The Doctors Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

 

No, he never said why he left. He was, however, involved in co-writing a musical with ATWT's Peter Link at the time. Entitled Salvation, one of its stars was Marta Heflin (who played Shana Golan later on in 1969).

 

Yes, the show gets worse - much worse once the last of the Lakin/Edelstein stuff airs. Most of it is due to the impending recast of Althea. Virginia Vestoff is not the problem - the writing was, and she clearly did not look comfortable for the 10 months or so that she was on TD. She first aired in October 1969 and she left in either May or June 1970. Then the character was off-screen until the reappearance of Liz Hubbard in October 1970. Regarding the Mike/Nancy mess, it gets worse before it is finally over. Mike makes the first of many stupid moves in the hospital starting here. He is NOT a doctor you would want checking on you and/or your loved ones!!!

 

On the plus side, once 1970 starts you will be introduced to many memorable characters (most of whom stayed on for awhile) played by performers who just seamlessly blended in. They include the wonderful Katherine Squire as Carolee's mother, Emma Simpson; Richard Higgs as Dr. Dan Allison, who is one of the most terrifying villains I've ever seen on TV; Patrick Horgan as the suave British psychiatrist, Dr. John Morrison; Palmer Deane as Mike's supervising resident and budding young neurosurgeon, Dr. Hank Iverson (one of the few African-Americans on daytime then); Richard Niles as Rico Bellini, Nick's troublemaking but tenderhearted nephew; Felicia Sanders as Stella Bellini, Rico's mother and Nick's sister-in-law; and two of the most endearing child actors and one of the most talented sibling teams you will ever see in daytime (or anytime), Eileen Kearney as Greta Powers and Mark Kearney as Billy Allison. You may have seen their brother, Michael Kearney, as the blond boy who was writing on the hospital walls and caught by Anna Ford!!

 

Of course, through it all are Matt and Maggie - the oasis in the storm. Jim Pritchett and Lydia Bruce must have come across as surrogate parents to the younger generation of TD fans in those days.

 

[DRW50]

Thanks for the rundown. I'm looking forward to the new faces and momentum. 

 

I'll miss Anna though...

[TimWil]

 

[amybrickwallace]

 

No problem!! You'll have Anna around for some time yet - she does get a nice sendoff and doesn't leave until sometime in the summer of 1970. Zaida Coles' departure is sometime between the departure of Virginia Vestoff and the return of Liz Hubbard.

 

Speaking of Virginia Vestoff, she was still on Broadway in 1776 at the same time she started on TD. Maybe it was a combination of nerves and burnout, or maybe she just wasn't comfortable with the horrible changes that the new writing regime had put into Althea's character. Couple the change in writing with the recast of a popular character (and actress) - maybe the viewer backlash made her nervous. We'll never really know, but at least on DS she got to originate a role and she seemed more comfortable in the costumes and the much more theatrical and gothic nature of that soap. VV was originally set to reprise Samantha in one of the DS movies (I can't remember which one), but she had a scheduling conflict and had to back out. I think the movie version of 1776 was filming at the same time and she couldn't do both.

 

William Daniels (who was the John Adams to her Abigail in both the play and the movie) mentions her in his recently published autobiography. When the word reached him that she was terminally ill, he ordered flowers for her and signed the card, "Yours, John" - in reference to their famous duet "Yours, Yours, Yours". Sadly, the flowers and card never reached her because the delivery truck drivers were on strike, as he found out later.

 

Sure, they can put the names of temporary recasts in the credits along with the supporting players, but can't change the last name of a leading character with star billing!!!

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[robbwolff]

 

I believe Anna departs in October 1970, in the first month of the Pollocks' tenure as head writer. It's a shame Zaida left the show. She was an amazing actress and Anna was one of my favorite characters. None of the writers post Rita Lakin seemed to know what to do with her.

[DRW50]

 

I guess given how OTT and trashy their writing was on their soaps a character like Anna wouldn't have fit their view. Their loss.

[Soaplovers]

 

And what is weird is that right when a new character Hank is intdoduced...Anna is on her way out...and he spends almost two years being a talk to before getting a story. Of his own.

[amybrickwallace]

 

Yes, I believe you're right. I knew it was closer to the time that Liz Hubbard came back. It would have been nice to keep Anna around, but at least she got a decent farewell and didn't just vanish without being heard from again (Jody Lee, Liz, etc.)...

[amybrickwallace]

 

I think Hank didn't come on until December 1970. Palmer Deane, however, did do a day or two earlier that year as a member of the Board of Health Commission. Obviously, TD liked him so much that they brought him back to play Hank. He's great - and so is Marie Thomas as his love interest, nurse-turned-singer-turned-nurse Lauri James.

[MontyB]

 I love Marie Thomas also. She reminds me so much of Debbi Morgan. 

 

Edit: I haven't logged onto this site in a while. So glad you guys have this board about The Doctors up and going. 

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Edited March 24, 2017 by MontyB

[amybrickwallace]

I've been able to get in touch with Marie, and not only is she now watching the reruns but so are her now-grown children. Her son was a little boy when she was on TD, and her daughter wasn't even born yet. Marie said that her son would see her on TV when she was working and he was with the babysitter. He would toddle over to the TV and tell his mom to come out!! LOL

[amybrickwallace]

 

I went back and looked it up. According to the DS Movie Book by Kathryn Leigh Scott, VV was going to be in Night of Dark Shadows. The role was re-written as "Laura" and played by Diana Millay (who had played a different Laura on the soap).

[DRW50]

 

Nearly all of the flashback footage, what there was of it, was dumped on the cutting room floor. I'm not sure if they ever had any big plans for the character. 

 

@Vee may know more.

[amybrickwallace]

I'm trying to think of how many cast members TD and DS had in common. The only ones I can think of right now are Nancy Barrett, Virginia Vestoff and James Storm.

[~bl~]

Anna was one of my favorites and I still miss this character. 

 

Another weird thing that I enjoyed that I shouldn't have was the problems with the closing credits. When they were updated after Liz Hubbard returned and Campbell and O'Brien were promoted to make it a group of six, the text didn't line up and it wasn't just at the end of one episode but many. Eventually they got it right, but it made me laugh though feel bad because obviously in those days it was done by hand, which was more difficult. 

 

And then you have the behind the scenes people, and the tie-in between Dark Shadows' sets being inherited by Ryan's Hope, which is a whole other game. I adore geeky stuff like that. 

 

What gets bad eventually with TD in 1970 is that things start to drag with many many flashbacks, which will save time, but are annoying. (They didn't plan it well when Liz went on maternity leave, as we had Althea flashbacks, and it was frustrating, like they didn't know she was going to have a baby and not be available. They could have done something with the other characters in that story during the interim like have them practice medicine, and have Althea out of town visiting Penny.)