The Doctors Discussion Thread

[Khan]

 

Oh, I definitely agree.  I was just explaining before why it felt as if they had rushed Steve and Carolee's reconciliation.  I'm wondering whether Marland was so fixed on the idea of the Aldriches, Powerses and Dancys being the core families of the show, and Matt/Maggie and Steve/Carolee being the tentpole couples, that he saw separating Steve and Carolee any longer as working against that concept.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

True. 

 

But if that is the case, I think it was a mistake. I don't think that the core family concept really mattered with the show. I more so care about the characters themselves minus their family dynamics. I wanted to see Carolee stand on her own without Steve. Her wallowing over him does not bode well for me. I just seems like Steve is literally getting away with murder. 

[jam6242]

I want Carolee to go off on all the adults she knew previously, and to make new friends.  None of them showed any real concern about her disappearing. 

[DRW50]

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[~bl~]

At this point, I just want a scene where Steve apologizes to Carolee and blames himself for everything that happened to his marriage to Carolee starting with the sex with Annie. He admitted his wrong-doings to Jason, but not to the person he wronged. I do wonder since The Doctors was taped so quickly before air if things were changed due to audience response, and the reunion ends up happening sooner than planned. Like the first scenes between them when she was back, and then the material where she realized she knew he married, there was a break for a couple of weeks, and then it started writing a reunion right away. 

[Paul Raven]

This was an opportunity to reset the Steve/Carolee relationship with each of them moving slowly towards reconciliation.

 

Jada seems to be accepted as an excellent replacement but they need to deal with everything that happened, rather than a quick resolution.

 

 

 

 

[Khan]

Yeah, both Steve and Ann needed to pay for their sins against Carolee: Ann, with a one-way ticket out of Madison (which is in the mail at this point); and Steve, with a lengthy, tortured road toward reconciliation with Carolee.

 

It breaks my heart to see how Marland fumbled on this show.  Thank God GH allowed him to redeem himself.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Khan

[Paul Raven]

It would be so interesting to know the BTS at TD and GH as far as Marland was concerned,

 

There were certainly budget restrictions at TD that may have had an impact on stories he wanted to tell. I'm sure relationships with execs had a bearing as well.

 

I'd love to see Marlands first few months at GH and see how he reshaped the show.

 

I think Gloria Monty was quite supportive of his ideas and he had an hour format to work with. Also ABC started spending money so the whole look of the show was transformed also.

[Franko]

I just had a little Back to the Future moment there, imagining if GH *had* been cancelled in 1977 and Marland's career possibly ended as a non-memorable headwriter for The Doctors. With him alone, the ripple effect is staggering -- no GH revitalization, no Nola-era GL, no A New Day in Eden, no Loving and no ATWT renaissance.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Franko
Clarity.

[Daytime70s]

There's a lot of head writers of cancelled soaps that go on with their careers.  Wasn't Ann Marcus writing Love of Life when it was cancelled?  She was hired by other shows after that. I think cancellation affects salary, but not ability to get future jobs. GH may have found a home on another network, had abc pulled the plug.  Nbc had been looking to expand, and eventually bought Search.

[Daytime70s]

I have a few snippets of Marland's first few months on GH on my blog (I have to find them)   However, it was very slow-going. He inherited a nightmare with the Lisa/Lana storyline ---so confusing, that took some time to wrap up.  The Mark/Katie/Lamont Corbin stuff was not working either, despite our dear Gerald Gordon---viewers not invested in that story.  The money was not flowing, the sets weren't rebuilt until after the May 78 (David Hamilton murder) storyline which finally --whew-- brought them to number 3 in the ratings.  I don't even think the good Charles Paul background music scoring began until late April.  So, from Jan to May 78 they still had the bad music and boring sets.  What did happen early on was the dramatic intensity. Characters began shouting more, conflicts were heightened, and more scene cutting, so it did feel like the pace and plotting was moving quicker, somewhat.  

 

I'm looking for an Afternoon TV article that came out sometime in 79? 80? where Marland talks in detail exactly how he revamped GH.  In 77, before he got to abc, he was assigned to watch the show for a few weeks and fell asleep !!!   It was all scenes of 2 people sitting and talking.  So, he created more meeting places, restaurants, the cafeteria etc, where characters would interact, and not just sit in chairs in a closed room. Lots of movement was incorporated.

 

[Chris B]

This show is killing me. I’m still in 1971 trying to finish the year out. I’m at the end of October as Steve being jailed for Dan’s death is the main storyline. I understand now why Harding Lemay hated court stories. We all know Dan killed himself and that Steve didn’t do it and we know he’s the father of Carolee’s baby. There is nothing to look forward to and no dramatic potential that justifies this going on for the next two months. Not to mention that she’s been pregnant for a year. It truly amazes me the Pollocks brought such success and critical acclaim because their first has done nothing but put me to sleep. Endless flashbacks, uninteresting stories (like Maggie’s illness) and most of the characters are wasted. I’m happy Karen is back but she isn’t doing anything interesting either. 

 

Is 1972 a more interesting year for them?

[Paul Raven]

ABC owned GH so there was no way they would sell to another network.

[Soaplovers]

 

So basically the opposite of what he's been doing for the first months of the Doctors.. where he slowed the pace down to a glacier, characters were talking, little to no action... and the female characters regressed.  At least it proves it's possible to learn from your mistakes after your first time attempting to write a show.

[Paul Raven]

I can see why Jennifer Wood was axed as Doreen. She's too one note as the bitchy rich lady. Every line is delivered with a sneer.

Mind you, we can also blame the director(s) who should have told her to tone it down.

 

Anyway, Pamela Lincoln will soon come on as Doreen. The story goes that Pam was axed from Love of Life and her hubby Daryl Hickman,CBS exec got on the phone to his friend Jeff Young and lobbied for a role for Pam. Presto, Jenn was out and Pam was in.

Now seeing Wood in action, I can see that perhaps it was just good timing as once they knew Pam was available, it was a no brainer to drop Ms Wood.

 

Some Meg Mundy trivia..way back in 1950 she starred in an experimental CBS color broadcast of the suspense classic 'Sorry Wrong Number'. This was to promote CBS's own color system, which ultimately failed.