Jump to content

The Doctors Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

  • Members

I've actually liked some of the Pollack's work on the Doctors... they could write a climax and fall out quite well.. though they sometimes lacked the character moment touch that Rita Lakin had.  Though I doubt Rita would have stayed more then 2 years.. she seemed like she was burnt out and the show sold her a bill of goods.  Seeing her take on creating the Rookies, Flamingo Road, and Nightingales.. the same things happened.. so I'm wondering if maybe she was at fault just as much as the other person.  A shame that the 1988 writers strike basically ended her writing career because she was too pricey even though she had the talent. 

 

I actually was disappointed on the resolution of the 'murder mystery'... I think it would have been better if Penny did accidently shoot and kill John Morrison.  Even if the police ruled it an accident, she still would have felt guilt over killing a man even if it was in self-defense.  Plus, the Pollack's were masters of fall out (i.e. Penny's crush on Mike and the effects of that are still shown in the November 1974 episodes).

 

I'm actually interested to see how Depriest and Marland fare when head-writing.. since this type of show isn't one that would be a good fit for either of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 5k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

The Pollocks had done such a good job with the Dan Allison "murder" mystery that the story with John came as even more of a disappointment. Then again, the Allison story came under the watch of Allen Potter as EP and the Morrison story under Joe Stuart. That may have had something to do with it.

 

Speaking of the Pollocks, I can see some resemblances of their work on TD to GH (what little of it is on YouTube). They lured Gerald Gordon over to GH as a neurosurgeon (and later landed Anna Stuart to play his sister), for one. Plus, Althea/Nick/Penny seem like the model for early Lesley/Rick/Laura. Laura, of course, actually did kill David Hamilton. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Isn't this the actress who played Ina Hopkins on OLTL?

 

When I was in high school, I imagined who else could ever possibly play Erica Kane.  For whatever reasons, I came up with Goldie Hawn in a dark wig (wtf? lol) and Anna Stuart.  AS based on looks, stature, and the whole diva-vixen thing (I only knew her as Donna at that point).  Now seeing her on TD, I particularly see a resemblance to SL, they certainly could have played sisters, Robin Strasser rounding out the three.

 

Tom shaking the [!@#$%^&*] out of Ann in her hospital bed is the height of inappropriate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

Just caught up in the December 1974 episodes...bad decision writing out Margo...she should habe remained a Thorne in the sides of Alan/Toni...heck even been a wildcard once mike returned.  I think 1975 would have been a good year if it had been a Margo/Toni/Alan/Mike quadangle.  Short sighted of the show.

 

Odd still seeing Ann and Carolee as friends...ill be intrigued to see the reason for Ann's change of character.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I can't fully remember, but I don't think they tried to get Beth Chamberlin back. I think Laibson/McTavish likely saw Beth as old news and wanted to move Philip on; either that or have her return only when Philip was closely tied to a new woman. Thanks as always for these recaps. I think I had stopped watching around this time and mostly kept up by reading in the soap magazines. Bridget's degradation was horrible to watch, as the character had grown so much over the years and was clearly regressed just to be a foil for a couple viewers had zero investment in. 
    • Having the majority of the cast on those low numbers is no way to tell story. And just 2 dayplayers for the month. So sad for the #1 soap.  
    • I believe it was. And this is actually one of the cases where I wouldn’t mind some dumb soap opera bringing back from the dead. They gave Mishael, Amanda, with all of Hilary’s connections but none of the personality except for fleeting moments. Hilary absolutely should’ve just left town. They decided to kill her and the baby. Just baffling,
    • That was Mal Young right? He thought a tragic death was a better option than crafting a story where Hilary leaves town. Was it a case of punishing someone who wants to leave? And then they have to jump through hoops to bring the actress back.
    • Ooo @TaoboiI will say I just watched Amanda give it to Abby and I loved it. Honestly just made me miss Hilary more. I will never understand or get over that decision to kill her off. Also call me crazy but I could definitely see the Damian actor playing NuTed on BTG. Very much still enjoying the Lily attraction.
    • I rewatched these episodes---they broke my heart. Somehow, Nola had seen Vanessa leave the hospital, and follows her home, and Maeve just lets out this primal scream---chills went down my spine. And knowing the history between them---never quite liking the other and always getting on each other's nerves (to put it mildly)---makes it a much richer to have them put it all aside in the moment and be family to each other. I've never seen/heard what Maeve thought of the story itself, but she did want a break, so it's not like she was fired and then brought back. Yes, Vanessa could be this stubborn and unwilling to ask for help. She'd pretty much always been an "I can do this on my own" type of woman, although when she first came to town, she would still run to Henry. But after she met Billy, she stopped relying on her father. It's part of the reason she (briefly) got addicted to pills after Bill's birth---she was determined to take care of him all by herself and became obsessed with the idea she was the only one who could. Of course, nothing before to this extreme. I should say, there's no way (IMO) they could've told this story---Vanessa letting her loved ones thinking she'd died---if her father Henry had still been alive. She never would've been able to do that to him. And it does chafe that she's letting Bill believe it, when her mantra had been all about protecting him since the day he was born. I honestly don't recall what I thought about it at the time. But now I'm thrilled she's free of Matt at least. LOL.
    • I had no idea Peter Reckell was 70. He doesn’t look or feel it and I guess I thought Bo and Hope were closer in age than 9 years. Wow even the new writers had to have Jack praise Leo. Melissa Reeves continues to slip back in effortlessly as Jennifer. I like Ari and Holly being old friends. Holly learning about John’s death reminded me of how John used to call her Nikki if my memory is serving me right. Doug who happily sleeps in high school Holly’s room shirtless and in his underwear is now asking about birth years. How old is he anyway?    The Cat and Chad romance is insulting. 
    • Her husband is Marty Levy. Chocolate Fortunes (her company) was started in 1987.  So that explains the mystery of 'Whatever happened to Pam Peters?' She had been running a successful business for decades.
    • KMH's Emily was a harbinger for the lack of dignity many characters would face in the last decade of ATWT. On paper, many of the stories given to Melanie Smith's Emily could have been extremely sleazy, but she was treated with respect and understanding in the writing. By 1996 the show went from often not knowing how to write for KMH's Emily to giving her outright reprehensible material. There were breaks from this treatment, but not enough, with even those breaks often being poorly written or just used to make her look even worse (like her grotesque rape story turning into her using her rape to destroy Margo's marriage).  By the last years I don't even know what the hell they were doing. Wasn't there some kind of mother-daughter whoring story with Emily and Alison? Wasn't Emily getting beaten up by johns? Whenever I think of how they wrote for KMH's Emily I'm reminded of Pauline Kael's quote about Ann-Margaret's '60s movie persona - calling her "dirty" and saying the people who made the movies "knew what men wanted to do to her."  Even as much as ATWT started hiring softcore actors in the mid/late '90s, the Emily treatment was on a whole other level. I have never known what audience they thought they were going to be attracting.
    • At this point the options are 1. Leslie is going to be caught out, arrested and jailed. Hit and run, blackmail etc. 2. She gets off due to lack of evidence. Second option keeps her on the show but how are they going to keep her a viable character? No one should want to have anything to do with her. If they keep her around, won't other characters come off looking stupid for putting up with her? I'm interested to see where they go with this character/story and hope not to be disappointed.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy