The BEST episodes of The Love Boat season 3
Every episode of The Love Boat season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Love Boat season 3!
Passengers find romance aboard a cruise ship.
#1 - Rent a Romeo/Matchmaker, Matchmaker/Y' Gotta Have Heart
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/26/1980
Doc's plans for a rendezvous are spoiled when the woman's recently dumped (and extremely depressed) sister tags along on the cruise. Doc tries to get some privacy by having a playboy romance the sister. Vicki helps a young boy's efforts to reunite his divorced parents. A woman tries to keep her husband on a short leash, as he has recently undergone heart surgery and she fears he will drop dead at any moment.
#2 - The Stimulation of Stephanie/The Next Step/ Life Begins at 40
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/1/1979
A sex researcher doesn't realize his assistant is in love with him. A woman helps her football star husband move on after he is cut by his team. A woman tries to find a husband just before her 40th birthday.
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#3 - Not So Fast, Gopher/Haven't We Met Before?/Seoul Mates
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/9/1980
Gopher invites his widowed mother onto the ship in the hopes of cheering her up, but is hurt by her seemingly cheerful attitude, which he interprets as an insult to his father. A group of buddies takes a cruise. One of the men meets a woman who is a regular customer at the restaurant where he works. He lies about his identity because he thinks she would be put off by the fact that he is a waiter. A comic's romance with the reporter who is writing a feature about him appears doomed after she takes offense to his act.
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#4 - The Spider Serenade/Next Door Wife/The Harder They Fall
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/8/1979
Gopher finds romance with a recently separated passenger--until her estranged husband suddenly shows up and announces his intention of winning her back. A woman tries to pry her soon-to-be-ex-husband away from his girlfriend by coming on the cruise and rooming in the cabin next to theirs. Two distinguished passengers, who squared off in a boxing match decades earlier, renew their rivalry. They schedule a fight on the ship to settle the score once and for all.
#5 - The Caller/Marriage of Convenience/No Girls for Doc/Witness for the Prosecution
Season 3 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/3/1980
In this special 90-minute episode that guest stars theater icon Helen Hayes (and her real-life son), the actress' character navigates romance after becoming a widow. Also, a district attorney falls for the woman he has in protective custody, and Doc swears off his own romances for a while.
#6 - Dumb Luck/Tres Amigos/Hey, Jealous Lover
Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/15/1980
Julie worries that her brilliant nuclear physicist friend will never find a man because her intelligence intimidates suitors. She encourages her to act dumb to attract a man's attention. Vicki befriends a wealthy young passenger. While exploring the ship, they discover a stowaway, a young boy who wants to visit his mother in Mexico. A jealous husband terrifies the crew as he constantly threatens the guys, who he suspects are coming on to his wife.
#7 - Alaska Wedding Cruise: Carol & Doug/Peter & Alicia/Julie/Buddy & Portia (1)
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/1979
The ship voyages to Alaska for the wedding of a wealthy heir and the granddaughter of a fiercely independent oil man.
#8 - Gopher's Greatest Hits/The Vacation/One Rose a Day
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/13/1979
Julie is in a bind when the scheduled singer takes ill just before the ship sails. Isaac and Doc overhear Gopher singing in the shower, and Julie tries to persuade him to fill in as the entertainment. Two married sisters continue their tradition of taking a yearly cruise together. However, one of them brings along her uptight husband, who cramps their style and expresses suspicions that his wife has been cheating on him during the previous excursions. A widow finds romance with her longtime florist.
#9 - The Audit Couple/The Scoop/My Boyfriend's Back
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/6/1979
Capt. Stubing must cope with an IRS audit. Julie believes the feisty auditor is so caught up in her work because she is lonely, and goads the captain into spending time with her. The woman winds up trying to get a little too close to Capt. Stubing. A TV star tries to keep a tabloid reporter from learning that she has a son with a disability, as she believes the press would be cruel to the boy. A man tries to steal his ex-girlfriend away from her new husband.
