The Doctors Discussion Thread

[vetsoapfan]

 

I have not seen all the commercially-released DVDs of PP, but soap friends have warned me that the eps are only 22 minutes long, whereas the show was originally aired with eps of 24 minutes. I cannot verify this, first-hand, I am only relaying what I have been told. I know Shout released terribly edited episodes of Rhoda, season one, which many fans bitched about because the missing scenes could be found on-line. 

[EricMontreal22]

I just checked disc one, every episode runs approximately 25 mins and 20-25 seconds.  But maybe shortened syndicate versions of episodes are on other discs?  (I don't have the time right now to check).  I've only watched thr first two sets and I thought I remembered noticing that they all came in around 25 mins...

[vetsoapfan]

 

If Shout has some, most, or all of the eps at their original length, GREAT. Of course I trust the information you have provided about the length being 25.5 minutes, but it makes me curious why other people have complained to me about missing scenes. Maybe in later sets?

 

Anyway, nothing could be worse than the Beverly Hills 90210 DVDs and the ones of Little House on the Prairie which were originally put out by a Quebec studio years ago. Soooo many missing scenes. It actually made me angry. Thank heavens I had kept my LHOTP VHS tapes, with eps of 47 min., rather than having to endure the hacked-to-bits DVD versions.

[EricMontreal22]

I mean complaints like that MUST be based on *something*--I guess I'll check a few more random episodes later tonight, but definitely the first 6 episodes are all a bit over 25 minutes (this information is 100% proven and accurate

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).  There could be something fishy like they were given syndicated versions of later episodes (I'm not sure how heavily PP was syndicated but I know it was--though it's strange that Romance would show the originals in that case--stations like MeTV I've noticed tend to show the syndicated versions of shows.  I HATE that they show the extremely butchered syndicated version of Night Gallery, for example)

It is frustrating.  I'm a huge fan of the UK Queer as Folk and even the Deluxe DVD released in the US used the US edits which are based on the US cable airings and don't actually censor anything but join combine the first season's episodes so that each 35 minute original episode (weird episode length, I know) is doubled (ie episodes 1 and 2 become a long episode one)--but worse of all is so much of the music, which is integral to the series, has been replaced with generic techno.  Which is kinda odd because the UK release mostly used little known dance bands, etc--hardly anything high profile that would seem hard to license for N America. 

[RavenWhitney]

It's ashame they couldn't stick with DePriest. I wonder if Ann Howard Bailey was consulting with Jeff Young while writing scripts since they both worked together on How to Survive A Marriage; he was only 30 years old and had been put in charge of that soap before it was cancelled.  Wonder why they didn't give Ann the head writing job.  Margaret wrote 150 episodes; contracts were usually 13 week so she outlasted 26 weeks but it seems like the last month of scripts might have been edited by Marland (bringing in Lew, ending the clunker Scott Conrad plot so quickly).  We know Marland worked with Nancy Franklin on many soaps and she showed up as a scriptwriter a month before Marland episodes starting airing.  Why they couldn't hold on to a good head writer is weird after the Pollacks lasted over four.  The execs killed a good show with the endless HW changes.

Edited September 28, 2018 by RavenWhitney

[Soaplovers]

 

I think depriest quickly ended the conrad story.  Marland said he didnt realize he could end a story quickly when he started the Doctors.

 

When watching the Doctors under Depriest..it seemed the show was on uppers...lots of energy and cliff hangers at the end of each episode.  Almost two weeks into Marland's stint...it feels like the show was given a triple dose of prozac..  too low energy and slow.

 

I do think he probably edited her last week of episodes she was credited in...but the energy and dialogue were still at higher levels.

 

I think Depriest was ahead of the curve in terms of energy and excitement.  It also explains why she had longer stints head writing in the 80s (Days from 81 to 84..and AW from 86 to 88.)   The 80s were all about energy and OTT.  It's also why she fit when she co he wrote Sunset Beach in the late 90s.

 

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

I was relieved to see Marland's name finally show up in the end credits. I wasn't too enamored with DePriest's writing, which I didn't dislike but didn't exactly connect with either.

 

For people keeping track of such things, Marland's first episode credited as head writer was Monday the 20th of September 1976. It was the episode where Matt decided not to take a leave of absence but to resign.

