sh!t?
    * You don’t have blood tests to get married in Australia.
    * Since when does a simple blood test diagnose a terminal illness?
    * A dirty man with a beard and loin cloth is able to fool experts into thinking he’s the missing link.
    * Is Anthony Andrews supposed to be Australian or English?
    * And why does he live in Sonny Hammonds home? Wonder if one of those kangaroos was Skippy??
    * Doesn’t Captain Stubing look smart in those nipple grazing Harry High Pants shorts!
    * What sensible person thinks it’s a good idea to put a hat on a Kangaroo?

    I’m done.

  3. @tomothyd: The 2am screening is a repeat of the episode shown at 11am the previous day. i.e. Part One of the Aussie episodes was at 11am today (Wednesday) and repeated 2am tomorrow (Thursday), with Part Two at 11am Thursday and then repeated 2am the next day.

    I do remember all the hype about this at the time. I have a copy of one of the magazines (with Delvene on the cover) from around early 1982 which is when the episodes first aired here. I don’t remember anything of the episode except that I think there was lots of use of the word “cobber”!

  4. I’m shamefully old enough to remember this (just, was still in kindergarten or Year 1?) but this was a huge deal. Think Sydney Olympics but 19 years earlier! The episode itself is actually quite naff (which Love Boat episode isn’t?) so prepare for cringe factor and some surprisingly nostalgic cameos! The episode actually went a long way into putting Sydney on the map and in fact opening credit scenes filmed here were used in all episodes after this visit!

  5. I remember what a big deal this was when it was being filmed here. Delvene Delaney was being hailed to be on the brink of a major Hollywood career in our local press, which never eventuated though after the show aired here and we saw what the yanks thought of us.
    Delvene as always looked fantastic but the dialogue they gave her on The Love Boat was atrocious. Her character spoke in every Aussie cliche imaginable which even in the 80’s, I remember was generally considered cringe worthy in public opinion and most Australians were embarrassed we were being portayed like that on an international show.
    I suspect though with time passing since it was filmed, that these episodes might be entertaining to watch now and not the cringe horror fest they were when they originally aired.

  6. Wow will have to tune in just to see Margaret Laurence who played the prostitute “Marilyn Mason” in the really early days of Prisoner.

    She was one of the original characters so is special in that she played a big part in helping shape just how big the show became. Also for the fact that she really hasn’t had any acting roles since those days. Will be interesting to see how she plays out in The Love Boat.

  7. Ok, so I know this is a 31yr old show, but why on earth are Eleven showing a series with two start times. It would be annoying to keep track if you actually wanted to follow the show.

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