Social Distancing 2020: Remembering When Charo Sang "The Love Boat" Theme Song

I've been binge-watching old episodes of "The Love Boat" as part of my social distancing efforts all afternoon. A few Christmases back, I received the first and second seasons of this program on DVD. I then quickly discovered that the episode story lines are quite formulaic, so it's taken me a really long time to push my way through my collection.

I'm finally getting through the second season, which is where I discovered this gem that featured Charo's second appearance on the program.

In "April's Return/Super Mom/I'll See You Again," Charo returned to the Pacific Princess to see for the cruise ship's guests. The problem is that she didn't think that people took her serious as a singer so she called Captain Stubing into trying out as a program director under Julie's tutelage. Of course, she did terrible as a program director and quickly discovered that people really loved her for her singing and everything worked out in the end.

There is this great scene early on in the episode where Charo performs the theme song to "The Love Boat." It has a great disco beat going and she has some great dance moves. But her singing? It's so... quiet. Not a single "Cuchi Cuchi." Which isn't what I think of when I think of Charo singing. And the audience just sits around here bobbing their heads and gently tapping their feet.


You can watch a YouTube video here that contains most of the scene. You can listen to the entire song here.