saynotoursoap

Yes, the villainess was Miriam Carpenter. Miriam was a real piece of work and beautifully played by a gorgeous actress named Ginger Burgett. I have no idea why Ginger did not go on to other soaps or films, because she carried Another Life in its dreadful early months. Miriam was mistakenly kidnapped by Hugo Lancelot and Blue Nobles, two goons who were after hooker Babs Farley. They held Miriam captive in a gardener's shed on a deserted farm. Miriam was held hostage for what seemed like six months of storyline. Probably it was closer to three or four. I would have to check my tapes to see, but the point is that the story was not a short one, and it was well produced. For example, Ginger Burgett stopped wearing makeup. Her clothes were dingy and dirty. Her lovely blond hair looked as if it had not been washed in weeks. Miriam truly suffered at the hands of her captors. Kelly Gwinn, who played Hugo, personified evil. He was slimy and sadistic with one of the creepiest grins I have ever seen on soaps. Gwinn played the part so well. He is another one who should have done more. Chandler Hill Harben, who had been the second Ben Harper on Love of Life, played Blue Nobles. Blue was also unnerving. He was always dressed in denim and wore a baseball cap. He had a stutter. Harben played Blue as slightly mentally retarded. It was Blue who attempted to rape Lori Martin. He was imposing and unsettling presence. The episode in which Blue attacks Lori is on Youtube. You should watch it, because it's very, very well done and is a perfect example of how good a non-network soap can be. Back to Miriam. Miriam began to lose her mind during the months of imprisonment. She had a Bible in the shed and started to read it. Over the months of captivity, the Bible, and her developing faith of being rescued, motivated her to keep going. This is what precipitated the change in her character. I felt this story was one they got right and fell in line with what the series attempted to convey about faith.

I agree. I never cared for the Lujack character, at least not with Beth. From the moment Phillip and Beth danced to Lionel Richie's "Still" at the prom, they were THE couple and always would be. Another poster mentioned the mis-steps of Lujack's death. Personally, I thought the writers goofed when they created Lujack and used him to undermine Phillip's character. I have never cared for gang stories on soaps either. The only thing daytime does worse than a mob story is a gang story. Lujack and The Gallahads were like something out of West Side Story. Do not even get me started on the ridiculous "gang member with a heart of gold who becomes a rock and roll singer". Anyone remember that hilariously awful song/music video that was supposed to catapult Lujack to superstardom? "Put on your best dress, baby/ And darling fix your hair up right/Cause it's a party, honey/Down be-neath the neon lights/" To answer Carl's question, no, GL did not know that Judi Evans would decline to renew her contract the following summer. I disagree about the manner in which Beth was written out. I thought Beth's presumed death was the only logical choice because of Phillip's obsession with her. Phillip could not move on as a character with Beth being alive offscreen, and at a time when the Spaulding family was more integral to the plot than ever, Phillip had to be on the canvas. Also, Judi Evans' popularity could not be ignored. Her portrayal of Beth resonated with the audience. I do not think she could have been replaced and accepted so easily by the audience quickly. The endless succession of writers in 1986 (Jeff Ryder, Mary Ryan Munisteri, Joseph D. Manetta, and Sheri Anderson) did not get much right, except for Beth's disappearance. Beth was kidnapped by Professor Blackburn, and their boat capsized in a storm. Beth was missing for weeks. Finally the police found a body in the lake. The body was not Beth's, but Alan, correctly assuming that Phillip would never face reality and receive closure with Beth missing, paid off the coroner to declare Beth dead. The audience knew all along that Beth's body was never found, and that she might return one day, but it allowed Phillip to carry on with other stories. Without Beth's "death", we never would have gotten Blake, who was one of the most interesting, fun, and enduring characters created by Pam Long.

