Winner of this match will finish in 4th place. Loser will round out my tournament's top 5 in 5th place. I am expanding the voting period to 12 days for the 4th place match and 14 days for the three show finals.

Since this site considers The Love Boat a sitcom, it made my tournament although I consider it a light drama. The Love Boat aired nine seasons and 249 episodes on ABC from 1977-1986, outlasting Gavin MacLeod's previous successful sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He starred as Captain Merrill Stubing on a cruise ship. There were several famous guest stars who played the passengers. Captain Stubing's crew was purser Gopher Smith (Fred Grandy), bartender Isaac Washington (Ted Lange), doctor Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell), and cruise director Julie McCoy (Lauren Tewes). A good addition who became a regular in season 3 was Merrill's daughter Vicki Stubing (Jill Whelan). Lauren Tewes left at the end of season 7, Pat Klous replaced her as sister and new cruise director Judy McCoy. In season 8 Ted McGinley also joined the cast as photographer Ace Evans.
How it got this far
1st Round: defeated Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. 8-5
2nd Round: defeated Barney Miller 10-4
3rd Round: defeated Head of the Class (1986) 10-4
Quarterfinals: defeated Family Ties 10-4
Semifinals: lost to Cheers 4-11

It was not sunny in this sitcom where Danny DeVito got his start as super mean boss Louie De Palma. Set at a cab company, Judd Hirsch stars as Alex Reiger, the only cabbie who was there full time not supplementing with another job. Marilu Henner is Elaine Nardo, Tony Danza is Tony Banta, Jeff Conaway is Bobby Wheeler, and Andy Kaufman is mechanic Latka Gravas. John Burns (Randall Carver) was dropped after season 1. Bobby was dropped at the end of season 3. Christopher Lloyd joined the cast as "Reverend" Jim Ignatowski in season 2. Danny DeVito's real wife Rhea Perlman played Zena Sherman in 6 episodes. Carol Kane recurred as Latka's eventual wife Simka Dahblitz-Gravas. Taxi aired five seasons from 1978-1983, the first four on ABC. When they cancelled at the end of season 4, NBC picked up Taxi for a 5th season pairing it with Cheers on Thursday nights. But that did not help Taxi's ratings improve as it was still two years before The Cosby Show would save the night (although I like Fame a lot better than TCS).
How it got this far
1st Round: defeated Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister 9-2
2nd Round: defeated The Wonder Years (1988) 10-1
3rd Round: defeated Newhart 11-8
Quarterfinals: defeated M*A*S*H 9-6
Semifinals: lost to Gilligan's Island 7-11

Welcome aboard it's LOVE OV OV !!! :):cool:

Love Boat is still fun all these years later

The love boat :)

The Love Boat because it was entertaining during the late 70s & early 80s

It is a close race with 6 days of voting left.

As critically-acclaimed as Taxi was, the end of its run was not in the best of terms, so I'm giving this one to The Love Boat because of it having the better ratings history (Love Boat's best season was ranked at #5 compared to Taxi's #10).

By a two vote margin, Taxi finishes in 4th place and The Love Boat finishes in 5th place.

By a two vote margin, Taxi finishes in 4th place and The Love Boat finishes in 5th place.

I'm happy to be a part of the two vote margin. It was bad enough seeing Taxi lose to Gilligan's Island. I couldn't see it lose to The Love Boat, too!

I'm happy to be a part of the two vote margin. It was bad enough seeing Taxi lose to Gilligan's Island. I couldn't see it lose to The Love Boat, too!

Agreed!

It was bad enough seeing Taxi lose to Gilligan's Island.Gilligan's Island has had nine lives in my tournament. Frasier, Petticoat Junction, and I Love Lucy are all much better shows than Gilligan (Some Mothers much better also but that is not well known even to many Michael Crawford fans). The GI fanbase has been very dedicated to it, though.

Gilligan's Island has had nine lives in my tournament. Frasier, Petticoat Junction, and I Love Lucy are all much better shows than Gilligan (Some Mothers much better also but that is not well known even to many Michael Crawford fans). The GI fanbase has been very dedicated to it, though.

True. I was shocked when I saw Gilligan's Island defeat I Love Lucy, which to me, is a top 10 best sitcom of all-time. When it defeated Taxi, I had decided to give up on voting in these polls. But when I saw it was tied with The Love Boat and I could have the deciding vote, I just couldn't pass that up, lol. Luckily, someone else voted Taxi after me.

To me, Taxi is easily a top 5 best sitcom of all-time. I have trouble putting shows in order on lists like this, which is why I'm not giving either Lucy or Taxi numbers, but in my opinion, they are two of the finest sitcoms ever made.

I should also mention that I've never been a fan of either Gilligan's Island or The Love Boat. Nothing against either show, they're just not shows that I have ever gotten into.