The Doctors Discussion Thread

[Chris B]

I will say, once I powered through that story, the show really picked up steam and the second half of 1972 was excellent. I do hate how dumbed down Althea became, but it was almost worth it for how delicious John was as a villain and I loved his rivalry with Nick/scheming with Cathy.

Also I spoke too soon in my previous post because Toni and Billy's mother did show up for a short arc. It was interesting how they tied Vito in with her. I almost wish they had made Vito Billy's father. That would've been explosive, but I believe they quickly wrapped the Vito/Barbara part of the story up.

I'm now in January 1973 and they're mentioning Penny a lot so it looks like I'll finally get to see Julia Duffy in the role. I'm excited to see Penny again. Althea has really suffered as a character since being with John and hopefully Penny can make me like her again. Another exciting thing is that Hank finally seems to be getting a storyline and some focus. It's crazy that this is the early 70s and they're investing in a Black character when even today that is rare. 

I can't leave without mentioning what a powerhouse Mona is. I feel like this is one of those characters that really enhances the dynamics of a show. She has been excellent from her first scene and the actress devours anybody she shares a scene with. I have a feeling we're in for lots of good story now that Ann has also arrived. I plan to enjoy all the time I have left with Carolee Campbell before the recast. She's such a unique talent and while I know Jada Rowland is a good actress, I can't imagine her matching what Campbell brings to the role. 

[Matt Powers]

I am on the fence about DePriest run. She seems just to have continued Robert Cenedella’s stories. He had set up Carolee’s departure, the Dancy, and the Conrad crap. Don’t really know what she changed/contributed. Matt’s condition “whose name we dare not speaK” (Male menopause) was interesting but once the network felt it “weakened” the character, it was scrapped. Stacy is a hot mess (annoyingly so). Steve and Ann seemed rushed to fill the missing Carolee void. I know Marland is up next but isn’t stellar by any means as he himself had said he should’ve ended the Joan Dancy and Carolee return stories earlier.

[victoria foxton]

I actually enjoyed DePriest's run. It looks to me like the two big stories. Were both going to reach their denouements. Then Marland took over and he dragged both stories far too long.

[Soaplovers]

Depriest is the one that created Nola Dancy, and she does a great deal of focus on the Joan Dancy right to die story.. which leads to an interesting plot to remove Matt as Chief of Staff (and I believe Mona Aldrich is on the hospital board, too).

She's the last writer that tried to keep the focus on the hospital.. before Marland came in and changed the fabric of the show for the worst.

[Paul Raven]

Yes I recall John Kelly Genovese in Afternoon TV review (why did I throw out those mags ?!) stating that under Marland and others that The Doctors was no longer living up to it's title and that very little hospital based intrigue was occurring.

[j swift]

I spent last night reading the SOD summaries of the final six months on Tumblr

It may be my favorite source of distraction, even though I am certain they miss certain details, it is easy to get a sense of the plot, and they were written in such an engaging and dramatic fashion that they make for an entertaining read just by themselves.  Like many others here, I recall a time when you could keep up with all of the soaps, even those you didn't watch, by reading SOD.

I am left with a few question/thoughts.

1. Who played the wife of Steve's long lost half brother?  She sounds like a hoot and her introduction made me think that she was cast at time when production must not have been planning for the end of the serial, because it seems odd to add a character with so much inherent drama at a time when they couldn't explore it further.

2.  Did they find Steve's half-brother because Phillip had been sending him money on Mona's behalf, so he knew about the brother for awhile?

3. What happens to Phillip at the end?  There was a lot of set up between him, Jeff, and Adrienne, but then there's no details about whether he went to the wedding, or what happened to his plans to takeover the hospital once Gretta's boyfriend Theo withdraws his family fortune from the bank.

4.  What was Adrienne's motive for wanting to shoot Billy?  Also, I totally missed how the switch occurred between Adrienne and her mother.  I know Phillip was a creep, but I wondered why the mother couldn't be paired off with him in the end?  And was Adrienne's love of Jeff so deep that she just continued the ruse because she felt so lucky to be loved by him (he seemed like a nerd to me)?

5.  I was interested to read that Nola returned for Mona's funeral.  I thought Kim Zimmer left for maternity leave and never came back for the ending.  But, it reads like she was in a couple of scenes to ruin Luke and Natalie, and then left again.  I wonder how many episodes she appeared in for Mona's funeral?

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by j swift

[dc11786]

I'm sure there is someone better to respond, but I'll give this a shot. 

Barbara Lang played Marilyn Langley. The production company was told fairly late I feel (early November) with a conclusion in December. I know that Hilary Bailey Smith talked about the Alden Curse storyline was intended as a contract negotiation tool. 

I feel like Phillip attends the wedding. Isn't he arrested at the wedding? I also think the Felicia/Adrienne switch happens very, very late. Like right before the wedding because there is a very bizarre exchange between Jeff and Adrienne about Adrienne not remembering things. The final year of "The Doctors" fascinates me. Actually most of the 1980s of "The Doctors" fascinates me. I just hope they release some of that period in the near future.

