The Doctors

[danfling]

I too am impressed with Pamela Toll.

I had only known her as Pammy Davis on Somerset. I liked her in that role. Pammy seemed a much younger, juvenile role than Liz on The Doctors. I am finding that she was excellent in both types of roles.

I cannot remember if Pammy was a high school student at the beginning of Another World: Somerset or not, but her a large portion of her scenes were with high school characters and with Sandy Buchanan. Was Pammy after David Grant?

On this show, she is a young actress, but the character seems much more mature (even more mature than Dr. Bellini).

I am not sure why she departed Somerset, although it was probably due to a change in the writer (Robert Cenedalla created the role, but Henry Slesar became the new headwriter. Her parents were written off, so maybe she was too.)

She had a role in at least one Walt Disney movie. I never saw that, but I suspect that she was again playing a younger, less sophisticated character.

I also have spotted her in commercials over the years. I read that she was also in a famous music video.

[dc11786]

I think the Shaw siblings departed in late June or early July 1981. I think its safe to say this promo highlighted what was to come to Nola afterwards. Catherine and Kevin Shaw kidnapped Mona and then Jason Aldrich died saving his mother from the kidnapping. That episode is available for viewing at the Paley Center in New York. It is a strike episode. Nola was kidnapped about the same time (or maybe both she and Mona had been kidnapped) and that was when Kevin raped her and forced her "to marry" him. Again, this was the strike so I don't remember reading much about the fallout of all of this. I think they quickly had Nola play the merry widow, purchase the newspaper, and hire Billy Aldrich to write sensational stories for her new venture.

Someone feel free to correct me if this is wrong.

[robbwolff]

I'm really impressed with Pamela Toll. Amazing actress. I just finished today's episodes and in her scenes with Elizabeth Hubbard, Toll reminded me so much of Ellen Parker, who played Maureen on Guiding Light. She both looked and sounded like Parker at points today.

[danfling]

Her talent is one reason that it is such a shame that Another World failed to use her on that show.

[amybrickwallace]

For all the morals clauses being imposed on Althea, the board of Hope Memorial apparently looked the other way when the single and obviously lively Dr. Karen Werner stayed unsupervised at the home of Dr. Matt Powers when his wife and daughter were out of town. Maybe that was also a sign of the times?

At least we finally learn the state of Mike Powers - he is away at school. I guess there was a falling out between father and son, as Matt muses in his voiceover that he hopes to see Mike at Easter, "the season of forgiveness".

Both Althea and Liz are too good and too smart for Old Yeller (aka Dr. Nick Bellini). Maybe because we have yet to see many episodes with the two together (so far, it seems most of the episodes feature Althea or Nick, but rarely Althea AND Nick), but I don't see what Althea apparently sees in him. A smart and resourceful woman like Althea doesn't seem to be someone who would put up with Nick's nonsense for too long, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Let me guess - Ruth and her psychiatrist husband, who are childless, will end up adopting the orphan Danny?

[beebs]

Good Lord, 60% of everyone on this show is a D!CK! This is so unusual for the time. And yet, I still enjoy watching them. Rita Lakin seems to be able to walk that fine line between being selfish and cutthroat and being completely unlikeable. All the characters have layers and you feel for them, no matter what nastiness they dish out. I'm not entirely sure how much of that is down to the writing and how much is down to the charisma of the actors.

Steve revealing

completely changed the entire dynamic, and yet, I've liked him so much so far, you can't totally hate him, even knowing what you do. Excellent stuff.

Is it bad that I've essentially dropped DAYS entirely just because this show is just so much better in every conceivable way?

ETA:

Edited October 10, 2014 by beebs

[danfling]

When did Gerald Gordon begin his role on The Doctors.

I think that he could have played Burke Devlin on Dark Shadows well. Certainly better than Burke #2, Anthony George.

[amybrickwallace]

I've read conflicting dates on when he began playing Nick. One site said 1964, another said 1966.

I've gotten a kick out of reading old Google-archived articles about Mr. Gordon. Apparently, he got letters from fans asking why he had to be so mean. LOL Another article has him recalling how he would yell at the directors for having Nick yell so much!!

Apparently, a special 90-minute special of TD aired in 1976, with Mr. Gordon, who had left the show, returning as Nick was summoned from out of town to operate on Althea, who had fallen through a glass door (or something like that). In an article commemorating the occasion (I can't find it on Google Archives; I may have read it on this thread), an anonymous castmate said that it just hadn't been the same without Gerald around - yelling all the time, onscreen and off. "I guess we missed it!"

He didn't stay long, as he was lured to GH later that year with what was one of the lucrative contracts for a daytime actor at the time (not just more money, but a guarantee for primetime appearances and even the possibility of his own series). Still, Dr. Mark Dante didn't gel with fans the way Nick had, and he ended up bolting in 1978 just before Gloria Monty took over (he did make a brief return to the show in 1983).

