Mr. Roarke is back at it in Fantasy Island Season 2, charging people a small fortune only to have their dreams blow up in their faces.
You really have to wonder if anyone ever asked for their money back. If I’m dropping fifty grand for a weekend, I want the dream I pictured, not a mandatory lesson in “moral growth” from a guy in a tuxedo.
Back when networks didn’t care about your sleep schedule, ABC pumped out a massive 25-episode marathon for Season 2. It aired Saturday nights (1978-79) as the second half of the legendary Aaron Spelling “Saturday Night Fever” block, following The Love Boat.
Check out the full breakdown of every fantasy (and every moral failure) below from the original broadcast schedule, along with original newspaper episode descriptions, critic commentary, and trivia tidbits.
Season 2 Episode 1: “Homecoming / The Sheikh”
Original Air Date: September 16, 1978
A teacher tired of spoiled debutantes seeks his own harem of obedient women; and an amnesia victim mistakenly reported killed in Vietnam wants to be reunited with his family.
- Vintage Guest Stars highlighted: Arte Johnson, Georgia Engel, David Birney, Lynda Day George
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: David Birney is a prolific character actor who has been a staple of the small screen since 1967, including turns on The F.B.I. and The Streets of San Francisco. Modern fans likely remember him as Dr. Ben Samuels from the first season of St. Elsewhere. Birney also starred in Quinn Martin’s Tales of the Unexpected (1977), playing Paul Rogers in the episode “The Nomads” — which was actually a direct remake of “The Beachhead,” the 1967 pilot for The Invaders. Both were Quinn Martin productions; Martin was essentially the Aaron Spelling of the 1960s and ’70s, dominating the airwaves with his signature high-stakes style.
Season 2 Episode 2: “The Big Dipper / The Pirate”
Original Air Date: September 23, 1978
An infamous pickpocket’s daughter tries to reform her dad before social workers separate them forever; and a celebrated painter wants to become an adventurous pirate to sweep his ex-wife off her feet before she remarries.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Dan Rowan, Sonny Bono, Diana Canova, Jill Whelan
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: A year after his appearance as a “crewman” in this episode, Clint Ritchie went on to become the original and iconic Clint Buchanan on the daytime soap One Life to Live.
- PTC Musings: Is it just me or does Diana Canova look like Cher? I got you, Babe!
Season 2 Episode 3: “The Beachcomber / The Last Whodunnit”
Original Air Date: September 30, 1978
A man fed up with the pressures of work and family escapes to Fantasy Island to live out the weekend as a carefree beachcomber; and a famous mystery writer’s greatest fan gets involved in a murder plot that could become her final chapter.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: John Astin, Celeste Holm, Judith Chapman
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: John Astin is better know as Gomez Addams in 1964 hit series, The Addams Family.
- PTC Musings: Hopefully Mr. Roarke gave the beachcomber the escape he was looking for and not some morality tale about responsibility.
Season 2 Episode 4: “Best Seller / The Tomb
Original Air Date: October 14, 1978
A meek 25-year-old clerk who dreams of being a bestselling author finds himself “kidnapped” by sex-starved females; and an archaeologist who wants to make a great find gets the opportunity to investigate the tomb of King Tut’s twin brother, which is said to be plagued by a deadly curse.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Desi Arnaz Jr., Barry Sullivan, Shelley Fabares
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Maureen McCormick who played Marcia Brady on the Brady Bunch appears in this episode as Angela Brennan but not one newspaper mentioned her. Her appearance came a year after the The Brady Bunch Variety Hour collapsed into oblivion.
