The Doctors Discussion Thread

[Paul Raven]

Just discovered that MJ's sister Betsy was played by Carol Potter (Cindy Walsh 90210/Joan Cummings SuBe)

Also,Millette Alexander apparently subbed as Maggie early in the show's run.

[Paul Raven]

A description from an old soap book,circa 76

The Doctors is an NBC show in the half hour format.It is,according to the announcer,'dedicated to the brotherhood of healing'.

Like General Hospital,The Doctors has gone through many transitions in the past few years. Families that have endured the inevitable purges are the Aldriches and the Powers. Dr Matt Powers is the patriach of the show,head of hospital and family. None of his positions is secure.

The Doctors is a traditional soap which bases much of its story on marital conflict,love triangles,blackmail,amnesia etc.It has also treated the topical problem of euthanasia,through the dilemma of a young girl connected to a respirator without any chance of recovery to a normal life.(The legal language here was quite close to that of the recent Quinlan case.)

This past year,The Doctors began to move away from its core storyline of Matt and Maggie. There's been more sex,more drugs and many complaining letters. The audience is older,and "more staid and very righteous,"according to one of the programs decision makers. They can accept kissing,but not bed scenes-not even between their favorite characters.

The show does other interesting things. On the doctors we have the first doctor in soapland who operates unneccesarily(thogh we've suspected many others). There is also a story developing around male menopause.

At present,The Doctors seems to be in one of its transitional periods. The direction of the storyline is unclear. There are rumors that The Doctors may be cancelled,and if so,this will happen in the spring.However the ratings for the show are nowhere as low as the recently cancelled Somerset,and it may well survive.

[Paul Raven]

For the record- The Doctors headwriters (with approximate timelines)

Orin Tovrov (creator) 63

Ian Martin

James Lipton

Rita Lakin (I have read this stint began in 66)

Rick Edelstein

Ira Avery and Stanley H Silverman

Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock (early/mid 70's till 75)

Robert Cenedella 75

Margaret DePriest 75-76

Douglas Marland 76-77

Ethel and Mel Brez 77-78

Linda Grover 78-79

Elizabeth Levin and David Cherill 79-80

Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt

Lawrence and Ronnie Wencker-Connor

Harding Lemay

Barbara Morgenroyh and Leonard Kantor 82

[FrenchFan]

To help your timeline, I know for sure that Tovrov was still headwriting mid-1965. I have found an article at newspaperarchive.com from April 1965 and he talks about the upcoming wedding of Matt and Maggie.

[dc11786]

re: Ann Larimer

According to SOD synopses, Steve and Jason tracked Ann down to Brazil in August 1977. Ann claimed she miscarried and when the Aldrich brothers left she called the doctor who was going to deliver her baby. In September 1977, Steve was concerned that the Ann hadn't sent back the annullment papers as he was planning on marrying Carolee. When the papers did arrive, Ann also sent a 'no claims' clause, which puzzled Steve but was intended to keep Steve from taking the baby from her. Before Carolee and Steve's November 1977 wedding, Ann is mentioned as a possible threat to the union. She isn't mentioned after that.

re: Doreen

Doreen's father Evan arrived in November 1977 when Doreen agreed to divorce Jason. Evan was devasatated to learn his daughter had been cheating on her husband and he disinherited her. In January 1978, Doreen flirted with newly arrived doctor, Colin Wakefield, who performed surgery on Erich Aldrich and was revealed to be Sara Dancy's old married lover.

Doreen and Jason lived in Dallas before arriving in Madison.

re: Dr. Croft

In an June 1976 (the March 1976 synopsis) SOD that Matt posted online, Winston Croft told Mona he would divorce her if she didn't return to Boston with him. So Mona and Winston were still married in March 1976. I assume the union dissolved shortly after.

re: Toni

In Manuela Soares "The Soap Opera Book", "The Doctors" was in the process of recasting Toni, but apparently that was dropped. By August 1977, Mike was involved wth Sara Dancy and considering marriage.

re: the plague

Hilary Bailey Smith once said in SOD that one of the reasons behind the plague on "The Doctors" in 1982 was that a lot of contracts were up and they were using that as a way of negotiating. Who got sick besides Mona?

re: Lemay

The Christmas 1981 episodes were written by Lawrence and Ronnie Wenker-Conner, but Lemay wrote the New Year's Eve episode so Lemay started in December 1981.