Gerald Gordon did do a couple of spots on primetime that I've seen - including an appearance on Perfect Strangers as the managing editor of "The Chicago Chronicle". The same episode features another familiar face who made a splash on soaps - Holland Taylor. This synopsis has a picture of him in the episode:

http://www.perfectstrangers.tv/episodeguide31.htm

He and Barbara Barrie played the grieving parents of a murder victim on an early L&O episode ("Vengeance" from Season 2). Stephen Bolster, who played Ted Clark on AW in the early 70s, also appears in that episode as a doctor.

Edited October 10, 2014 by amybrickwallace

[JWDrama1980]

Yes I agree he would have been a much better Burke Devlin #2 than Anthony George.

[Paul Raven]

Gerald Gordon stayed with GH until mid 78 and was featured quite heavily till then - well into the Monty/Marland era.

That was the end of a 2 year stint. GH wanted him in 76 for the role of Mark and had to have 2 other actors in the role until he finally signed.

Like other actors (George Reinholt for one) Gordon had primetime roles written into the contract.It seems these actors didn't read the fine print that stated it was slanted in the network's favor.Maybe they received some dollars instead but the network didn't follow through on the promise of primetime roles.

[All My Shadows]

I truly adore seeing those little flashes of Lucinda that come out in Althea from time to time, especially when she talks with that loud, clipped voice she has when she's upset. I guess it's more accurate to say that Lucinda reflects those parts of Althea that EH had played for so many years prior to joining ATWT.

[dc11786]

I'd lean towards 1966. I've not seen reference to Nick in the summaries I've found for 1964 or 1965 online. From what I've gathered, Elizabeth Hubbard joined the show the week of August 10, 1964 as the summary reads "A strange pattern behind the machinations of hospital administrator Carl Webster emerges as an attractive woman doctor joins the staff of Hope Hospital in episodes of THE DOCTORS this week on NBC. " If she isn't the attractive woman doctor, Althea still appears no later than September 1964. The summary for the week of September 21st reads: "Dr. Althea Davis tries to solve her problems with courage. Dr. Matt Powers gets copious advice from his friends and Carl Webster continues his unsavory plot against his wife in the episodes of THE DOCTORS this week on NBC at 2:30"

The next major reference I have for Althea is May 1965 where Gloria Davis arrives (on the 17th). In one of the psychiatric sessions, Althea mentioned that Gloria was Dave's second wife. Anyone know who played Gloria? Then, Althea befriends new arrival Kate Bartok in the summer of 1965 and by early fall, after Ann Williams has been gone several months and Maggie has married Kurt, Kate begins to tease Althea about her 'admiration' for Dr. Matt Powers. I would suspect they played the Althea/Matt angle for a couple of months leading into Maggie's return in November in the form of Bethel Leslie. Nick was probably introduced afterwards.

[slick jones]

Some random thoughts since I started watching these 1967 episodes.

Carolee Campbell is such a great actress. I have only seen Jada Rowland in the role.

Love James Pritchett and his pipe. Bethel Leslie is so genuine in the Maggie role.

Like PT, and Gerald Gordon is great, and Elizabeth Hubbard is a soap opera goddess in every role.

TK is so human in the Dr. John Rice role. His scenes with Polly are wonderful.

dc, I have never heard of Carl Webster and his wife. Any idea who played them? The Gloria Davis role is new to me as well. If you don't mind my asking, where did you find these synopses? Thanks!

[Avatar610]

Can anyone give me the link to watch these episodes? PM me if anyone can. BTW, I'm new here!

Edited October 11, 2014 by Avatar610

[dc11786]

I've purchased a subscription to newspapers.com and found them in various local papers. In Phoenix, Arizona, they carried daily summaries for some of the shows in either a TV Guide style listing or in ad space bought up by the local affiliate. These listings seem to be the same listings that can be found in the TV Guides in 1965. I don't know how long TV Guide carried soap listings, but I've seen information that suggests this happened from at least February until November 1965 for certain shows (mainly ABC and NBC serials).

I don't remember off the top of my head which papers have the earlier synopses for "The Doctors." I know a Florida paper (out of Daytona BEach I think) occasionally had dailies listed for "Ben Jerrod," "General Hospital," and "The Doctors" for April, May, and June 1963. I haven't copied those down though.

No idea on who played Webster and the wife. I do have some cast information for the anthology days, but not much else in terms of new info.

UPDATE: The Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) is where I got the summaries for "The Doctors." I believe they also covered daily episodes of "The Brighter Day" for a good portion of 1957.

Regarding Webster and Wife,

From the December 13, 1964 Bridgeport Post:

Edited October 11, 2014 by dc11786