Ted Lange Once Confronted Aaron Spelling About White Cast's Prominence on “Love Boat”: 'Why Can't I Greet People?'

The actor, who played bartender Isaac on the series, reunited with his costars Fred Gandy, Bernie Kopell and Jill Whelan on the Enchanted Princess cruise ship

Ted Lange served up drinks and a smile behind the bar on The Love Boat, but behind the scenes, he wanted the show to serve up equal representation, too.

While speaking on The Love Boat Legacy: Original Cast Reflections panel on Princess Cruise’s Love Boat Celebration sailing alongside costars Fred Gandy, Bernie Kopell and Jill Whelan, Lange recalled sitting down with the show’s executive producer Aaron Spelling and asking why his character Issac couldn’t be more front and center with the guests.

“We had a meeting with Aaron because I had some complaints about the show,” Lange, 76, told the crowd on the Enchanted Princess on Sunday, Sept. 1. “And they brought us in to talk to Aaron and he said, ‘Well, Ted, what's your complaint?’ I said, ‘Well, you got all the white guys in the front of the show. You got all the white guys in the back of the show.’ They said, ‘Well, what are your problems? You're one of the stars.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but why can't I greet people coming on to the ... because everybody does. And why can't I say goodbye after I've helped them with their problems?’"

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The Love Boat ran from 1977-87 for 10 seasons, and from Saturday, Aug. 31-Saturday, Sept. 7, Princess Cruises celebrates the show and the impact it had on cruising with a sail filled with cast meet and greets, Love Boat trivia, show themed specialty cocktails, episode viewings by the pool and a vow renewal officiated by the cast. Lange hosts cocktail demonstrations onboard, the first of which drew a standing room only crowd at the ship’s Princess Live! venue.

For the 100 guests who opted for the Love Boat VIP Package, the itinerary — which features stops in Boston, Eastport, Maine, Nova Scotia and Canada's New Brunswick — also included an exclusive welcome reception with the stars and a cast dinner.

“I remember one episode where Doc said, ‘Hey, I talked to Isaac, and he told me you took his advice and he wants to say congrats,’” Lange continued at the panel moderated by author Jim Colucci. “Well, I said to the producer, ‘Why can't I say that? Why can't I be there?’ And the producer at the time said, ‘Well, what would a bartender be doing there?’ And I said, ‘What would the Doc be doing there? What would the captain be doing there? He should be on the bridge.’ And we ironed that out.”

During that same meeting, Lange claimed that castmate Gavin MacLeod, who played the boat’s captain and died in 2021 at age 90, asked for a deeper story arc.

“Gavin says, ‘I'm servicing guest stars and I don't have a story. I would like to have a story instead of helping Ginger Rogers find Fred Astaire. I want to do something,’” Lange said. “And so they said, ‘Well, we'll figure out a way that we can do a personal story.’ And I think that's when you happened, because it then elevated Gavin's position as a character, as a single father. And that wasn't prevalent at the time that we were doing our show.”

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Lange also remembered how the show’s makeup artist “accidentally” trimmed his signature mustache — which he grew to look older after playing a teenager on That’s My Mama — at the request of producer Doug Cramer.

“They wanted me to cut my mustache to here,” Lange said, gesturing to his face. “And I remember we had a makeup guy named Larry Darr. We called him Cowboy. He wore a big cowboy hat. He was a cowboy. And so I'm sitting in the makeup chair and he says, ‘Ted, your mustache is a little uneven. Want me to even it up?’ So I go, ‘Oh yeah, sure Larry.’ And he goes, ‘Whoops.’ And I go, ‘Hey man, what are you doing?’ He says, ‘Well, now I got to cut here to even it up over here.’ And I said, "Okay, what's going on?’ He says, ‘What do you mean?’”

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The actor pressed Darr on his intentions, telling the makeup artist, “You're the finest makeup artist in Hollywood,” and acknowledging that Darr wouldn’t make a mistake like cutting a mustache by accident.

Eventually, Darr admitted, “‘Well, Doug Cramer wanted to shorten the mustache,’” Lange said. “And this is the third year. They hadn't noticed for three years! … So that's how that happened, is that Doug Cramer asked Larry Darr to … rather than just say, ‘Hey, Ted, can we talk to you? We'd like to...’ I would've said, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

Princess’s next Love Boat Celebration at Sea themed cruise will sail from Galveston, Texas on Regal Princess from Nov. 16-23, 2025 and makes stops throughout Mexico at Cozumel, Costa Maya and Roatan.

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