A great many more than you have been led to believe. Master tapes were wiped, and yes, Edge aired live; however, kinescopes were produced for affiliates. Remember too, many soaps aired in foreign markets. As early as 1970, Love of Life, Where the Heart Is, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, and The Secret Storm transmitted in Australia. Return to Peyton Place had a full run in Melbourne from 1974 to 1976, after it had left the air in America. As the World Turns aired in Australia in 1974. All of those episodes were not erased and remain in existence. I have some. Other collectors have them. They are there. Do not let anyone tell you they are not.

The first season of Brothers & Sisters was refreshing. When ABC ousted Jon Robin Baitz, the series went to hell. They brought in the thirtysomething production team, and predictably, the drama turned to incessant whining. When my favorite character is a conservative Republican, and the most interesting son is the gay boyfriend, you know there is a problem.

Comparing DH to KL because the characters are neighbors is like comparing the Police Academy series to CSI because both series have a law enforcement environment. If you are referring to the music, I must respectfully disagree. Steve Jablonsky's score is, IMO, one of the best for any series because it fits the tone of the series perfectly. DH is not a traditional soap and has elements of comedy and drama. Jablonsky's music is evocative of those elements. I find his score is often better than scripts. You and I will just have to disagree about this matter.

Mary may have hated Ann's guts. I have not a clue about the women's feelings for one another. I do know that a producer who was there felt that Ann desperately did not want to lose her job.

Probably because I am one of the few posters here who has actually seen the work I discuss and not simply read about it in a book or magazine. I also understand that the "blame" for poor storylines doesn't always fall upon the shoulder of the producer or writer. Most situations are far more complex than the "I didn't like such and such, and so-and-so were the headwriters and producer, so they must be hacks" attitude.

I disagree. Desperate Housewives is more of a dramedy with serial elements. There is a reason the series gets Emmy noms in the comedy category. I have never considered it a "straight" soap. I enjoy it immensely, but it is NOT a traditional serial such as Knots Landing!

All of the Lorimar serials began as self-contained and for a reason. Self-contained episodes that are not required to be transmitted in a particular order sell better in syndication than serialized dramas. The conundrum is that serialized drama usually picks up viewers more easily than the self-contained format for dramas which are basically soaps. Dallas, KL, and FR all started with poor ratings and captured more viewers once they went to a serialized format. Falcon Crest garnered good ratings from the beginning despite its self-contained format; however, much of its early success came from following Dallas on the Friday night schedule. Good luck to Lonestar. Hopefully it will avoid much of the camp and excess which ruined 90's soaps and did not do a thing for the dreadful 90210 and Melrose revivals.

Robert Mandan's Sam was wonderful. I didn't care for George Gaynes or Roy Schuman, and I loathed the whole deranged-by-war plotting. A number of soaps pulled that stunt, sending characters off to foreign climes where their characterizations were suddenly altered and always for the worse. I found it cheap and exploitative. The Sam/Andrea story was riveting, too. It was difficult to watch Bob Mandan on Soap as Chester, because I so accustomed to him playing the straight man on Search. Tony George actually had a great deal of chemistry with Mary Stuart, and like Sam Reynolds, Tony Vincente came with a troublesome wife, Marcy. Despite being gay in real life, Tony George obviously had extremely warm and loving feelings for Mary Stuart in real life, because they had tremendous screen presence. I never, never understood why he left Search only to turn up a year or so later on One Life to Live, where he stayed for nearly a decade. Paul Dumont played Chris Delon. I thought Dumont was an attractive man, but apparently he and Mary Stuart did NOT get along in real life, so Chris was abruptly written out. Jo's next suitor was Greg Hartford, played by Robert Rockwell. I didn't care for the character or actor at all. I really began to tune out to SFT in 1977. This was the period in which a revolving door of writers began, with the tone of the series changing dramatically from month to month. Strangely, I loathed John Aniston, too -at least as Mary Stuart's love interest. I realise this developed in order to continue the longstanding feud between Jo and Stephanie and also connect the Sentell family with Jo, but Martin seemed so weak and unethical; it was difficult to accept that sensible, salt-of-the-earth Jo would fall for this man, much less marry him. Martin was far better suited for Stephanie. I placed episodes from 1980 on Youtube, and I feel that it is apparent how exciting Stephanie and Martin are together. I could not stand Martin feeling sorry for himself, boozing it up over Jo, and accidentally starting that fatal fire in August 1980. SFT ruined his character for me with those plots. I do wish Jo would have had another Sam or Tony in the NBC years rather than just being a refuge for Suzi and others. And yes, thank GOD the writers were dissuaded from having Jo and Stu unite in the last show. That would have been too icky for words.

