The Doctors Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

Susan lucci was the only one that managed to make some head way with hers...with her tv movies in the 80s/90s, guest stint on Dallas...and her occasional Hot in Cleveland guest spots.

[Vee]

True, but Susan is one of a kind and hit with a cultural impact far different vs. Reinholt or Gerald Gordon (did anything come of GR's deal or did he nuke himself too fast?).

[DRW50]

I guess you could say Deirdre Hall as well, but she didn't have as much fame as Susan managed to have. 

[Paul Raven]

I recall him grousing in an interview that ABC was more willing to pay him off rather than give him access to primetime roles. I guess in some cases the execs who might have agreed to that initially were soon gone and the next had no interest.

[Chris B]

I noticed Margaret DePriest's name in the credits and decided to backtrack and see she's been HW for about two months. Bob Cenedella's stint flew by! The one thing I've noticed with DePriest is while Cenedella reestablished the show as a family soap with a variety of sets, more characters and more family drama outside of the hospital, DePriest kicked the action into high gear. She was responsible for Steve and Ann having an affair while led to Carolee's explosive exit, Althea's accident which led to Nick's return, Stacy's issues with sex, Matt and Maggie's relationship problems, etc. I also see she's bringing on the Dancy's. 

It's so interesting to me that the show had two good HWs who infused new life into the show and both got replaced after six months. Then Douglas Marland comes on and from what yall have said, the show becomes very slow and boring and of course he writes of Althea, a core character, but he got a full year. I can't believe I'm so excited for his tenure, I just find it so interesting that he failed here when I've only heard (or seen in the case of ATWT) good things about his work.

[Paul Raven]

The Doctors was Marland's first headwriting stint after working on Another World. Maybe he had difficulty adjusting to a new environment and going to a half hour show. Don't know what his relationship was with the EP, so there could have been a lot of BTS stuff going on.

One thing he did say that he learned from TD is that if you come into a show and don't relate to a story you should wrap it up quickly. He was referring to the Matt/Joan Dancy situation which he inherited and continued with even though he didn't enjoy writing it. In retrospect,he wished he had wrapped it up immediately and moved on.

[Matt Powers]

I am actually enjoyed Marland’s tenure. Sure, the Carolee and Joan Dancy stories dragged but once resolved things moved nicely. Doreen was introduced ( and recast) and brought trouble for Nola/Jason and Luke/Eleanor. Ann’s departure is being set up nicely. A drawback of his era is the introduction and quick dismissal of characters (Darren Match, Jessie Rawlings). Also not recasting Penny and dispensing of Jerry and Althea were determental. I believe Mel and Ethel Brez are the next head writers  as the merry go round of EP’s and HW kicks into gear 

[Soaplovers]

Marland tenure was so boring.  

One thing I noticed about any show that he head wrote, the dialogue was so unrealistic and wordy without any sort of emotion.

It's jarring seeing the show go from the fast paced energy of Depriest to the slow paced boredom of Marland.  Why he was given a year I'll never understand.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Soaplovers

[Contessa Donatella]

This is certainly not new & it may have been posted already. If so, I'm sorry to duplicate. It just tickles me so that THE DOCTORS were the first. I watched a lot of this show in it original broadcast & loved it. 

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[Contessa Donatella]

That's the only thing I've been able to come up with, also. They did an hour trial run with DOC. And, Len Bolen, the woman NBC exec who spear-headed expansion at AW was gung-ho in general that the hour was THE WAY to go. They just wanted to make sure it would work at AW, which it did. And, then, proceeded right on to DOOL, where it was fine also. I can't imagine that she wouldn't have also been gung ho for DOC! And, they did the trial, so we know that they considered it. Either no way to add studio space, as they had done with AW. Or something specific different with dealing with Colgate-Palmolive. Anyway, a long-winded way to say I agree. 

[Paul Raven]

Lin Bolen

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks @Paul Raven! 

[Franko]

Surely NBC could have scared up some more space for The Doctors at 30 Rock. It's not like there was THAT much going on there circa 1976 (Today, WNBC, NBC Nightly News, Tomorrow and SNL).

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Franko

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, they did not own it. Colgate-Palmolive would just have been renters to them, so it's just what was in the contract & more space would have been more rent. The expansion was not AT ALL without costs. According to Lin Bolen the budget would be MORE than double & that did not count that you'd need more space & more actors. And, the people who would get the gains from ad revenue were the network, not the show. Sort of the fine print. 

[Franko]

Fair enough. For what it's worth, I don't think expansion was the solution for every show. It limited the amount of timeslots networks had available.