#10 - April's Love/Happy Ending/We Three
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/12/1980
April returns to the ship with her fiancé, a former used car salesman turned manager whom she has known only a few weeks. The crew is certain that the man is scamming her. A couple comes aboard the ship to finish a script before filing for divorce. A man is shocked to run into the daughter he gave up for adoption and her adoptive mother. He agonizes over whether to tell her the truth about her parentage.
#11 - Vicki's First Love/Accident Prone/The High Cost of Loving
Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/5/1980
Vicki develops a crush on a popular singer, but soon has her heart broken when she misinterprets his kindness as something more. Two extremely clumsy people, who have recently been involved in an auto accident, alternately bicker and romance each other--while everyone else tries to stay out of their way. A man is afraid to become involved with a woman because the court recently forced him to give up a large portion of his income to his last girlfriend. His lawyer tells him that he cannot sleep with any woman unless he first gets her to sign a waiver.
#12 - Alaska Wedding Cruise: Carol & Doug/Peter & Alicia/Julie/Buddy & Portia (2)
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/1979
The engaged couple gets married despite numerous obstacles, and Julie encounters heartbreak upon surprising an ex-lover.
#13 - Never Say Goodbye/A New Woman/Trial Romance
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/3/1979
Capt. Stubing receives a letter from his daughter, Vicki. When he tries to call her, he learns that she has run away from her aunt and uncle's home. She shows up on the ship and reveals that she has read her mother's diary, and now knows that the captain is her father. She wants to stay with him, but he feels that it is best that he return her. Vicki's aunt reveals that she is getting a divorce and wants to send her children away for a while so that they won't be affected by the proceedings. Capt. Stubing and Vicki are thrilled by the chance to live together on the ship. Julie plays matchmaker for two shy, old-fashioned people who are unaccustomed to the workings of modern romance. A man is annoyed by the presence of the woman who deadlocked the jury for the attempted murder trial on which they both served, leading to a mistrial. They constantly argue about the case.
#14 - Invisible Maniac/September Song/Peekaboo
Season 3 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/19/1980
Isaac is nervous about the arrival of a famous model, who was his classmate in the first grade. The woman tries to use Isaac to make her sports-obsessed husband jealous. Two sisters overhear Janet pretending to fend off an attack by Isaac, and come to believe that a sex maniac is loose on the ship. Two attorneys must keep their affair a secret because they work for the same firm. He wants to make the relationship public and get married, but she experiences doubts. An older woman undergoes a drastic makeover to shake out of her humdrum life, and encourages her skeptical husband to do the same.
#15 - Oldies but Goodies/The Grass Is Always Greener/Three Stages of Love
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/22/1979
An older couple finds its attempts at romance complicated by the presence of her obnoxious, golddigging daughter and his overprotective manservant. Julie's roommate from cruise director training takes a cruise with her young son. Julie and Tina each envy the life the other has chosen for herself. When Tina offers some ideas for an upcoming party, Julie resents her friend for moving in on her territory. A young couple's romance begins to fall apart because the man is obsessed with analyzing the relationship and comparing even the most minor developments to the "stages" he went through with past girlfriends.
#16 - Brotherhood of the Sea/Letter to Babycakes/Daddy's Pride
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/17/1979
The crew plans a surprise birthday party for Julie. Isaac, Gopher and Doc try to keep her from getting suspicious by claiming that all of their secretive conversations are part of the "Brotherhood of the Sea," a clandestine organization that only accepts men. This infuriates Julie, who becomes determined to break down the gender barrier at any cost. She winds up ignoring a potential suitor while the guys try to distract her by putting her through an "initiation" process. A philandering man relies on his awkward but sweet assistant to keep his various girlfriends from learning about his activities. A young gymnast grows tired of the pressure placed on her by her overbearing father, who is determined to mold her into an Olympic champion. A lonely rich boy, travelling on the cruise alone, tries to encourage her to have some fun.
#17 - Cindy/Play by Play/What's a Brother For?
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/27/1979
Gopher befriends a young woman who is constantly put upon by her mean-spirited stepmother and two gawky step-sisters. Gopher takes note of her singing talent and tries to help her get an audition with the famous singer who is performing on the cruise. A sports broadcaster clashes with his female partner. She grows tired of his sexist remarks and challenges him to a series of athletic contests, with the loser having to quit his or her job. A disabled man demands his brother's constant attention, complicating his potential romance.
