The Doctors Discussion Thread

[Susan Hunter]

As a Karen fan, I really believed that she was going to take Maggie's advice and try to meet Steve half way. Steve is still trying to get through to her (in all the wrong ways), which leads me to believe that he really has feelings for her -- or has convinced himself that he does.

[amybrickwallace]

If things between Steve and Karen are this bad now, I wonder what things will be like when the baby comes.

[amybrickwallace]

The wedding episodes should be airing in less than two weeks now - and will air over two days. I'm really looking forward to seeing it!

[slick jones]

Me, too Amy. I pop it on every day by 4 (unless the downloader has trouble), but I never miss it. The wedding should be some great scenes! Still waiting for Penny's actions to be revealed, her wedding planning is hilarious(ad so much like The Parent Trap)!

[amybrickwallace]

Penny was ahead of her time! She would have fit right in on those Bridezilla shows. LOL

[amybrickwallace]

I found this funny blurb in a 1974 article. In it, a model (and later writer) named Nancy McCormick relates the first time her family "met" her future husband, Gerald Gordon, by having them sit and watch an episode of TD.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19740615&id=68JaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LVgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6958,4595001

By the way, the two were together until Mr. Gordon's passing in 2001.

[Susan Hunter]

Thanks for posting that Amy. A great little blurb, plus a future spoiler!

[amybrickwallace]

You're welcome, Susan! Here's another interesting interview I read, this one from 1973 and profiling David O'Brien. Here's something I'll bet you all didn't know - I sure didn't - that NBC reported at one point that he was getting more fan mail than the face of the network himself - Johnny Carson!!!!

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19731102&id=t40hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pJkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3371,976762

Edited March 1, 2015 by amybrickwallace

[Paul Raven]

He had a girlfriend who became a nun! Were people really that dumb back then?

So many 60's & 70's soap heartthrobs were gay Reinholt/Crothers/DuFour etc

[DRW50]

Given the spinoff talk, I'm not surprised about the fan mail. I will admit I don't see much in Steve at the moment to like, although O'Brien is great in the role.

I'll always wonder what might have been if they'd done that Carolee/Steve spinoff. I guess it probably would have gone the way of Missy and Lahoma/Lucas, but still...I think they could have carried their own show.

[DRW50]

I am on the episode right after Matt went to Karen's apartment and she was half-drunk and crazy. Maggie was in bed and Matt sat/laid on the bed and they kissed for a while. Obviously the single bed rule had been broken by primetime with Bewitched (I know there was Mary Kay & Johnny but that was before the "code"), but does anyone know what the first soap was to allow a couple to clearly share the same bed (and by 1968 standards it was quite obvious they didn't just use that bed for sleeping)? I was a little surprised at the frankness (maybe it helps that Lydia Bruce and James Pritchett have some good romantic chemistry, especially considering she'd only been in a few episodes at this point).

I guess this is one of those instances where you have to compare a show like this to the P&G soaps (which I loved, so I'm not putting them down - they were progressive and honest in their own unique way), where poor Mike and Nancy Karr had twin beds until 1983! The frankness of Maggie talking to Althea about the "marriage bed" with Matt - even making that hilarious "tch-tch" sound - also surprised me. And Matt joking about bed week - "take your friend to bed." It feels so much more modern than a lot of material I've seen from this era or from most soap stuff around this point (the little that's available) - before this the earliest soap material I'd seen that was this frank and playful was early Ryan's Hope.

I must say James Pritchett looked amazing in the tight(ish) trousers and undershirt. Amazing.

It's funny seeing all the green around this time - Liz's coat, Althea's dress, Maggie's weird housecoat thing. Maybe someone had a sale. Either that or it's to show late spring/early summer, or represent a fresh start for all of them, like grass freshly growing.

Probably just a sale.

[Susan Hunter]

The nun story probably got him a lot of sympathetic fans and even more love letters.

I decided to do the inflation calculator on his salary. $60K in 1973 is just over $315,000 today. Not bad by any stretch for a working actor.

I was surprised when I first saw The Doctors because it was nothing like I imagined that it would be. It will be interesting to see what the show becomes after Rita Lakin exits.

[amybrickwallace]

I'm sort of dreading what the show will be like post-Lakin/Edelstein. What we've seen so far seems to be an anti-soap, and for the most part free of melodrama and clichés. I'm afraid that will all change.

[allmc2008]

I'm looking forward to see the replacement openings though. I wonder when it debuts.

[amybrickwallace]

Who did the music for the show post-Robert Cobert? I can't find any information about that.