💥 Vintage 1978 Critic Commentary: “ABC, the network whose initials inadvertently describe the juvenility of its staple programming, usually wins the ratings race on Saturday nights now… ABC’s winning hand is composed of Carter Country, a tedious clodhopper comedy… The Love Boat, which re-proves that an empty vessel floats; and Fantasy Island, which weekly refutes its title with its remarkable lack of imagination.” — Noel Holsten, Sentinel Star (Orlando, FL)
Season 2 Episode 5: “I Want to Get Married / The Jewel Thief”
Original Air Date: October 21, 1978
A carpenter craves the excitement of being a cat burglar; and a young woman looks for Mr. Right to replace her fiancé of 18 months.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Steve Forrest, Leigh Taylor-Young, Meredith MacRae, Ken Berry
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: Steve Forrest was a powerhouse character actor who played Lieutenant Dan “Hondo” Harrelson in the original 1975 series S.W.A.T.. The character’s legacy has proven indestructible: Forrest made a cameo as a truck driver in the 2003 S.W.A.T. film starring Samuel L. Jackson as Hondo, and the character was the centerpiece of the now-cancelled CBS revival starring Shemar Moore. With the upcoming S.W.A.T. Exiles set to revive the role once again, Hondo remains one of the most enduring “tough guy” lineages in TV history.
Season 2 Episode 6: “War Games / Queen of the Boston Bruisers”
Original Air Date: October 28, 1978
Some folks would find the life of a roller derby star exciting, but not the lady in question tonight. She wants to leave a favorable impression on the parents of her daughter’s fiancée, so she comes to the island to get some class in her act. Meanwhile, two Vietnam veterans try to recapture their most exciting moments in the service.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Anne Francis, Christopher George, Greg Morris
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Jonathan Frakes, the snarky host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction and Star Trek fame, appears in this episode as Kirk Wendover.
Season 2 Episode 7: “Let the Good Times Roll / Nightmare / The Tiger”
Original Air Date: November 4, 1978
An extra 30 minutes allows more happenings in this dream paradise. A former daredevil lover wants to recapture his exciting past; a bride comes up against her own father when she tries to destroy a recurring nightmare; and a daring writer decides to track down a very deadly tiger in the wilds of the jungle.
- PTC Favorite Episode Description: A young man wishes to relive his youth with hot cars and hot dates; a bride wants out of her marriage; and a macho novelist wants to hunt a man-eating tiger.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Paul Sand, Pamela Franklin, Darren McGavin, Ray Milland
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Danny Bonaduce of The Partridge Family fame appears in this episode as Hot Rod, but like Maureen McCormick, he doesn’t get a guest star highlight. Maybe the newspapers didn’t want to take sides in the Sitcom Family War, even though both shows were already over by this time.
Season 2 Episode 8: “Return / The Toughest Man Alive”
Original Air Date: November 11, 1978
The suave Mr. Roarke has spent nearly a full year in fulfilling others’ wishes, but what of his own? They come a bit closer to revelation tonight, as he falls in love with a visitor to the island. Meanwhile, on a more conventional level, a fellow tries to live out his dream of being a superhero ala James Bond and Superman.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Samantha Eggar and Red Buttons
- PTC Musings: Hmm. So Mr. Roarke takes their money and samples the goods?
💥 Vintage 1978 Critic Commentary (when TV critics used to be fun): “ABC pulled off this show that was to run last week saving it for tonight, obviously, to go up against it’s big network competition. And what makes this show ‘big’ in ABC’s estimation? Why, it’s love come to the dapper, handsome Mr. Roarke, the island host. And who can blame him? Samantha Eggar (her hair is red, her eyes are green as the TV commercial goes) is the beauty who turns him on when she returns to the island to see the man she fell in love with. Red Buttons plays a plain sort of fella who wants to be a big movie hero-type.” — The News-Messenger
Season 2 Episode 9: “The Appointment / Mr. Tattoo”
Original Air Date: November 18, 1978
Tattoo tries to grant two gorgeous showgirls their dream of a lifetime; and Mr. Roarke tries to fulfill a doctor’s wish of money for a new healthcare complex.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Connie Stevens, Barbi Benton, Troy Donahue
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Fred Grandy — aka Gopher on The Love Boat — appears as Bernie Parker.
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: Also on the TV schedule this Saturday night over on NBC: Carrie Fisher hosted Saturday Night Live with the Blues Brothers as guests.
Season 2 Episode 10: “The Flight of the Great Yellow Bird / The Island of Lost Women”
Original Air Date: November 25, 1978
Mr. Roarke’s old friend, a down-and-out lecturer, who claims to know everything about “Bigfoot,” gets to meet the legendary monster face-to-face; and a painfully shy man falls in love when he meets a lost tribe of women.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Barbara Rush, Peter Graves, Robert Morse, Cyd Charisse, Robin G. Eisenman
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: A 20-year-old Michelle Pfeiffer gets her first big TV break in this episode, appearing as Athena. She spoke one line: “Who is Naomi?” And the rest, as they say, is history.