I agree with the article, and I agree with Paul Raven -it's refreshing to read an intelligent critique rather than a synopsis. I have a few of these from the mid-70's which I should post if anyone is interested. IMO, SFT went through a bad period beginning in 1973. Part of the blame was a four month WGA strike. It was during this period that the character of Eunice went to hell in a handbasket. Ken Harvey was a good actor, and I thought he and Ann Williams had chemistry together, but the scab writers threw Eunice at newcomer Val Dufour's John Wyatt. As my young nephew would say, the writers were "off the chain" during the spring and summer of 1973. John had purchased a magazine and hired Eunice to write for it. This led to Doug's becoming jealous of Eunice's career and feeling inadequate as a provider. Then suddenly, Carl Devlin ( who had published the magazine before John) became paranoid that executive Frank Ross intended to oust him. This happened literally overnight. Ross was in the hospital for minor surgery, and Devlin sneaked into the hospital and injected Ross with a fatal drug overdose. Ross had slipped out the back door of the magazine office while Eunice was working, thus giving himself an alibi. Doug and Eunice argued because Doug erroneously believed Eunice to be John's lover. Eunice became pissed and went to John's cabin in the woods to sort out her feelings. Devlin thought Eunice disappeared because she had somehow implicated him in Ross' murder. The storyline was illogical and played out in about two weeks. Devlin found out where Eunice was and went there. He saw what appeared to be Eunice in a boat in the lake. He shot her just as Doug arrived, after Jo convinced him of Eunice's loyalty. Devlin shot Doug too and fled. This was a location sequence. Eunice fell into the water. The police found her hat, which was distinctive, and rushed Doug to the hospital. After a week or two of episodes, we learned that Eunice was alive. She explained that John's secretary Marion Malin (who was in love with John) had met her at the cabin to warn her away. It was Marian, wearing the same hat as Eunice, who was killed. Doug awoke and discovered that he was paralyzed from the waist down. He pretended that he had intended all along to divorce Eunice because now he didn't want her burdened with a disabled husband. Later, Doug was in a terrible car wreck, hit by Jo's son-in-law Len Whiting, who was drunk driving. This accident left Doug paralyzed from the neck down! The show was truly outrageous, with depressing, dark stories. Around 1975, when the multi-tiered storylines were introduced, SFT became so much better. If Bunim was responsible for that, she did a good thing; however, I think a good deal of the credit goes to the writing of Ann Marcus and acting by the series regulars.