#18 - Kinfolk/Sis and the Slicker/Moonlight and Moonshine/Too Close for Comfort/The Affair (1)
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/19/1980
A singer worries that his hillbilly relatives will embarrass him and ruin his chance of catching a record producer's eye. The producer becomes attracted to the singer's sister, who begins to doubt her commitment to her fiancé from back home. An author pictures the family as potential characters for her next book. She poses as a mountain woman to get the grandfather to open up to her. Doc, Isaac and Gopher room with Capt. Stubing after their cabins are flooded. They proceed to drive him crazy, and won't let him get any sleep. Two couples take the cruise together. One of the women tries to convince her friend that their spouses are having an affair.
#19 - Crew Confessions/Haven't I Seen You?/The Reunion
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/20/1979
Isaac shocks the crew when he writes about them in a tell-all novel; a celebrity lookalike tries to convince a newfound romance that he isn't who she thinks he is; a reunited husband and wife share a deep secret.
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#20 - The Captain's Ne'er-Do-Well Brother/The Perfect Match/The Remake
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/2/1980
Capt. Stubing is wary of the presence of his brother, a notorious scam artist who seems to have set his sights on a wealthy passenger. A woman uses a computer to track down the perfect father for her child, whom she follows on the cruise. Julie's widowed aunt falls for a man who reminds her of her late husband.
#21 - Critical Success/The Love Lamp Is Lit/Take My Boyfriend, Please/Rent a Family/The Man in Her Life (1)
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/10/1979
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders come on board as part of a charity fundraiser for an Acapulco orphanage. One of the cheerleaders enlists the help of her friends to dodge the advances of a persistent suito. A cheerleader's mother mistakenly fears that her daughter is trying to steal her boyfriend. A man, who has been lying to his boss about having a family, hires a group of actors to pose as his mother, wife and son for the company's "family cruise." A divorcing couple plots to steal a valuable gem, which is hidden in a lamp that keeps getting passed between crew members. A famous dancer/actress who is helping with the charity event repeatedly declines Capt. Stubing's request that she take part in the performance.
#22 - Doc, Be Patient/Dance With Me/Going My Way
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/29/1979
A doctor who had planned on taking the cruise as a vacation cares for Doc when he comes down with the flu. He is initially a difficult patient, but soon begins to fall for his physician. A former dancer who has now opened her own school tries to convince her ex-partner to come to Germany to teach for her. He is reluctant to give up his life with his much younger (and very talented) partner/girlfriend, even though he is putting his health at risk and holding her back from a potentially successful career. A free-spirited woman invites a cab driver along on the cruise after her boyfriend stands her up.
#23 - Not Now, I'm Dying/Eleanor's Return/Too Young to Love
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/24/1979
A man tries to avoid a wedding by faking a terminal illness. Capt. Stubing hopes for another chance at love with his recently divorced ex-flame. Gopher must keep an eye on two teenagers posing as newlyweds.
#24 - Celebration/Captain Papa/Honeymoon Pressure
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/29/1980
A man spends beyond his means while trying to lavish his recently hospitalized wife with gifts. Capt. Stubing and Vicki face an interview with a child services worker, who will decide whether the captain can have full custody of his daughter. A newlywed couple has trouble consummating its relationship because the presence of the bride's bodyguards (her family is "connected") makes the groom nervous.
#25 - Another Time, Another Place/Doctor Who/Gopher's Engagement
Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/3/1980
A friend of Capt. Stubing's runs into his long-lost old flame, who has since become a nun. He professes his love for her, forcing her to make a difficult decision about her future. A woman pursues a shy astronomer, mistakenly believing that he is the renowned sex therapist/author who is travelling incognito on the ship. A young woman's pushy mother constantly nags her to find a wealthy husband. Gopher tries to cheer the woman by asking her to dance and giving her what he thinks is a cheap toy ring, unaware that it is actually a passenger's lost engagement ring.