‘The Love Boat’s Ted Lange Says Producers Would Often ‘Short Shrift’ Him Exclusive

Ted Lange was grateful that his Love Boat costars always had his back when it came to addressing alleged “racism” on set of the beloved series.

After setting sail on Princess Cruises’ Love Boat Celebration at Sea, Lange spoke with PEOPLE about his time playing bartender Isaac Washington, reflecting on what it was like being “the only Black guy on a White show.”

“Sometimes they would short shrift you, and by that, I mean they were concentrated on the white characters and they’d give you leftovers,” Lange tells PEOPLE. “And then my whole job was to make it equitable – just make it equitable.”

He noted that in the series’ debut season, the opening “welcome aboard” sequence and the closing farewell were both delivered exclusively by the white characters.

“And so I went to the producers, I said, ‘How come I’m not in this?’” Lange recalls. “They said, ‘What are you worried about? You’re doing this and you’re doing that.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, it’s not equitable.’”

Although producers tried to dismiss his concerns, Lange says that “underneath, it was racism.”

“They said, ‘Well, what would you be doing there?’ I said, ‘What’s the captain doing there? The captain should be on the bridge. What’s the doc doing there? He should be in sickbay. If you have enough creative imagination to write those guys in, you can do it for me,'” he recalls.

In a Jan. 19 episode of the Still Here Hollywood Podcast with Steve Kmetko, the father of two also spoke about an unnamed Love Boat producer who refused to write for him.

“He didn’t want to write love stories for a Black character,” Lange said, adding that his costars Kopell and Grandy recognized what was going on and showed their support by crafting a love story for him.

Although Lange refused to back down, he says he ultimately “won out” because late producer Aaron Spelling wanted to keep a harmonious set.

“And that was a good thing, not just for me as an actor, but for Black people watching the show – that I was part of the contingent that was considered the ship,” Lange tells PEOPLE.

Luckily, his cast members were very supportive of him throughout filming and production – especially his late costar Gavin MacLeod.

“I was very lucky that the cast supported me,” he says.

“They were all 100% [behind me] and we’re friends to this day,” he adds. “And that’s the beauty of the whole thing.”

After the show wrapped in 1986, Lange told PEOPLE that theater “saved my life,” giving him not only something to do but also a renewed sense of purpose.

To keep his “creative juices flowing,” he chose to expand his work beyond television, carving out a space for himself on the stage rather than in front of the camera.

In September 2025, the 77-year-old actor debuted Lady Patriot, an Off-Broadway play he both wrote and directed, which ran at Theatre Row in New York City.

The production tells the true story of three extraordinary women from the Civil War – Varina Davis, Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Bowser.

Adding a touch of nostalgia, the play also reunited Lange with his Love Boat costars Fred Grandy and Jill Whelan.

The group reunited again for the Regal Princess cruise, which was buzzing with nostalgia as the 2025 Love Boat Celebration at Sea brought more than 4,000 superfans together for the show’s largest cruise ever.

Sailing from Galveston, Texas, to Cozumel, Mexico, and Roatán, Honduras, the ship became a floating tribute to the beloved series, complete with custom outfits, decorated cabin doors, and original cast members mingling with passengers.

Whelan, Bernie Kopell, Grandy and Lange spent the week hosting trivia nights, meet-and-greets and sharing decades-old stories with fans who knew every episode by heart.