 

It felt like Marland had edited the week before. The other main woman on the hospital board was suddenly given a name. It's Beatrice Lansing, and as most Marland followers know, his mother's name was Beatrice and he used that name on all the soaps he wrote. So even though Mona started referring to that woman as Beatrice during those last episodes where DePriest was still credited, I am sure Marland edited those scripts.

The dialogue writers who assisted DePreist seem to have been replaced by Marland's dialogue writers. One new writer now being credited with Marland is Nancy Franklin. Franklin's a former actress who previously played Barbara Ferra on The Doctors back in 1972. She also was a dialogue writer under Marland at Guiding Light in 1980 and 1981.

Another dialogue writer being credited with Marland is Kathy Callaway. She previously wrote scripts at Another World, where Marland also wrote scripts under Harding Lemay.

[Soaplovers]

 

I do agree that the last week of Depriest's stint was edited a bit by Marland.  I think she was credited because I think she did the outlines for that week and each episode for the script writer to write.. and he probably just added some little details.

 

I'm not too keen on the new script writers thus far.. I liked L. Bertram the best and I actually thought Anne B Howard's scripts were quite good.  

 

For me, I just don't enjoy Marland at all.  He isn't my cup of tea.. and he may be critically good.. but ratings weren't always great, nor horrible, under his regime.  I think the sudden whiplash shift in tone from Depriest to Marland didn't help the show in the long run.  

 

It is interesting that all the things people assumed Marland created on this show (Dancys, Billy/Greta, etc).. weren't created at all by him.. but he inherited all of that.  Depriest gave him a good template to work with on the show, but his tendency to drag out stories do him in on this show (the Joan Dancy story is dragged out for several more months when Depriest set it up to probably be resolved by November... and Carolee/Steve don't reunite for many months when it looked as if Depriest was ready to get going on the story.)

 

Still... I do think every soap writer appeals to different people.... Pam Long/Dobsons/Depriest appeal to me.. while Marland/Harding Lemay doesn't really appeal to me.    It's the opposite for other people.. and that is what makes the world go round

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[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

The main problem I had with DePriest was that she wasn't into telling medical stories. Her focus was psychological stories. Even when she attempted a medical story, like Althea's brain injury, it ended up becoming more psychological. If this was a show set in a mental hospital, yes that would have been fine, but Hope Memorial is not a mental hospital. Endless scenes of Stacy in therapy, of Eleanor in therapy, of Steve undergoing counseling after Carolee vanished, it was extremely tedious in my opinion.

 

None of what DePriest did seemed quick. The Dancy plot dragged from the end of '75 until mid-sumer '76 before Joanie was taken off life support. I watch a New Zealand soap and just this past week, a guy was threatened by some thugs, thrown over a balcony, was rushed to the E.R, was declared brain dead, and then his heart was given to his girlfriend who was in need of transplant. The surgery only lasted two scenes. And shortly afterward it was ten hours later and the girl woke up from surgery and learned her boyfriend had died and she now had his heart. All of that played out in three consecutive episodes. DePriest would have taken months, and the surgery itself would have been dragged out a whole week!

 

Of course DePriest, Marland and their peers were a product of the times. And soaps in the 70s, all soaps, moved at a glacial pace. I don't mind the slowness of a plot if we get to learn more about the characters and relationships, as long as it's not repetitive or the writers are not transparently just stalling an outcome because they have nothing else lined up after the climax or major turning point.

 

Another problem I had with DePriest is how she wrote Matt, which seemed incredibly out of character. The male menopause story was a bust. I also think she ruined Mike, though I agree with posters on another site that Assante is miscast and so some of the problems with Mike are because of the false acting just as much as the false writing.

 

One thing I like about Marland's first episodes is that we have some interesting intercutting going on between Steve in Madison with a hospitalized Carolee who's miles away. I feel this is something the Pollocks would have done. Where we have these star-crossed lovers, and one is eventually going to find her way to the other. The emphasis seems like it is now back on romance, back on medicine and back on family connections.

