The Doctors Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you, jam!!

[DRW50]

February 1975 Afternoon TV.

[amybrickwallace]

That was great! When was the last time a soap magazine had a gardening column? Thank you, Carl.

[jam6242]

Here's another.

[DRW50]

Two more. If you're sick of these, let me know.

November 1973

January 1973

[Paul Raven]

Reagrding the current (Feb 69 ) episodes we are seeing,there seems to be a lot of negativity towards the Liz/Phillip story on other boards.

I wonder if this is because Rita Lakin is not writing this.When she became co writer with Rick Edelstein,her contract called for 16 weeks off.How that was broken up,who knows,but perhaps she had time off at this point and wasn't totally focussed on the show.

Maybe she agreed to the concept of the story but Edelstein did the actual plotting.

We do know that by June 69 she was Mod Squad story editor.

Raymond Owen is seen again in February as John Powell,hospital board member.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Paul Raven

[amybrickwallace]

Finally, FINALLY there is some momentum in the Liz/Townsend story - and Matt is seeing that Phillip is losing it. All I can say is - it's about freaking time.

I had another email from Carolee, where she answered a couple of questions I and no doubt others watching have been wondering about - such as what the actors were saying in the scenes underneath the credits with the theme music drowning out their words, and also who her best friends in the cast were aside from David O'Brien:

"Please forgive me for taking so long to return your email. I’ve been in New York where I got sick and brought the sickness home with me. I’m only now beginning to recover.

It was lovely of you to forward Jami Fields’ letter. I never knew her very well. She was quite young when she was on the show with me and we didn’t have much in common.

You ask if any cast members were close to me besides David. I was quite close to Sally Gracie. I adored her. I was also close to Jim Pritchett and his family. While it’s true that everyone spent a lot of time together while we were at work, our lives were quite divergent with different interests. Other than the cast, I was close to the sound man and one of the directors.

We definitely staying in character during the crawl and ad libbed what the character might have continued to say. Why? Because of all the viewers who can read lips.

Continuing fine regards to you,

Carolee"

Today, I had another TD autograph success, although this lady is not in the reruns we're seeing as she would join the cast later on. That would be Jennifer Houlton, who grew up onscreen as Greta. Not only did she sign the screen caps I had sent, she added another of her as Greta holding baby Lee Ann as well as a sweet handwritten note. What a doll. I will send the pictures to Carl or jam so they can display them here (one of these days I will have to start a Photobucket account so I can post pictures here myself).

Speaking of Jennifer Houlton, here is an interview with her from 1980. Apparently, she was very close off-screen to her TV parents, Jim Pritchett and Lydia Bruce.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1870&dat=19800316&id=_4sfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NtMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2646,426415&hl=en

[DRW50]

Thanks for telling us about the letter.

Really glad to get the answer about what they are saying over the crawl. That was very considerate of them. I always just assumed they were going on about nothing.

I wondered, if you ever write again, could you ask if there were any rules about how many cast members could be in an episode? With Dark Shadows, I think there was some type of rule...was it 6? I don't know anymore.

And also, does she remember what her first scene was?

(I assume she doesn't)

[jam6242]

Thanks for sharing amybrickwallace!

[jam6242]

Here are Elizabeth Hubbard and Gerald Gordon at the 1976 Emmy Awards. They both won for their roles in the "First Ladies Diaries" specials.

[saynotoursoap]

Oh, you used a screen cap from one my episodes! I love it. I recall the day that Jennifer discovered the episode on You Tube. I was so surprised to find an email awaiting me from her. She is very kind and will always be "real Greta" to me.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, I hope you don't mind - saynotoursoap. That was the only episode I could find her in. Yes, it was very sweet of her to sign them for me and add a thank you card and an additional picture. I sent the screencaps and a letter off on April 14th and got them back signed (with her additional goodies) on April 25th.

Carl, I will ask those questions and see what she has to say. If she answers them, I will post them here right away.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Does anyone know why Carolee Campbell left the show around 1975? Jada Rowland was a fine actress and memorable as Carolee Aldrich, but after now getting a chance to see Carolee Campbell in all her warm and endearingly idiosyncratic, quirky glory, I think I would've had a difficult time with the transition had I been watching back then. She was just all kinds of amazing.

[amybrickwallace]

From many articles I've read from both the Google News Archives and soap mags of the day, plus Carolee herself via email - she chose to leave the show, and not too long after, quit show biz altogether. After leaving TD, she and David O'Brien were in a play together, and then she did a special called This is My Son, where she played the mother of a special needs child (and won an Emmy for it). The latter turned out to be her swan song to acting. She then began her own publishing company, which she has run for many years:

http://www.ninjapressbooks.com/

[allmc2008]

Does anyone know how old Pamela Toll was around 1968? I think she is one of the finest actresses on the show. I still can't get over the scene from the December episode were she was crying in her apartment because of Nick.