YMMV / The Love Boat

• Awesome Music:
  • Especially the theme song.
  • The Italian theme song is just as magnificent.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Fans of the original series decide to forget that The Real Love Boat ever existed, as it was essentially just Love Island on a boat.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Curiously enough, the ship itself. According to police reports, it apparently became a major transport for drug smugglers in the Mediterranean during the late 1990s, and during its 2013 trip to be scrapped, two workers died and eight were injured after inhaling toxic gas in the engine room while trying to correct a list brought on by flooding.
• Most Wonderful Sound: ABC announcer Ernie Anderson would often elongate the "o" sound in the promos for "The Looooooooooooove Boat".
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • The year before WKRP in Cincinnati began, Loni Anderson guest starred in the episode "Lost and Found/The Understudy/Married Singles" as a Dumb Blonde who tries to seduce one of the characters.
  • David Hasselhoff was a passenger in "Invisible Maniac/September Song/Peekaboo".
  • Kathy Bates is on her honeymoon in "Too Hot to Handle/Family Reunion/Cinderella Story".
  • Tom Hanks' second-ever role is as Gopher's womanizing former frat brother in "Friends and Lovers."
  • An episode of The Next Wave revival features a young Jessica Alba.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The theme song suspiciously resembles the 1973 instrumental track "Love's Theme".
• Uncertain Audience: Why The Real Love Boat failed so hard, despite heavy promotion. Fans of the original series were not happy to see it turned into a generic dating reality show, and those who would be interested in reality shows didn't care that it was themed after a decades-old anthology series.

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