 

I am looking forward to how Marland writes Eleanor, as I think we will see great improvement with her. Where it becomes less psychological, less cerebral and more on Eleanor's physical needs. And I love Lew/Luke...and I'm a fan of the Penny/Jerry stuff. I really loved the scene where Jerry found out his brother's ideas about keeping lonely women company. Two brothers, so different, in the same family. It reminds me of the Reardans and the Snyders, Marland's later creations.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

I noticed Anne Howard Bailey's name appeared on the 22nd of September episode as scriptwriter. Wonder how long she continues under Marland.

 

The 23rd of September is the first episode of another new scriptwriter, Robert Cessna. He is a former actor and playwright who had a long career. His wiki page can be found by typing "Bob Cessna."

Edited September 29, 2018 by JarrodMFiresofLove

[danfling]

I never cared for the work of Douglas Marland (the most over-appreciated writer on any of the soap operas), Margaret DePriest, or Jerome and Bridget Pollock.

 

I do recognize Ms. DePriest as having created Where the Heart Is, but much of that may have been the work of the late Lou Schofield.

 

Her other work on soap operas were not all that lengthy.   She is either under appreciated or not all that talented.

[Paul Raven]

The reference to Lew as Luke and of Madison are further evidence that Marland had  a hand in reshaping DePriest's last week.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

I just finished watching the latest episodes.

 

Myra Sofronski is a new scriptwriter under Marland for the episode that aired on the 27th of September 1976. Sofronski's only credit on the IMDb is for 'Another World' in 1982.

 

Marland is the only credited writer for the 28th, so I assume that means he wrote his own dialogue for it. This was the one where Toni learned her mother had been in a car accident.

 

So far we have these new scriptwriters: Nancy Franklin, Kathy Callaway, Robert Cessna and Myra Sofronski. Basically Marland came in with his own team, though Anne Howard Bailey is still around having scripted a recent episode.

 

As for the actors, George L. Smith is now credited as Detective Cadman, not Detective Ernie Cadman like he had been in prior episodes. Keith Blanchard is merely credited as Erich, not Erich Aldrich. Has he ever been credited with the character's last name? The little girl who played Stephanie in a recent episode had a few lines but she is not listed in the credits. No idea who she might be.

 

Why is Anna Stuart still credited as Toni Ferra, instead of Toni Powers? Sally Gracie is only ever credited as Martha, no last name included. David Michael Elliott is only credited as Billy, no last name.

[robbwolff]

Cool insight about the name of the board member Beatrice.

 

Myra Sofronski was the topic of conversation on a Doctors group on Facebook. Sofronski was her married name. She had been married to Bernard Sofronski who was a producer on Search for Tomorrow and Another World. Bernard is now married to actress Susan Dey (The Partridge Family, LA Law). Myra's maiden name was Tamarkin. Myra Tamarkin supposedly was a writer on Search at one point in the 60s or 70s.

 

Nancy Franklin started writing for TD under Margaret DePriest. Her name has been in the credits for a least a month or two. In the Facebook group I mentioned, there has been much speculation that Marland had heavily edited DePriest's scripts in the weeks before his arrival.

Edited September 30, 2018 by robbwolff

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Thanks for the correction. Probably when she started the decision had just been made to get rid of DePriest and start writing the characters in a new direction.

 

Retro did not air the episode for the 24th of September 1976. Must be lost. But I didn't feel we missed anything.

 

What does everyone think about Jada Rowland? I have to admit i miss Carolee Campbell terribly but I have instantly fallen in love with Rowland. I love how expressive her eyes are. She reminds me of a silent film actress. Maybe it's because she has no real dialogue yet and the only thing she has to work with is her face. But she seems so delicate and fragile, it totally fits Carolee being in this weakened condition.

 

On another note I feel that Liz Hubbard is just marking time. Since Gerald Gordon's exit, there is no real storyline for Althea. She's just playing support to Matt and Maggie now. Althea feels like a spare part, no longer an essential piece of the ongoing drama.

 

The best actress has to be Meg Mundy. Those scenes where Paul was hoodwinking Mona into suggesting that he be Matt's replacement were so well played. She really captures Mona's vulnerability and daresay stupidity around Paul. Then in a subsequent episode when she learns Jason is coming to Madison, she's all maternal and take charge. Such a wide range of possibilities for the character and Mundy taps into all of it.