Fairchild was delightful. She took over for another actress, and I don't even remember her name. Morgan was truly something special. Throughout my many years of watching soaps, I have always intuitively known when I was watching a special talent, and I had that feeling instantly about Miss Fairchild. I knew that her time in soaps would be shortlived, that she would move on to much bigger things, and she did. She took a somewhat cliched character and made her one of the most memorable in a soap which ran for 35 years -quite an accomplishment considering she was not even on for three full years. I feel that Morgan was well received by the audience. I felt pity for her even when she did terrible things. She was so beautiful yet insecure. She fell for Scott Phillips, an alcoholic who abused and neglected her (and Scott was more or less considered a nice character). He made her pregnant, married her, and still pined for the cold fish Kathy. Seriously, how anyone could ignore the beautiful Jennifer for bitchy Kathy beggars belief. Scott lied to Jennifer, and I will never the forget the day in July 1975 when a confrontation and violent argument between the two led to Jennifer falling in slow motion through their glass patio door. Jennifer was scarred horribly in the accident, miscarried her baby, and nearly died from a ruptured spleen. Scott went back to Kathy, and Jennifer thought no man would ever want her again because of the hideous scar running across her face. Once the scar was removed with surgery, Jennifer found herself falling for John Wyatt. Again, John was a typical man. He had problems with Eunice and turned to Jennifer, and when Eunice wanted him back, John dumped Jennifer. She was desperate to get him back. She and sidekick Stephanie (sort of a perverse Lucy and Ethel) cooked up a scheme to lure John back to Jennifer's apartment by claiming there was a mad rapist loose in the complex! When the plot failed, Jen took an overdose of sleeping pills. The pills caused brain damage which led to Jennifer's hallucinations and psychotic behavior later. It was really sad, and in the end, Jennifer ended up in a mental institution. I was disappointed to see Fairchild go, but she was so special -beautiful, sophisticated, talented, and charismatic- you just knew she was going places.

Bunim was producer during the period in which P&G desperately tried to contemporise their serials. SFT and GL were the targets in 1975-76. MEB felt that SFT revolved around Jo. Essentially, Search was the story of this fiftyish woman, and in order to make the show more about romance and young love, they had to get rid of Jo. If we have any UK residents here, the situation was similar to that of Noele Gordon on the British soap Crossroads. Bunim had Jo shot in the stomach in May 1976, with the character's fate hanging in the balance for weeks. Jo's death was not out of the question. I recall that GL killed off Leslie Bauer a few weeks later, and Victor Lord died the same week on One Life to Live. In this era, anything could happen, and remember, in 1976 characters who died remained dead. Bunim really wanted Mary Stuart off the program, but she did not have the clout to pull that one off. So, Bunim killed Jo's sister Eunice instead. From what I understand, poor Ann Williams begged the producers to let her character live. In the long run, I feel the series was damaged somewhat by the move, though I must admit that the story was riveting drama and did bring in good ratings. About this time, some states were reinstating the death penalty, and when John was implicated in Eunice's death by the deranged Jennifer, the D.A. of Henderson pushed for John's death if convicted. After all this wrapped up, 1977 was a colossal bore for SFT and remained so until the Corringtons took over, but that period of 1975-76 was sublime.

Eunice died on November 19, 1976.

You are too right, Carl. Personally I feel that The Doctors was better than General Hospital. GH had some good years, especially with Doug Marland writing, but overall, I feel it has been highly overrated by viewers and the press. GH became somewhat of a cult hit and a media phenomenon. It burns me that GH could tell atrocious stories such as The Ice Princess while considered to do no wrong, whereas other soaps could tell fantastic stories and receive merciless criticism. Aside from what I posted earlier regarding the men on The Doctors having a generous dose of testosterone, it seemed to me that The Doctors made better use of the hospital milieu. Both GH and The Doctors centered on the personal lives of physicians, but The Doctors, even if peripherally, attempted to incorporate the hospital setting as more than a backdrop for doctors and nurses playing slap and tickle. In the last year of The Doctors, Matt found himself in the unenviable position of making severe budget cuts to keep Hope Memorial running. The writers tied this into his attempts to reconcile with Maggie, who was dating another doctor (Murray). When Matt slashed Maggie's research budget, she accused him of doing it out of spite because she was engaged to another doctor. There were also threats of a personnel strike. Another poster mentioned Viveca Strand. Viveca was a hospital administrator who could approve or deny crucial funding to Hope Memorial. This figured prominently in the tornado story, as Viveca considered giving money to Eastside General. Maggie, Colin Wakefield, and Steve went to Eastside on the day the tornado struck. The Doctors was also better about actually incorporating illnesses into the storyline. On GH, the doctors spent more time worrying over murder trials and affairs, whereas practically everyone on The Doctors became ill with something. Often times, illness wasn't even apparent. When Greta started acting out, Maggie and Matt thought it was psychological, but it turned out she had contracted a virus from her pet rabbit. Little Erich Aldrich became suddenly paralyzed after Steve and Carolee had marital problems. Was it an actual sickness or mental anguish? Everyone was stumped until Lori James realized he had been bitten by a tick and became infected. There was a really great story in early 1972. Maggie began dreaming about a sinister dark-haired man named Frank. Then Frank turned up and started stalking her. She had conversations with him and tried to convince everyone that she was being harassed by this man. One night she was in bed having a bad dream. She awoke in the dead of night and turned to get comfort from Matt and found herself staring directly into Frank's grinning face -he was in bed with her. No one else saw or heard Frank. Maggie thought she had developed schizophrenia. However, it was later revealed that she had a brain tumor. The tumor put pressure on a part of her brain that resulted in hallucinations. Brilliant surgeon Nick Bellini cured her. The Doctors was a wonderful soap. Even when the writing wasn't the best, we still had a wonderful core of strong characters and good actors. If I had my way, it would still be on the air today instead of General Mobsters!

