The Doctors Discussion Thread

[allmc2008]

The guy is now calling the show "Hope Memorial"

[JWDrama1980]

I hope we get to see both episodes that air today

[allmc2008]

I hope so to!

[amybrickwallace]

Me three!!!!

[Khan]

I pray Althea returns to the bridal shower brandishing a handgun. That Liz chick so needs to be whacked.

[Paul Raven]

Are Matt and Maggie marries at this point? I assumed they were but then remembered reading the wed in 68.

[amybrickwallace]

Maggie did refer to Matt as "my husband" a couple of times in these eps, so I guess they were wed by this point. I didn't think they wed until Lydia Bruce took over the role as Maggie, but it looks like I was proved wrong.

[Vee]

I can't be the only one who thinks Gerald Gordon was heavily channeling John Cassavetes. I'm sure that was a major part of his appeal.

I was under the impression the Pollocks were the most renowned writers here? This is a few years prior, unless I miss my guess, but Rita Lakin's(?) work is very strong. The show seems full of pretty frank, blunt, often brusque, ambitious or selfish people. Not typical of the time (or even today). Even the tentpole leading man, Jim Pritchett, is much more full of piss and vinegar than, say, John Beradino on GH. He really goes in on his staff, he's great fun. I could've seen him on any number of other soaps (who knows, maybe he did a few).

Edited October 4, 2014 by Vee

[DRW50]

He had small roles on other soaps before and after this one. I posted an article a few years back where he talked about his biggest role before Matt - the shoe salesman Lisa had an affair with on ATWT.

I also had a photo he took with Burt Reynolds when Burt hosted SNL in 1979. The Doctors taped nearby, and Burt wanted to see him, because his mother was a fan.

[danfling]

Mr. Pritchett appeared as Bruce Elliott on As the World Turns and as Jeff Nichols on The Secret Storm. On The Doctors, he appeared as a businessman when the episodes were self-contained stories. When the character of Matt was created, he was asked to play him. He was on the show for the entire run. After the cancellation of The Doctors, he was on an episode of Guiding Light.

[Khan]

I'll be honest: even if Liz weren't in the picture, I still wouldn't want Nick and Althea to marry. Elizabeth Hubbard and Gerald Gordon are fantastic together. Given their sharp personalities, however, I have a feeling that any marriage between those two would just be a hot mess. I mean, great for us who are watching, but really, really not so much for them.

But I love that no characters on here are being propped, for lack of a better word, or are being written into a corner in order to push some type of agenda on the folks at home. If this were all happening today, everyone, including Matt and Maggie, would be so in love with Liz and would shout from the proverbial mountaintop how she and Nick were soulmates, age differences and outside obligations be damned. Althea would be written as the selfish bitch who has the audacity not to want what is clearly best for Liz and the father of her baby (with the strong implication that maybe everyone would be better off if Althea were to miscarry the bastard or abort it) and who must be out of her mind not to swoon over The Great Nick Bellini's marriage "proposal"...and no one would even DARE call Nick out on his insensitivity toward everyone in general and Althea in particular. If anything, his behavior would be regarded as the paragon of manhood.

[Khan]

Oh, and David O'Brien is hotness. That is all.

[Matt]

So. Much. This.

[jam6242]

Speaking of Rita Lakin, looks like a lot of her personal career memorabilia is being sold on eBay, including some scripts from The Doctors. According to the description, most of her scripts have been donated to the University of Wyoming.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-DOCTORS-1963-1982-TV-SERIES-Rita-Lakin-Archive-LOT-OF-13-ORIG-SCRIPTS-/201084335797?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ed18f76b5

[amybrickwallace]

Did TD spend their entire run at 30 Rock?