This particular episode is one that I tend to remember because of a couple of interlocking reasons (1) It features the legendary Tom Hanks in one of his earliest film/TV appearances and more importantly (2) It planted the seed for an unexpected romance between crew members Assistant Purser Burl "Gopher" Smith (the hilarious Fred Grandy) and Cruise Director Julie McCoy (the alluring Lauren Tewes). The interlocking part is because it is specifically Hanks' character Rick Martin, one of Gopher's old college fraternity brothers, that inadvertently causes the underlying romantic feelings of Gopher and Julie to surface. This subplot of the episode involves Gopher panicking and lying about Julie being his girlfriend to convince Rick that he's a ladies' man and make Rick jealous as Rick is a playboy who bounces from woman to woman, as evidenced by all the hot ladies that end up in his orbit during the cruise. At first Julie is reluctant to play along, but the plot thickens as Rick reveals himself to be a jerk and so Julie plays her part all too well, culminating in a moment where the first night of the cruise on the deck she plants a big kiss on Gopher in full view of Rick. The duo gets caught up in the moment and the fake kiss leads into a real one. Afraid he's crossed the line, a confused Gopher runs away while an equally shocked Julie stays on the deck wondering what it all means. As the episode wears on, Gopher and Julie can't stop thinking about the moment and wonder if they should become more than just good friends. By the conclusion of this subplot, they test the waters again with another kiss and decide they should just stay friends and a romance would be awkward. Rick is kind of an afterthought, just a blip and catalyst for the main plot of the Gopher-Julie exploration of their feelings. Retroactively, I wish the show had made this a continuing thing and not just kind of dropped it, although they actually did have another one-off episode in Season 9 (which I just reviewed not too long before this one) when Tewes returned in a guest appearance (she had left the show after Season 7) and the show re-explored the Gopher-Julie romance as they both admitted they were in love with each other. Had the plot of this Season 4 episode not happened, I highly doubt they would have went back to it in Season 9.
The other 2 subplots of this entertaining episode involve (1) 80s TV stalwarts Shelley Smith and Dennis Cole in a complicated romantic subplot involving a single pregnant woman and a man she meets on the cruise and (2) comic TV icons Nipsey Russell (a 70s game show stalwart), Doris Roberts (from Everybody Loves Raymond fame), and Vic Tayback (from the 70s show Alice) in a subplot involving 3 former Korean War army buddies enlisting one of the ships' maids to get their hard-nosed ex-squad leader off their backs so they could enjoy the cruise in peace for their reunion. Re-watching this episode recently reminded how much actual dramatic elements it had even though it was technically classified a comedy with a laugh track. All 3 subplots have a strong dramatic streak underlying the comedy. Something else this show miraculously did was play to each actor's strengths but tweaking it just enough to fit into the show's seriocomic vibe. It's also odd seeing Hanks play a rather unlikable character as he made a film career of playing virtually lovable guys in romantic and slapstick comedies as well as serious dramas. This must have been around the time Hanks starred in Bosom Buddies since that was an ABC show and the network tended to borrow a lot of actors from within to guest on other shows.
When I first saw this episode back in the day, it was shocking seeing 2 characters who had previously been nothing more than friends all of a sudden fall into a passionate kiss. But being an oblivious kid at the time of first viewing, I just chalked this episode up to just another one-off and moved on from it enjoying the show moving forward, but over time episodes like this would pop into my head. Shows like The Love Boat back in the day were way more light and episodic in nature, so writing a continuous, long-running relationship for Gopher and Julie was unfortunately not in the cards. Putting them together would have eliminated each of them having their individual flings and romances with future guest stars as well as complicating their friendship dynamic. But retroactively, I now wish the show had thrown caution to the wind and the showrunners had stuck with and continued to tease an actual Gopher-Julie romance during the show's prime middle seasons before the show started to decline and approach it's final years on the air. After finally getting around to watching their Season 9 reunion episode as well as re-watching this one recently, there was legitimate chemistry between Grandy and Tewes and they really seemed to like working together and played off each other well. As I stated in my review of the Season 9 Gopher-Julie episode, this will always be one of those TV romances that I wish had been explored more and not only teased for a couple of episodes during the show's run.
The other 2 subplots of this entertaining episode involve (1) 80s TV stalwarts Shelley Smith and Dennis Cole in a complicated romantic subplot involving a single pregnant woman and a man she meets on the cruise and (2) comic TV icons Nipsey Russell (a 70s game show stalwart), Doris Roberts (from Everybody Loves Raymond fame), and Vic Tayback (from the 70s show Alice) in a subplot involving 3 former Korean War army buddies enlisting one of the ships' maids to get their hard-nosed ex-squad leader off their backs so they could enjoy the cruise in peace for their reunion. Re-watching this episode recently reminded how much actual dramatic elements it had even though it was technically classified a comedy with a laugh track. All 3 subplots have a strong dramatic streak underlying the comedy. Something else this show miraculously did was play to each actor's strengths but tweaking it just enough to fit into the show's seriocomic vibe. It's also odd seeing Hanks play a rather unlikable character as he made a film career of playing virtually lovable guys in romantic and slapstick comedies as well as serious dramas. This must have been around the time Hanks starred in Bosom Buddies since that was an ABC show and the network tended to borrow a lot of actors from within to guest on other shows.
When I first saw this episode back in the day, it was shocking seeing 2 characters who had previously been nothing more than friends all of a sudden fall into a passionate kiss. But being an oblivious kid at the time of first viewing, I just chalked this episode up to just another one-off and moved on from it enjoying the show moving forward, but over time episodes like this would pop into my head. Shows like The Love Boat back in the day were way more light and episodic in nature, so writing a continuous, long-running relationship for Gopher and Julie was unfortunately not in the cards. Putting them together would have eliminated each of them having their individual flings and romances with future guest stars as well as complicating their friendship dynamic. But retroactively, I now wish the show had thrown caution to the wind and the showrunners had stuck with and continued to tease an actual Gopher-Julie romance during the show's prime middle seasons before the show started to decline and approach it's final years on the air. After finally getting around to watching their Season 9 reunion episode as well as re-watching this one recently, there was legitimate chemistry between Grandy and Tewes and they really seemed to like working together and played off each other well. As I stated in my review of the Season 9 Gopher-Julie episode, this will always be one of those TV romances that I wish had been explored more and not only teased for a couple of episodes during the show's run.