Ivy Gooding was the hostess at The Medicine Man. She was in love with Luke, not Michael Powers. Luke and Natalie had broken up in 1982, and Natalie had taken up with Lt. Paul Reed, who ended up murdering Billy Aldrich. Ivy was very light skinned. Actress Chris Calloway could have easily played Carla on One Life to Live. Truthfully, when she first appeared, I had no idea that she was African American. I loved the story. Calloway was a good actress. Luke was blind to her interest in him, almost comically so. He dated one girl after another, theorizing that playing the field was better than getting serious -and hurt- as he had been with the deceptive Natalie. In the last few shows, Luke was dating a vapid blonde. They smooched and cooed in The Medicine Man, and Ivy watched painfully as Luke took her up to his apartment for one of Andre's special lunches in the sack. The girl eventually hurt him, as Natalie had. This is when Ivy professed her interest in him. It really didn't seem like an interracial story to me. At least it wasn't played that way. I feel like Ivy's daughter may have caused problems for them had the soap continued, as Ivy mentioned having a grown daughter before the show ended.

LaGuardia's book is like Schemering's -full of inaccuracies. John Rice (Terry Kiser) left in 1968. Peter Burnell took over as Mike Powers from Robert LaTourneaux, who succeeded Harry Packwood, in 1968, not 1969. Gerald Gordon's Nick Bellini had not just joined The Doctors in 1968. He started in 1966. David O'Brien and Carolee Campbell both began on the soap in 1968, not 1969, and Carolee Campbell joined the show before O'Brien, not after. Julie Forrest fell down the stairs and died in 1970 instead of 1969. Coincidentally, Peter Burnell and Ginger Gerlach (who played out the story of Mike and Julie) both committed suicide in real life. Gerlach od'ed on sleeping pills in 1971, and Burnell hung himself in 1987.

