The Doctors

[Avatar610]

Today's shows proves why Daytime Emmys had to be created- and guess which soap was the first to win Best Daytime Drama in 1972?

[amybrickwallace]

Oh, I know. It's a good thing Althea wasn't in the prep room when Mr. Anderson broke in. Forget Nick - I think Althea would have been the one to completely drop kick him into the next time zone.

I did have to smile when Nick was scrubbing his arm furiously and Matt told him not to take his anger out on the soap (this after the orderlies finally got Mr. Anderson out). Then I laughed when Nick said the same thing to Althea.

Wouldn't a big hospital like Hope Memorial have, I don't know - SECURITY GUARDS???

I had a feeling there wouldn't be a miracle in the offing like there was for Mr. Bunker. Nick and especially Althea are going to take it the hardest.

Who else has the feeling that Ralph Anderson is going to slap a humongous lawsuit on the hospital?

One more thing - Karen came in on her off day to do paperwork (and to try to get what happened in her apartment out of her mind) and discovered the surgery was going on, so went to join Maggie in the observation room. This time, when Karen reaffirmed her belief in Matt's abilities, I'm pretty sure she didn't say it to needle Maggie for once. Karen was just observing in her own way that Matt is the complete opposite of Steve - but of course Maggie took it as been needled, and she has every right to feel that way as that has been the norm between the two women. What did you all think of that exchange?

[amybrickwallace]

A couple of other things:

These episodes are nearly 48 years old, and both men are no longer with us - but am I the only one who found both Gerald Gordon and James Pritchett HOT in their white surgical scrubs?

Regarding the above magazine page, was the proposed "World of Women" a working title for How to Survive a Marriage?

[robbwolff]

A few things:

I was in and out of hospitals around April 1968 as I was having multiple surgeries on my leg and foot. I don't recall there being security guards in the hospitals I had gone to. In fact, my particular hospitals didn't employ security guards until the late 1980s.

And I tend to doubt that World of Women was the working title for How to Survive a Marriage. How to... didn't premiere for another three years after that article. The working title for How to... was From this Moment.

[jam6242]

I also don't think hospital security guards would have been the norm in 1968.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Hope Memorial gets out of this mess. No one else was in the room when Lila asked Nick to help her so he doesn't have any witnesses. I can't see Ralph making a sea change in his attitude the way Bunker did.

And yes, amybrickwallace, Matt and Nick look great in their scrubs (of course, I think Nick always looks great, lol).

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks to you both for clearing up the security guard issue. I was born more than a decade after these episodes first aired so I thought security guards at hospitals would have been the norm by then. Maybe they would have been at some hospitals in large metropolises like Washington D.C., Chicago, New York, etc.

I didn't see the date, so thanks also for setting me straight on the "World of Women" soap. With its feminist angle, it sounded like "Marriage". I guess that soap never got past the drawing board.

At the Anderson house, when Althea and Nick were tending to Lila, she admitted to both of them that she was sick and wanted help. So it's not the first time she asked them to help her. Besides, she was the one who first showed up at the clinic that day on her own.

Yes, all three of them - Matt, Althea and Nick - are going to be in hot water again with the board for the second time in two months. Of course, Ralph Anderson is going to have a gaggle of lawyers involved - so I wonder if we'll see Larry Linville again.

[robbwolff]

There's no date mentioned in the article but it was some time in 1971 since the article talks about the recent cancellation of A World Apart.

I lived in the New York metropolis, though not in the city proper. It was in the early 90s when the hospitals in the region started employing security guards. I recall taking my mom to see her sister in the hospital and both of us being surprised when a guard stopped us as we went into the hospital. I think guards become more common following the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

Last night, I told my husband all about yesterday's episodes and how incredible they were. From the Lila Anderson story to the goings-on at Karen's apartment, and what a sleaze Steve was back in '68. He was amazed. We dished for a while about how powerful these stories compared to what the soaps are spewing today.

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks again! My mom was a nurse (retired for about a decade now) and had only been nursing for several years while these episodes in 1968 were airing for the first time, so I've told her about some of the plots and asked her if they were anything like her own experiences. We've had some pretty interesting conversations because of the show.

[amybrickwallace]

OH. MY. GOSH. Both episodes ended on a cliffhanger, but I was honestly thrown by what happened at the end of episode 2. My jaw actually dropped - I was so not expecting it, although we all should have.

We did get to see the Odd Trio in the lab for the first time together - Nick, Martha and Ed. Ed also runs into an old friend.

[Classicsoap]

It seems the Age Gate has been activated after the Upload, so if anyone has a problem viewing their regulat source video, make sure your Age Gate is set off. Why someone would report this episode I have no idea

[Avatar610]

Ralph Anderson made an old Mae West joke come true- and not in a good way! I just loved it when Althea told Nick how much she appreciated his being there for her- I went "Awwwww". The whole Karen/Steve bit reminds me of GWTW, when Rhett decided to literally screw Ashley out of Scarlett's mind after the birthday party! Could Ed have a love interest in the making? His running into that nurse friend of his was nice. About Nick's past tragedy: Nick and his older brother grew up in the streets of Chicago to immigrant parents, and his brother was in the mob. However, he put Nick thru medical school, and one of classmates was young Maggie Hansen, now Powers. A few years later, Nick was doing ER duty when a gunshot victim was brought in- his brother, victim of a mob hit. He was unable to save him, and that's when Nick moved into research. It was Maggie who brought Nick to Hope Memorial to help him recover from his heartache, but he lost his heart to a certain lady doctor....

[amybrickwallace]

Yes - and like his character, Gerald Gordon was born and raised in Chicago. I guess this brother was the father of Rico, Nick's nephew who also becomes a doctor - or did they have any other siblings? Yes, their moment when Althea says to Nick that he's always there for her was so sweet. I love the look he gets on his face at moments like that - shy, a little embarrassed but always pleased. I also love how gentle he is with her. No wonder those two were such a popular couple. I'm so glad that Elizabeth Hubbard said in that recent interview that she and Gerald Gordon were good friends in real life and remained so for years after the show had gone off the air.

I never thought of the GWTW angle concerning Steve and Karen, but there are sure some parallels. Maggie, unlike Melanie, has her eyes wide open - and Matt isn't a weak man like Ashley Wilkes, though he sure has blinders on when it comes to his mentor's daughter.

In the first episode where Ralph Anderson must be told the tragic news, I was sure he'd start screaming at Matt and fighting him. He didn't but just asked to see her. Then the second episode began with Althea and Nick coming back to the hospital from Lila's funeral.

Boy, did Steve have a lot of gall or what? Liz is nagging him to go out with her, he tries to shoo her away as if she was a fly, and then he finally "happily" accepts just as he sees Karen walk back into the clinic. I wonder what his cousin John Rice would do if he was in the country and found out about the situation. It's been proven that John knows how to treat a lady!!!

[SoapDope]

So sad that Mrs. Anderson died. I figured that they would save her, but they took the realistic approach and had it be too late to do anything.

[SoapDope]

Wow Mr. Anderson is off the chain fruit loop.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, Ralph is definitely a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Still, his crushing grief is very evident - which is why Matt, Althea and even Nick can be patient with him.

I was practically screaming at Maggie and Carolee to CALL THE POLICE!!!!!!

The look of shock and horror on Maggie's face at the end of episode 2 was absolutely chilling. Bethel just nailed it.