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: This script wasn’t just pulling ideas out of thin air, but actually ripping storylines straight from the 1970s headlines. In 1976, the exact same year this era of network television was obsessing over the Pacific Northwest beast, a real-life monster hunter named Peter Byrne officially pressured the federal government into opening an investigation.
- 🧠 Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI Records Vault declassified a secret 22-page file on Bigfoot. The documents revealed that federal agents actually made a special lab exception to analyze 15 mysterious hair and tissue samples. The final official conclusion from the government scientists was that the hair belonged to a deer. So while Mr. Roarke’s guest was running around the jungle looking for a creature, the actual FBI was busy crushing the dreams of cryptozoologists everywhere.
Season 2 Episode 11: “Carnival / The Vaudevillians”
Original Air Date: December 2, 1978
A beautiful lady comes to the island to find a love who vanished after an idyllic three-day vacation. At the same time, a former vaudeville star arrives to recreate his act with his ex-partner before being placed into a home for the elderly.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Carol Lynley, Stuart Whitman, Phil Silvers
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Stuart Whitman from Night of the Lepus also guest stars. Read our Streaming Roulette Reaction Review to see what we thought about that movie.
Season 2 Episode 12: “Charlie’s Cherubs / Stalag 3”
Original Air Date: December 9, 1978
How many girls have fantasized about becoming one of Charlie’s Angels? Well, a lovely trio tries to fulfill that dream tonight. A more serious turn is taken when a former World War II prisoner of war gets together with some of his friends from those hardship-filled days, only to relive the nightmare he survived.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Brenda Benet, Bond Gideon, Melinda Naud, Cornel Wilde.
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: Aaron Spelling winks at his other massive ABC hit, Charlie’s Angels, in this meta episode.
Season 2 Episode 13: “The Lady and the Longhorn / Vampire”
Original Air Date: December 16, 1978
Dracula lives again when a famous actor wants to prepare his most challenging role; and a flamboyant cosmetics tycoon uses an unusual plot to snag a millionaire when they visit Mr. Roarke.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Robert Reed, Eva Gabor
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: Robert Reed is also known as the iconic patriarch Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch. He’s joined here by Eva Gabor, who became a household name as Lisa Douglas on the 1965 sitcom Green Acres. Eva was the younger sister of the more famous Zsa Zsa Gabor — who was essentially the proto-Kardashian of her era. While Zsa Zsa was famous for being famous, Eva made her own distinct mark in film, TV, and the business world.
Season 2 Episode 14: “Seance / The Treasure”
Original Air Date: January 13, 1979
A young woman wants to communicate with her twin brother who recently died to learn the truth behind his death; and a fisherman comes to the land of dreams to live the life of a millionaire.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Eve Plumb, George Maharis
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Shelley Fabares makes a second appearance on Fantasy Island as Eva Capos, and Airplane! star Leslie Nielsen appears as Victor Conti.
- PTC Musings: “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” Eve Plumb who played Jan on The Brady Bunch was highlighted by newspapers as a guest star in this episode, while her Brady Bunch co-star Maureen McCormick was ignored in an earlier episode. I guess everyone was sick of Marcia!
Season 2 Episode 15: “Cowboy / Substitute Wife”
Original Air Date: January 20, 1979
Mr. Roarke gives a man who hasn’t seen his son for many years the chance to be a rodeo hero, which cost him his life; and a woman gets an opportunity to pick her husband’s next wife.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Jayne Meadows, Hugh O’Brian
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: Hugh O’Brian appeared in five episodes of Fantasy Island, including the first pilot movie in 1977, when Mr. Roarke wasn’t such a nice guy.