It probably sounds that way because we're condensing stories to a few sentences, and we're talking a couple of incidents in nearly 20 year run. Matt and Maggie were, more or less, a stable couple. The exceptions were during Doug Marland's headwriting and Ronnie Wencker-Konner/ Harding Lemay's in the last year. This should not be surprising given that Marland trained under Lemay, and both were good at creating discord among veteran characters. Also, I think The Doctors was better than most soaps at creating three dimensional physicians. Most soap doctors border on sainthood, but the medical practitioners at Hope Memorial were allowed to be fallible. Steve Aldrich, especially in the early days, was a real swinger. He went after Karen Werner for the fun of it and got her pregnant. Later, he had a fling with Carolee, impregnating her out of wedlock, too. In the mid-70's, he had an affair with his first wife Ann Larimer, driving Carolee away. Matt Powers was arrogant and stubborn. He flirted with Nola Dancy because he enjoyed seeing Maggie's jealousy, and when he was accused of the mercy killing of Joan Dancy, he became an abusive alcoholic who rejected Maggie's gestures of love and support. This is when she finally succumbed to what amounted to a one night stand with Kyle Wilson. Years later, Matt dumped Maggie for the much younger M.J., and after breaking M.J.'s heart, turned around and expected Maggie to reconcile with him. The fellows on The Doctors definitely had balls. These guys were not being subjugated by women. Other than these stories in 1976-77 and 1981-82, Matt and Maggie were generally stable. Matt forgave Maggie fairly easily for the incident with Kyle. Maggie and Kyle's affair was in April 1977. They went away together to New York on a business trip. I believe they were together in the one-hour special The Doctors aired for their 14th anniversary. The affair was a secret until that fall when Greta accidentally overheard Maggie and Kyle discussing what had happened. Greta became very angry at Maggie, and part of her acting out was having sex with Billy, which led to her pregnancy story. Greta outed Maggie and Kyle at a family event. It was either Thanksgiving or Christmas 1977. Maggie moved out, but she and Matt reconciled for New Year's with resolutions to be better mates to one another. Maggie's kidnapping happened in December 1979, as an offshoot of the tornado that destroyed Madison in November. Maggie was taken in after the storm by a young girl who had volunteered to help with the storm victims. The girl held Maggie captive. Maggie developed a serious infection and nearly died. It turned out that the girl was a former nursing student who been ousted from the nursing program at Hope Memorial by Maggie.

Thanks, I am shaky on the last couple of years because I did not watch as often as I would have liked. I can only go on the episodes I have from that time period. The episode where Luke says that Barney walked out and left no forwarding address is from the end of March 1982. According to Texas: The New Generation expert Brian, Larry Weber's first appearance on Texas was in July 1982. This leaves a three month period (April/May/June) in which Barney could have continued on The Doctors. I hope someone who has soap opera magazines or summaries from these months can tell us how Barney was finally written out. The writer's strike of 1981 was terrible for The Doctors. Jerry being caught up in drug cartel was ridiculous, especially in view of his late sister Joan -another indication that no one paid attention to history. Terry O'Quinn was miscast, too. He sleepwalked through the role. I think this is when John Pankow (from Mad About You) was introduced as Danny Martin. Danny and some girl were held hostage in a mansion by a man named Sebastian, who was out to get Jerry. A candelabra fell onto the drapes and caught the house on fire. Danny became infatuated with Natalie, and it turned out that he was a virgin. Thank God the core characters of Matt, Maggie, Steve, and Carolee were around to counter this nonsense.

Paul Raven, do you (or anybody else) know who played Catherine Shaw's brother Kevin on The Doctors during the summer of 1981?

You may be right about James. I am going from memory, which is not a good thing at my age. I remembered that Colla, who had become more of a director at this point, did a short term soap role back East, but John Rixey Moore does resemble him. Maybe I am confusing the two. I will pull those tapes and see. I always enjoy watching The Doctors. Even when it was the silliest, the acting by Pritchett, Bruce, Hubbard, Rowland, and O'Brien is so good that the show is grounded. I believe that James only found out about his parentage after Mona died. I remember clearly, I know that I am not confusing this, Mona confessed to Steve on her deathbed that she had given birth to another son. This was during the plague storyline. James appeared only in the last several weeks of the series. I never saw Marilyn nor Gail. I am not even certain they appeared on the show. I know that they are not in the episodes I have. Having the Langley tie to the Aldrich family was a good idea, after the deaths of Billy, Mona, and Jason. Jason should not have been killed either, which is indicative of the poor story choices made by the revolving door of writers in the last years. However, one can only speculate what Morgenroth and Kantor would have done with James and his family. I would like to track them down and see if they would reveal what they had in store for The Doctors. Viewing the episodes from early 1982 last night, I realized how much life was left in the series and the regrettable manner in which NBC just disposed of it.

