From MeTV:
“ABC turned both down, because, I believe, the casting just wasn't right," the super-producer wrote in his memoir Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life. The first failed pilot aired in September of 1976; the second attempt followed in January of 1977. The third and finally successful pilot, with the cast you know and love, arrived months later in May of '77, with a made-for-TV movie titled The New Love Boat, to underscore to viewers that, yes, this is a fresh crew.

The first two casts contained familiar faces. **** Van Patten played "Your Doctor," O'Neill. Had he landed the role full-time, he might never have made Eight Is Enough. The same goes for the bartender, indeed named Isaac, as portrayed by Theodore Wilson. He was coming off a starring role in That's My Mama. After the maiden Love Boat pilot sank at sea, Wilson washed ashore with a lead role in Sanford Arms, a Sanford and Son spin-off.

Gopher was the only other crew member to carry his familiar name. Ted Hamilton, an Aussie actor who had starred in a cop show Down Under called Division 4, booked the captain's role, initially named Thomas Ford. That sounded far dryer and less exciting than "Merrill Stubing."

Why it should be riffed:
1. Someone else played the pivotal role of Gopher??
2. Richard Stahl as a lounge singer
3. It was so bad it took two more tries to get to The Love Boat we all know and love.