The Doctors Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

 

Depriest was a faster paced writer than Marland was.  In her final few weeks of her tenure, we had a lot of movement in both stories.. once Marland came on the scene... both plots slowed down quite a bit.  Both stories were set up to end quicker than he intended.

 

[Khan]

 

Amen -- and I say that as a HUGE fan of Doug Marland's, too.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Khan

[BuckyB12]

 

It's ok, he's still learning. This is his first HW position, right?

 

He came from AW under Lemay, who certainly wasn't known for fast-paced stories.  

 

Wish I could get Retro - these are the episodes I started watching originally, and I loved the Ann Larimer/Carolee story.

Edited December 19, 2018 by BuckyB12

[Paul Raven]

Bucky, You don't need Retro to watch the show...

[victoria foxton]

I was eagerly awaiting Marland's run. But i've been sorely disappointed. At least Mr. Marland learned from his mistakes.  Sadly on The Doctors expense.  And went on to have an amazing career. I can't imagine watching this in real time. I grew too like both Stacy & Paul. They were a fascinating yet dysfunctional duo. The whole story besides being dragged ends in a whimper.  All the juicy soapy drama from the fall out was nonexistent.  

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Edited December 19, 2018 by victoria foxton

[Soaplovers]

I liked Paul/Stacy better when Depriest was writing because there were so many layers and dysfunction with that coupling.  Stacy's craving a father figure (which fit Paul)... and Paul remarking that Stacy reminded him so much of his late wife (who died from suicide).  Depriest set up layers of psychological elements with that coupling where I wondered if Paul truly cared about Stacy, or if he just using her to further his own vendetta/agenda against Matt.  I always wondered that while watching him with Stacy while Marland kind of spelled it out for us including making it seem like they were in love (with them being sappy with the baby coming, etc).  

 

The other thing I noticed about Marland was that the interesting push and pull between Paul/Ann (so fascinating and hilarious with their one liners) was deluted/watered down the moment he and his script writers came into the picture.

 

And watching how he's totally watered down Penny to the point where she's a Stepford Wife.. it's no wonder Julia Duffy bailed...I would have at the end of my contract as well if I were in her shoes.  The Pollacks, Cenedella, and Depriest wrote some good content/material for Penny.. but since Marland took over.. she's become window dressing and become a Stepford wife.. and oh how he's watered down MJ as well.

 

I think Marland wasn't the right fit for the show.  The Doctors needed writers that wrote plot and heavy emotion.. over repression and restraint.  That was why Cenedella also struggled when he had the helm, too.

[BuckyB12]

 

Thanks, someone else on here explained how to find it. So the weekend showings are marathons like SoapNet used to do? It looked like they were airing 9 hours a week, which would be a pretty big commitment, even with the commercials taken out.

 

Now I can't decide if I just want to pick up from this week, or to go back as far as possible (late 1967). Retro has already aired more episodes of TD than there are in the entirety of DARK SHADOWS, and the idea of being able to watch every episode as opposed to the spotty YT availability of every other soap is an intriguing one!

[robbwolff]

By all means, check out the earliest Retro episodes. Except for a few duds here and there, the show was magical from December 1967 to June 1969 when head writer Rita Lakin departed. Her writing is some of the best I've ever seen. 

[~bl~]

The weekend showings are from the past, and not at the same time frame either. At one point, they were showing twelve "new" episodes of The Doctors a week (Mon-Sat). There are some episodes that are missing, which is a disappointment, but I agree about the whole intriguing seeing years of a show thing. Also with the compressed time frame I think there are certain things one can see that the viewers back in the day wouldn't have noticed. 

[NothinButAttitude]

Oh Matt and Maggie. It breaks my heart to see their marriage crumble into nothingness all b/c they 2 clearly don't know how to communicate with each other. Lydia Bruce really impressed me the last round of episodes from her reaction to Nola answering the phone (and assuming the worst), to being a vulnerable, hot mess in the arms of Kyle. 

 

Also, haven't the actor that plays Kyle been on another soap? I feel like I've seen him before in classic soap clips around here.

[Paul Raven]

Wayne Tippit - best known as Ted Adamson on SFT. Check him out in the Soap Hoppers thread.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I knew I recognized him. I remember now that the clip I saw of him was with Sunny and I think Stu's daughter, Janet outside a courtroom. 

 

That aside, I am eager to know what your opinion (and many others-- @Vee @DRW50 @Mitch) opinion on the episodes about Stacey's death and Ann's impending doom. While Marland wasn't as strong as he was years later on World Turns, I still find this show to be endearing. 

 

Also, I'm impartial to the new Doctors theme now. It's OK, but I prefer to grand, orchestral previous theme. 

[Vee]

I've barely ever watched The Doctors. Just a handful of '60s episodes.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Aww, crap. I thought you were watching. I was interested to hear your perspective on the episodes airing now.

[DRW50]

 

I'm still back in 1969, sad to say.