Edited August 28, 2008 by dc11786

[Paul Raven]

Thank you Deli for that information.

I just discovered that Darren Match was played by Arthur Brooks.I wonder if he was intended to be a major character,but got lost in the writer changes.

There is You Tube clip that shows credits from December 81 - it lists Aaron Scott and Ann Marie Barlow as writers. They must have been temporary before Lemay began

[FrenchFan]

An October 1981 episode lists Elizabeth Levin as HW and a December 1981 episode lists Aaron Scott & Anne Marie Barlow.

Are you sure Lawrence M. Konner & Ronnie Wenker Konner wrote the Christmas episode because it looks like the Konners left sometimes between April and October, bein replaced by Levin then Scott & Barlow before Harding Lemay took reigns at the very end of 1981.

[dc11786]

I was mistaken. For some reason I was thinking Barlow and Scott were the Konners.

The summer of 1981 would have been written by scabs, so that means Levin came in either right before or right after the strike.

Edited September 2, 2008 by dc11786

[FrenchFan]

Not a problem. I was just trying to make up my mind about it.

[MichaelGL]

So from the 1976-1977 synopsis that were posted in the discussion area...

-Jason was an attorney, didn't know that

-What ever happened to Eleanor Conrad?

-Maggie cheated on Matt with a guy named Kyle! Never knew that, thought they were the Tom and Alice (DAYS) of the show.

[Paul Raven]

Kyle was played by Wayne Tippit,who had previously played one of the Jerry Ames on Secret Storm and who would join Search for Tomorrow in 78 as Ted Adamson.

As for Eleanor's departure,French Fan's upcoming summaries will hopefully clear that up.

Do we know who played Evan,Doreen's father?

Still not clear on Stacy Well's as Jason's stepdaughter.Who was her mother?

[FrenchFan]

Paul, do you know something about the storyline between Eleanor and her husband Scott? It seems to involve Althea but my summaries began at the end of the storyline.

[dc11786]

I believe Kyle was played by two actors. Kyle and Maggie's one night stand is revealed. This happens about the time Greta starts sleeping with Billy. Greta gets pregnant and contemplates an abortion around the time that Matt and Maggie have it out over the one night stand.

Doreen is said to plan a memorial for Stacy in FrenchFan's June synopsis. Is it possible Doreen was the mother?

Eleanor Conrad appeared when Althea and Scott had started dating.Althea was aware of Eleanor, but she wasn't there initially. Eleanor was insane and released herself from the hospital and attempted to befirend Althea. Althea convinced Scott to return to Eleanor, and later Althea was paralyzed. Eleanor stays on as Luke's sugar mama. I believe Doreen forces Luke to end it with Eleanor and Eleanor attempts suicide. Wendy returns to worry about losing her mother's money. Wendy blames Luke for her mother's condition. Eleanor awakes and gives Wendy her inheritance as long as they part ways.

[Paul Raven]

The other actor playing Kyle was Gene Lindsey,although I'm not sure who played the role first.

I have a feeling it was Wayne Tippit.I recall an interview with him,where he said that he was called back to resume playing Kyle but wasn't interested/available.

As regards Tom Carroll,I have seen James Rebhorn listed as playing Tom.Was this before Jonathon Frakes or a temp replacement?

Lauren White originated the role of MJ and played her for 3 years till 78.Carla Dragoni was her replacement,but she was quickly dropped when Kathy Glass became available.When Glass left,they recast again with Amy Ingersoll.I don't know why they bothered as the show was making a lot of changes and didn't seem interested in continuity.MJ ,by this stage ,was expendable.

Lauren White had been on How to Survive a Marriage,but after The Doctors disappeared from view.

[MichaelGL]

Thought I'd revive the old thread because I'm reviving this old soap for my fan fiction

Just was wondering if anyone knew how Penny Davis died, and whatever became of Buddy Davis?

A piece of information I'm not certain about, but Althea was a psychiatristcorrect?