Mr. Saturday Night

Gavin MacLeod, who died this past weekend at 90, appeared in numerous TV roles and also made many appearances in the movies, but he will always be remembered for two roles - that of TV news writer Murray Slaughter on CBS's "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and as cruise ship captain Merrill Stubing on ABC's "The Love Boat."  These roles put him on prime time television every Saturday night during the 9 PM Eastern hour for sixteen years beginning in 1970 - the first seven years with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and the final nine years with "The Love Boat."  In the process, he became a treasured TV icon.

I came to identify with Murray because he was "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"'s everyman, the guy who came to work at WJM-TV's newsroom every day and just did his job but wanted more recognition.  He wrote out the news reports for each broadcast and sat in dread watching his own station's six o'clock report and hoping Ted Baxter wouldn't get his script wrong.   Content to be behind the scenes where the magic that is television broadcasting happened, Murray nonetheless longed to get a little more credit and a lot more money for his work and muddled through to the end, when he got fired in a mass layoff that spared Ted.  If there had ever been a spinoff of Murray, we would have seen him dust himself off and move on to something better like Lou Grant did - maybe even something better than what Lou Grant did.      

MacLeod, of course, did a complete 180 and played a character as different from Murray Slaughter as ABC was from CBS.  (In those days, CBS was as staid as the leader of the local Chamber of Commerce, while ABC was as brash as the gum-cracking platinum-blonde chick who hung out at the local roller-skating arena on disco night.)  "The Love Boat" was a cheesy show in which showbiz veterans and contemporary TV stars played dysfunctional characters who, through three concurrent storylines in one episode, somehow managed to resolve their problems and find new romances on a single cruise.  Captain Stubing was the stern but fair ringleader of a crew that aimed to please their passengers and always had to step in to right the crew or the passengers even as the ship sailed smoothly.  Merrill Stubing didn't have Murray Slaughter's wit or humor - sometimes he was even as gruff as Lou Grant - but he kept everything on an even keel.

TV critics who loved "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and hated "The Love Boat" would probably regard MacLeod's move from the former show to the latter in 1977 to be the most astonishing fall from grace by a major actor in television history - McLean Stevenson's fall being more gradual.  Why go directly from one of American TV's most revered shows to one of its most reviled?  But MacLeod didn't want to play the same character again with a different name (although both Murray Slaughter and Merrill Stubing did have the same initials).  He wanted to show more versatility, and he was also intrigued by he chance to work with generations of Hollywood boldface names who were "The Love Boat"'s special guest stars.   Sometimes I think that's the only reason people watched "The Love Boat" - to see which Hollywood veterans and which of their favorite sitcom actors would appear.  MacLeod carved himself a niche into both categories  by being there every Saturday evening.

And through those sixteen years of entertaining us on Saturday nights and making us smile, Gavin MacLeod became a legend himself.

Sadly, the TV networks now regard Saturday nights as an afterthought when it comes to programming.  The night has become a TV ghetto, mainly because the networks think everyone goes out on Saturday nights.  Those who don't are likely to be watching cable TV, which caters to a fragmented viewership.  It's safe to say that the television world that MacLeod thrived in died long before he did, and he is that lost world's greatest legacy.  RIP.