MichaelGL, I just watched a number of episodes. In the deep recesses of my mind, I knew some mention had been made of Barney. Barney was written out in March 1982 by Harding Lemay. In one episode, Mona inquires about Barney. Luke told her that he and Barney had a disagreement over the renovation of The Medicine Man and walked out. This was around the time the storyline of T.J. trying to win back Ashley on Texas: The New Generation. T.J. was the father of Ashley's son Gregory. Larry Weber (who played Barney on The Doctors) became T.J.'s father Burton Canfield. Because Barney was more or less recurring, I imagine Weber moved over to Texas of his own accord, rather than Lemay disposing of the character. I also noticed that Nick Bellini was referred to by Althea. We had discussed this topic earlier.

Ricky was sent to live with M.J.'s sister in Vermont. I agree that it was a mistake to kill off Billy, but Morgenroth and Kantor had written the character into a corner. Turning him into a drug pushing grave robber was also a mistake. I question their decision to kill Mona Croft, as well. Had the series not been canceled, it would have proved unpleasant for the audience to have lost those core characters, particularly as The Doctors had such a small cast. I do not know much about James Langley. By 1982, I was married and had an infant son, so my soap knowledge of this time is the most limited. I do have a few episodes in which James appears. As you wrote, Paul Raven, I believe James turned up shortly after Mona's death in October 1982. James had a wife named Marilyn and a daughter Gail who was to attend Madison University with Erich. James appeared warm, affable, and a decent guy. Considering the bizarre plot twists Morgenroth and Kantor devised, I wonder if James would have been revealed as some monster -either figuratively (perhaps he was the "Mr. Big" behind drugs being shipped out of the Omega labs) or maybe he was a literal monster like a werewolf. Nothing those writers came up with would have surprised me. James was played by Richard Colla, who had been the first Tony Merritt in the premiere of Days of our Lives, and is married in real life to Denise Alexander.