Season 2 Episode 16: “Photographs / Royal Flush”
Original Air Date: January 27, 1979
There’s a sense of the eerie in one of tonight’s fantasies as a female photographer comes to the island to find the little girl who inexplicably shows up in nearly every picture she snaps. Meanwhile, another visitor desires to “shoot the works” in a poker game with exceptionally high stakes.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Michele Lee, John Rubinstein
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: If the name Michele Lee sounds familiar, it’s likely from her iconic role as Karen Fairgate in Knots Landing, the long-running Dallas spinoff. Film fans also know her from the 1969 Disney classic The Love Bug. Like many of Aaron Spelling’s favorite “pure gold” performers, she visited Mr. Roarke twice and appeared on The Love Boat a staggering six times.
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: John Rubinstein is the ultimate utility player of television, with a career spanning from 1967 to today. Beyond his appearance here, he’s popped up in everything from the original Hawaii Five-O and Harry O to modern staples like NCIS and Criminal Minds. Sci-fi fans will also recognize him from his six-episode run as the villainous Linwood Murrow on Angel.
Season 2 Episode 17: “The Stripper / The Boxer”
Original Air Date: Feb 10, 1979
A lovely heiress decides to marry, but her choice is opposed by her overpowering father; meanwhile a boxer tries to live out his fantasy of being a gold medal winner in the 1980 Olympics.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Laraine Stephens, Ben Murphy
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Marcia (Maureen McCormick) makes another appearance on Fantasy Island as Jennie Collins, and the newspapers still ignore her.
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: Cult actress and pop culture icon, Mami Van Doren also appears in this episode as Sheba Palumbo. A Universal Studios casting scout discovered her during a showcase staging of the play…Come Back, Little Sheba.
💥 Vintage 1979 Critic Commentary (Will David Boreanaz receive the same high compliment with his Rockford Files reboot?): “It’s an unsettling night for viewers. ABC’s rivals are hoping to lure you away from Love Boat and Fantasy Island. NBC’s strategy includes the relocation of Rockford Files from Friday to Saturday. They’re playing ‘ratings roulette’ at the expense of one of the most skillfully crafted hour diversions on the tube, Jim Garner’s ‘Rockford.'” — Bernie Harrison, Des Moines Tribune
Season 2 Episode 18: “Casting Director / Pentagram / A Little Ball”
Original Air Date: February 17, 1979
Mr. Roarke gets to grant one more wish than usual in tonight’s episode. A movie buff wants to be a casting director; a nun questions her true destiny in life; and a reporter comes to the island to rid herself of a Satanic curse.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Don Knotts, Lisa Hartman, Florence Henderson
- 🤔 PTC Musings: Florence Henderson played the mom on The Brady Bunch. Don’t tell me Maureen McCormick isn’t blacklisted by the newspapers.
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: For The Godfather movie fans, Tessio (Abe Vigoda) appears in this episode as Sid Gordon. For everyone else, he’s better known as Fish on the 1975 series Barney Miller.
- 🧠 PTC Trivia II: Manis the Orangutan, a trained orangutan who played Clyde, Clint Eastwood’s sidekick from the 1978 box office hit Every Which Way But Loose, appears in this episode as Gertrude the Orangutan.
Season 2 Episode 19: “Spending Spree / The Hunted”
Original Air Date: February 24, 1979
The hunter becomes the hunted tonight as an intrepid fellow becomes the prey as part of his fantasy. Meanwhile, two young ladies are given the rare opportunity to spend half-a-million dollars.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Stuart Whitman, Diana Canova, Lola Falana
- PTC Musings: Does Mr. Roarke ever check his island roster for repeat customers using different names? Or is he just checking his bank account, smiling at all the dough he’s made since 1977?
- PTC Musings II: Speaking of repeat customers, doesn’t that storyline about the hunter sound similar to the one from the original 1977 pilot?
Season 2 Episode 20: “Birthday Party / Ghostbreaker”
Original Air Date: March 3, 1979
Are there such things as ghosts? One fellow believes so and his fantasy is to prove that they exist. Meanwhile a woman who turned her twin babies over for adoption a long time ago hopes to see her now-grown offspring.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Ken Berry, Janet Leigh
- 👁️PTC Star Spotting: Former Mouseketeer and teen idol Annette Funicello also stars in this episode as Edna Camberly.