Nola returned pregnant by A.C. Weary's character, I think. 

[j swift]

According to what I just read, Nola gets pregnant while on vacation, then returns to Madison to marry Billy Aldrich, and pass off the baby as his, when AC Weary's character Tor, a rugged fisherman from the Caribbean who was the actual father, comes to town.  Tor has a scene that I'd love to see with Billy where they meet as strangers at The Medicine Man bar and commiserate about women, not knowing that they're both talking about Nola.  The next day, Tor convinces Nola to return with him to the Caribbean, which begins Zimmer's pregnancy leave (the SOD date is August 17, 1982).

What I was referring to as a surprise is that when Mona dies, Nola returns for the memorial service, and the reading of the will, (when Billy learns he inherited only one dollar).  But, SOD (dated November 9, 1982) gives no indication if this was a single episode or not.

Thanks @dc11786 for your other answers to my many questions.  I had no idea Hillary B. Smith played Kit, but it makes so much sense

Edited October 7, 2022 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

There have been discussions here and there about why The Doctors was never expanded to 1 hr.

One reason presented was the lack of studio space available at the Rockefeller  Center studios and in NY in general.

In Jan 82, Variety reported that the NBC sitcom Love  Sidney, taping in NY was going to have to relocate to LA as the Reeves Teletape facilities were once again being used by Sesame St, returning from hiatus, and no alternate studio space could be found to accommodate the Sidney sets.

I think the same situation was an issue earlier for TD as Rockefeller center did not have the space and the issue of finding an alternate studio and costs involved may have been a major factor that kept TD at 30 min.

[Chris B]

I have an Althea question:

 

Julia Duffy's Penny has arrived and she's absolutely fantastic. When she first came back she was living with her dad Dave. Was Dave ever a major character on the show? When the reruns first started they were already divorced and I believe this is the first time I've seen him. If he was a character, what was he like?

Also, is it true that they kill Penny off? I believe I read that and I hope that isn't true. I hate when soaps kill the only child of a character off. Especially since Althea has no other family on the show. How did that story go down?

[jam6242]

Dave wasn't a major character.  Just popped up a few times.  The first time was around 1965.  Usually when there was some drama with Penny.  Unfortunately, when Liz Hubbard/Althea returned to the show in 1981 (Marland had written her out, with Penny and Penny's husband, Jerry, in 1977), she said that Penny had been killed while they were living in Japan.  I think she was murdered, but I could be wrong about that part.  A recast Jerry followed Althea back to Madison, and he could not have been more different (in a bad way) than the original character.  By the way, Althea's son also died, in early 1967. 

[MichaelGL]

My memory is kind of foggy about the details, but yes Penny is eventually killed off. It's done off screen Who knows what the original plans were if they were actually going to make this death stick; Althea losing two children is overkill.

Edited October 17, 2022 by MichaelGL

[Paul Raven]

I fail to see the motivation behind killing off Penny.

If they wanted to keep Althea free of family ties, just have Penny living in Japan or wherever.

If Jerry had to return (a good enough idea on paper) then Penny and Jerry could have divorced.

Or simply bring back Penny, a legacy character in the desired demographic, who could have given Althea additional story as well as being a young leading lady.

A lot of bone headed decisions were made at The Doctors.

[dc11786]

Penny's death happens in January, 1981, prior to Althea's return. I suspect that it was suppose to put Althea in a certain state of mind when she came back to Madison. Around the same time, the show wrote out Mike Powers, for the one hundredth time. I wonder if the show wasn't trying to use their children's absences to create a bond between Matt Powers and Althea. 

James Baffico had become producer in the fall of 1980 and I believe Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt were headwriting when the show wrote off Penny. They had no problem using parts of the past. Alec Baldwin had been brought back by Hunt and Ellis for the inheritance plot that brought back the character of Theodora Van Alen, Greta's aunt played by Augusta Dabney. 

Jerry's return is March for Nola and Jason's remarriage. The writer's strike starts in the spring so by late May the show is no longer with unionized writers. The summer is such a mess. The Kevin/Catherine Shaw stuff is just crass and ends with Jason being callously killed off. The episode featuring Jason's murder was available at one time at the Paley Center in New York. Matt and Maggie deal with Matt's impotence followed by Maggie's pregnancy. Steve is writing some book on sex. It all reads poorly. In terms of Penny, there seemed to be a hint that Jenny Wright's character Robin was suppose to be Penny, or at least a Penny surrogate, but that may just be conjecture on my part. 

I wish very much that Retro would release the 1980s episodes. It would be curious to see how this all played out.

[Chris B]

Oh wow! Thank you all for filling me in. I don't know what to say other than it's disappointing to see how the show went out. It sounds like a completely different show and not a minor pivot. I've grown to love Billy, Penny, Althea, Matt, etc. and it's sad to see they end up the way they do. I'm also concerned with Mike. At this point we've only seen one Mike and I'm a big fan of the actor and his relationship with Toni. I know he gets recast a lot and I'm not looking forward to that, or what they might do with the character.