What about the Medicine Man, what was it? After the fire at Andre’s, Luke reopened the club with Doreen Aldrich as a partner, and they christened it The Medicine Man. What happened to Barney, did he die as well? Barney had hepatitis. He suffered a heart attack. He was burned when a gas stove at the Medicine Man exploded, but no, he did not die. I believe he moved away to retire, though actor Larry Weber continued to appear as a recurring character until he was hired to play Burton Canfield on Texas in 1982. What happened to Nick? Was he still alive when the show went off the air? I assume you mean Nick Bellini. To the best of my knowledge Nick was alive when The Doctors ended. Gerry Gordon left in 1975 to try his luck in Hollywood. The writers had Nick move to Arizona. A year later, the producers lured Gordon back for a brief run, when Carolee Campbell was exiting her part as Carolee Aldrich. In March 1976, The Doctors aired a 90 minute special. Althea fell off a ladder and plunged through a window. Nick returned from Arizona to perform surgery and ended up staying several months. He and Althea almost rekindled their romance, but in the end, they decided that they were too different and would never make a go of it. Nick returned to Arizona at the end of the summer. Then in May of 1977, Althea and Penny moved to Japan. I don’t recall if Nick was ever mentioned when Liz Hubbard finally returned to the show, but I think he remained alive offscreen. What was the story of Erich's bio mom, Karen? How did she exit the show? Karen first appeared in the late 60's. She was a fellow doctor at Hope Memorial, a neurotic, insecure woman who came from Germany. Steve Aldrich seduced her for the fun of it and made her pregnant. He married her, but she knew that he did it out of propriety rather than love. Their marriage was very unhappy and complicated by Steve’s interest in Carolee. Karen divorced Steve, kidnapped their son Erich, and flew back to Germany, but the plane crashed, apparently killing everyone on board except for Erich. In the summer of 1974, Dr. Rolf Trilling came to Madison to visit Carolee and Steve. Trilling had cared for Erich after the plane crash two years earlier. Trilling’s visit prompted Carolee and Steve to tell Erich that Carolee was not his natural mother (Erich had been too young at the time of the accident to remember Karen). Many years before, Trilling had been in love with Karen in Germany. Trilling had a secretary named Ingrid, whose father was also a doctor. Ingrid’s father had treated an amnesia victim. He named the woman Erica Brandt. Erica was sent to Berlin to stay with Ingrid and try to build a life. Erica Brandt was in fact Karen Werner, who had survived the crash. Back in Germany, Trilling phoned Steve and broke the news to him. At first Steve agreed to take Erich to Germany, for doctors thought the sight of her son might trigger Karen’s memory, but Carolee feared that if Karen decided to keep Erich, German law would prevent Steve from taking the child back to the States. Steve went alone, but Karen did not remember him or Erich. She was obsessed with getting her memory back and meeting her son, so she flew to Madison. Erich was confused by the idea of having two mothers, and Karen’s presence caused him to become withdrawn, agitated, and fearful. Carolee and Steve had instigated legal proceedings to have Carolee declared Erich’s legal mother, and it was decreed. Karen decided to return to Germany, but as the plane was leaving Madison, it hit an icy patch and skidded off the runaway. Karen hit her head, and when she awoke in Hope Memorial, she had regained her memory. Karen hired an attorney to overturn Carolee’s adoption and sued for custody of Erich. The judge gave Karen three months of full temporary custody to see how Erich would adjust. Erich hated living with her. Karen attempted to win him over with gifts and permissiveness, but when he rejected her, she punished him for not returning her affection. He ran away back to Steve and Carolee, who were forced to send him home with Karen again because of the custody agreement. As the end of the three month probation was nearing, Erich insisted he wanted to live with the Aldrich family permanently. Karen and Mona had an altercation with Karen admitting that the judge would most certainly give Steve and Carolee custody of the son that was rightfully hers. That same night, Karen reported Erich as missing. The FBI found that the window outside Erich’s room at Karen’s had been tampered, but Mona suggested that Karen had hired someone to fake the kidnapping and was secretly planning to spirit Erich back to Germany. Steve and Carolee tended to side with Mona. It turned out that Erich had been kidnapped by a woman Karen treated. The woman had questioned Karen about her relationship with wealthy Mona Croft, Karen’s former mother-in-law. Karen convinced Carolee to help her prove it. They went to the patient’s home, where Erich was bound and gagged in a bedroom. When he heard Carolee’s voice, he managed to break free. The woman’s husband, her accomplice pulled a gun. She instructed him to kill Carolee and Karen, and then they would murder Erich after getting ransom money from Mona. In the end, the husband could not do it, and Carolee called for help. Karen realized how much Carolee really loved Erich, and how her own actions had nearly gotten him killed twice. Karen dropped the custody suit and agreed that it would be better for Erich not to see her. She begged him to say that he didn’t hate her, but the child refused. Erich returned to the Aldrich home. There was a welcome home party for him just before Karen was to return to Germany. She stopped to wish Steve and Carolee well and asked that they not tell Erich she was there. She quietly slipped into his room to watch him sleep and said goodbye to him in German. Erich awoke. Karen told him that whatever he felt for her did not matter because she would always love him. As she started to leave, he put his arms around her and kissed her goodbye.

Yes, Betsy was on the witness stand and started having flashbacks to the accident. She remembered seeing the snake in the water and Ben trying to strike it with an oar. When she tried to tell the courtroom, she fainted. Fade to black. The show went to a commercial break, and when it came back, Larry walked through the empty sets as the credits rolled. People fail to realize just how quickly the axe fell at Love of Life. The studio received news of the cancellation on Friday, January 4, 1980. The last episode was taped on Thursday, January 24, just two weeks and six days later (or 14 work days). Ann Marcus told me that there was not enough time to revise scripts in that short turn around; they needed at least 6 to 8 weeks notice. They briefly considered having Audrey Peters and Ron Tomme step out of character and wrap up the plot, but in the end, it was decided to leave the stories open so that the audience would feel that story and characters continued to live on. Also, Dana Delaney's character of Amy would have been revealed to NOT be Bruce's daughter, though the writers were planning to bring back Bruce's adult children Alan and Barbara.