The Doctors Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, Gracie Harrison took over the role of Greta in spring 1980 when Jennifer Houlton left for college. I actually wrote to Gracie and she said it was a conscious decision on the show's part to age up Greta a few years.

I guess they changed their minds, because Gracie was let go in 1981 and Greta was recast with Lori-Nan Engler, who was 19 at the time. Both are now essentially retired from show biz, though Lori-Nan has done some community theater in her hometown of Philadelphia.

[jam6242]

Update on status of the remaining episodes that have not yet aired on Retro.

 

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Edited August 18, 2021 by jam6242

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks for sharing that! I was wondering what was going on.

[jam6242]

Glad to finally get some news other than the tapes are locked up in a warehouse, lol.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes! I never realized how complex digitizing those tapes really is.

[SFK]

This guy is doing The Lord’s work. Let’s hope to see this transfer process continue for all remaining classic soap material.

[amybrickwallace]

That is for sure. I never understood how much went into the digitization process until I read that post.

[SFK]

Me neither, and I’ve been saying for years, this would be an excellent opportunity for college interns majoring in television production and the like. They could be receiving credit for all of the man hours that go into this process.

[amybrickwallace]

That's a great idea. 

[Chris 2]

I have to be honest: I’m shocked. I can’t imagine that the ratings for the second cycle of the early shows on Retro are that different than the first cycle. And I thought they’d just continue to monetize the shows that have already been digitized. This goes beyond just a business decision, I suspect. Some with budget - whether its at Retro or at SFM - really loves these old shows.

[amybrickwallace]

I agree, and it's a very good thing for we the viewers. From what I understand, all the remaining tapes of the show up to the 1982 finale are out of that warehouse. Once they finally start back up again from January 1980, they should probably get to the end of the series without interruption. 

[Mona Kane Croft]

I'm pretty sure it is RetroTV, and not SFM, that is digitizing the episodes.  I find that odd, because when Retro finally stops airing the show, SFM won't own the digitized copies.  So any other station that decides to air (or stream) The Doctors in the future will need to digitize all the episodes all over again.  Strange decision, I think.

And regarding ratings, apparently RetroTV doesn't really care about ratings.  Retro doesn't participate in the Nielsen Ratings system, and they don't measure their ratings in any way.  So they do not set their advertising rates based on ratings.  I do not know what they use to set their ad rates -- but I'd speculate, whatever the market will pay.  Retro seems to be desperate to find enough cheap old shows to fill their broadcast schedule, and they will take almost anything -- regardless whether the shows influence ratings.  I do believe Retro has gained a lot of publicity from airing The Doctors, both online chatter and in the soap press.  So Retro might actually value that publicity more than they value actual ratings (which they don't even measure).   

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Neil Johnson

[Soaplovers]

I recall Retro saying that the Doctors had lots of interest and views so they opted to do the whole series.  It's probably why they wanted EON.

I wonder if they're aiming for other soaps?  Capital would be fun..and only 5 years to digitalized vs 19+ years of the Doctors.

[Liberty City]

Is it available to watch online from the very beginning, or has that passed already?

[applcin]

It's available through itsrealgoodtv.com. It's part of their premium content and a subscription costs about $30 annually. Everything they've digitized so far is on there. They also have an app on several streaming devices. I watch TD through the app on my Roku. I'm up to mid-1972 at the moment.