💥 Vintage 1979 Critic Commentary: “Love (boat) and fantasy (island) go hand-in-hand as ABC has discovered because the audience watching one stays tuned to the other — no matter what NBC or CBS comes up with.” — The News-Messenger
Season 2 Episode 21: “Yesterday’s Love / Fountain of Youth”
Original Air Date: March 17, 1979
A married couple wants to recapture love by returning to their high school days; and a soldier of fortune runs into a nightmare looking for the “fountain of youth.”
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Eleanor Parker, Craig Stevens, Dennis Cole
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: In a March 1979 interview with UPI, producer Aaron Spelling noted that between Love Boat and Fantasy Island, he used more than 475 guest stars between the two shows. He called most of his guests “pure gold” and said that despite them being mostly old timers no longer in great demand, they all “should be working all the time.”
Season 2 Episode 22: “The Comic / The Golden Hour”
Original Air Date: May 5, 1979
Two pen pals — a beautiful invalid and a convict — finally meet and discover the truth about each other; and a comedy writer, who’s about to be fired, gets the chance to become a headliner like his famous boss — with surprising results.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Toni Tennille, Fred Grandy, Michael Parks, Jack Carter
- PTC Musings: One of my favorite shows as a kid was Captain & Tennille. I liked Sonny & Cher, too, as that was my mom’s favorite, but Toni Tennille reminded me of the magic mirror host of Romper Room, and I loved that show — even if Miss Nancy never said my name. Love will keep us together…
Season 2 Episode 23: “Cornelius and Alphonse / The Choice”
Original Air Date: May 6, 1979
Special Sunday Night episode. In a part of the island reserved for children, Roarke entertains a personal enemy who is up to no good and two children who want to choose their parents.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Red Buttons, Stephen Spencer, Kyle Richards
- 🧠 PTC Trivia: In 1979, Master of the Macabre, Vincent Price, was promoting his first TV series, Time Express, which had premiered on CBS just a couple of weeks prior to this episode of Fantasy Island. The show had a remarkably similar premise: Price and his real-life wife, Coral Browne, starred as mysterious hosts aboard a head-turning train that helped passengers relive — and perhaps revise — the past.
- 🧠”When asked about the structural similarities to Mr. Roarke’s island during a 1979 interview, Price didn’t hold back: “It’s a fantasy, but it’s more serious. We don’t have people saying they want to go back and live in a harem. The stories are more genuine.”
- 🧠 Clearly, 1979 audiences preferred tracksuits and harems over genuine reality. Time Express ran for only four episodes before CBS permanently pulled the emergency brake and canceled it. But since we’re a sucker for Vincent Price (The Tingler, anyone?) and obscure shows, we had to hunt it down. What did we think? Our thoughts are on the way.
Season 2 Episode 24: “Bowling / Command Performance”
Original Air Date: May 12, 1979
A former circus owner brings all of her old acts together for one last show, and a man who wants to be a professional bowler gets the chance to compete in a major tournament.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: None.
- 👁️ PTC Star Spotting: Rue McClanahan, who later played Blanche on the highly popular 1985 sitcom Golden Girls, appears in this episode as Margaret Fielding.
Season 2 Episode 25: “Amusement Park / Rock Stars”
Original air date: May 13, 1979
A motherless young boy wants to run the island’s amusement park to give his wandering carnival stuntman father a chance at the big time; and four children who seek instant success as rock stars to escape living in foster homes make an excursion by balloon to the other side of the island where dreams are fulfilled.
- Vintage Guest Stars Highlighted: Paul Sands, Pamela Franklin, Derrus Scott
- PTC Musings: Both Paul Sands and Pamela Franklin appeared on previous Season 2 Episodes of Fantasy Island, proving my point that Mr. Roarke doesn’t check his guest lists.
- ➝ 📡 Keep Exploring: Looking for something else to watch? Head into the Free TV Frontier for the good, the bad, the forgotten, and the stuff hiding in streaming’s weirdest corners.
- ➝ 📇 The TV Rolodex: Looking for a specific legend or forgotten loser? Search our TV Rolodex: A–Z Archive to see every show we’ve embraced or chased.
- ➝ 💡 PTC Streaming Tip: Streaming availability changes constantly. Check our FAST TV Streaming Guide to see what’s currently hiding out there for free.
