The Doctors

[RavenWhitney]

Totally blown away by Aug 10, 11 and 12 1976 episodes.  Wow.  The writing was amazing at times.  Maggie DePriest wrote the Aug 11 and there's a doozy of a progressive scene where Paul describes women's roles through history and present, to cray cray Stacy.

 

Then the final 8 minute scene in Aug 12 episode with Mamma Dancy addressing each of her three children.  A scene so b-movie campy, genuine and soapy, with stellar acting by the great Elizabeth Lawrence.  Before Karen's witness stand, Reva's fountain there was this scene.  Lanie Bertram's script is up there with Pat Mulcahey's Maureen death episodes.  Not to mention the scene between Paul and Ann.  Geraldine Court, what a revelation. And Paul the actor and the character....

 

And I haven't even watched Friday, Aug 13th with Luke's introduction.  

[Chris B]

Reading y’all post about the present day episodes (1976) is surreal for me because y’all never seem to be talking about people I know lol. The Doctors seemed to have such a stable core, but whenever I watch a later episode on YouTube it seems the show changes so much. I can’t wait to hear what y’all think when Douglas Marland takes over. I know he transforms the show even more, with mixed opinions on how that worked out. 

 

For me Im almost done with 1970. I just finished Dan and Carolee’s wedding. They’re currently at the Christmas tree with Billy and my absolute favorite Miss Emma Simpson. Such a delightful actress! I hope y’all keep me posted when she reappears in the present episodes. I’ll have to jump ahead and see that!

 

Now that it’s been a while you can definitely see the shift with The Pollocks. The show is very fast paced and with dialogue it seems they’re trying to modernize it. I do like it so far. I was dreading Althea when she returned but she’s settling in nicely and I’ve completely forgotten about the past year of terror she inflicted on my viewing lol. They’re smart to stabilize her with Greta, Maggie and Rick as opposed to immediately throwing her into a relationship. I feel like now I’m comfortable with her and can accept her in her own story. 

 

Going back to Dan and Carolee, Dan is almost immediately more sinister with the new writers but I still love him. I’m glad they show Carolee and Emma as suspicious even if they aren’t acting on it. The only thing I don’t like is Dan having the nerve to complain about Emma’s clock after forcing her to move in. He better leave her alone!

 

Lastly, with Rico shot in the head I feel his days are numbered. Such a shame because the actor is a great find and has done a good job of rehabilitating Nick’s character. Martha and Rico are the best thing to happen to him. 

Edited September 25, 2018 by Chris B

[robbwolff]

Marland's episodes starting airing today on Retro.

 

Richard Niles was incredible as Rico. Unfortunately, when the character returns in 1975, Chandler Hill Harben takes over the role. Harben's version of Rico is nowhere near as interesting.

 

The fast pace gives way pretty quickly as I recall. Some stories go on forever under the Pollocks. Maggie has a story coming up in 1971 that lazily unfolds over the course of 14 months. Ultimately, it's thrilling to watch but it's very slow to build.

[vetsoapfan]

 

It has been more than 40 years, but as I recall, I personally did not appreciate DePriests writing on The Doctors very much. It could be that I was just comparing her to other writers of the 1970s  (Bell on Y&R, Falken Smith on DAYS, Lemay on AW, Nixon and Washam on AMC, Slesar on TEON, Labine on LoL, etc.) and DePriest came off weak in comparison. But I do remember thinking that the writing for TD picked up under Marland. One critic later wrote, "Marland worked wonders with the garbage he inherited."

 

I will say, however, that considering the horrible writing on all of today's soaps, I'll bet that if I rewatched DePriest's TD, I would love it in comparison!

Edited September 25, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[robbwolff]

I have to admit that I very much liked DePriest's writing. It was nowhere as wonderful as it was during Rita Lakin's stint but it was mostly entertaining and interesting. Her writing for the Dancys was particularly very good. I'll be curious to see how Marland's work is.

[vetsoapfan]

 

I think Lakin and Rick Edelstein were TD's very best writers. Marland did not do his best work on this show, IMHO, but so many of its other writers were so much worse. I do wish I could evaluate DePriest's material again. Where is everyone watching TD reruns? Is the series available on youtube, vimeo, etc? I keep meaning to track it down and check it out.

[robbwolff]

Lakin was amazing, but I wasn't impressed with Edelstein's short stint as head writer in 1969. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

I loved Edelstein. His How to Survive a Marriage was as good as Lemay's AW.

[robbwolff]

As I recollect, the big story during his stint involved Mike Powers who was in love with physical therapist Nancy Bennett, whose blind husband Paul returned from the dead. Also in the mix was Shana Golan who had nursed Paul back to health. Paul was played by James Shannon. Shannon's acting was over the top and painful to watch. The other story involved an amnesiac Althea. By September, Nancy, Paul, and Shana were gone. Edelstein then introduced Julie Forrest who came to live with the Powers. By November, Edelstein was gone, replaced by Ira Avery.

[EricMontreal22]

Interesting, I know the creator of Marriage was out very quickly, but had no idea who else wrote it.

 

It's on the antennae old-school tv network Retro TV which I don't get, but it has been getting posted to youtube regularly.
 

I will say compared to other mid 70s soaps I've seen, I don't think The Doctors is... great.  But as others have said, compared to what we've had to endear for ages now on the soaps it's a breath of fresh air.

Edited September 26, 2018 by EricMontreal22

[~bl~]

If anyone wants a link to a channel to watch The Doctors, PM me. (The people who post the episodes don't want to lose their channels, so they don't want people to link videos in public.)

 

Edelstein knew Carolee Campbell, and was the reason her part was expanded, so I even with the weirdness (like the Althea/Nick dream sequences) I can't loathe him.

[vetsoapfan]

 

HTSAM was originally written by Anne Howard Bailey, whose cold, clinical, with-it women's lib style did not attract an audience. She was quickly fired and replaced by the divine Rick Edelstein, whose poignant scripts and insight into human behavior were mesmerizing. When the already-burned daytime audience did not give the show a second chance under his pen (the series was moved against ATWT on CBS), Edelstein left and HTSAM got cancelled. Margaret DePriest was hired to write the show's final days. Of the three headwriters, only RE was great, alas. 

 

Thank you for the link.

Edited September 26, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[Soaplovers]

 

She wrote some episodes of the Doctors that was pretty good.  

 

Marland's episodes start in today's Retro reruns, but Depriest left the show in a really interesting place for him to pick up the threads.  Depriest even wrote two or three episodes (one which talked about a patients right to life vs their right to die with dignity.. and the other episode had an interesting speech about women's rights, etc).

 

I think Depriest quickened the pace and that might have turned people off that were used to a more leisure pace.  Marland even admitted he kept the Joan Dancy story going longer than he should of.  If Depriest had remained, I think she would have resolved it much quicker (hints were dropped in her final episodes writing where Joan's true killer admitted nervousness over the return of her step father Jason cause she was unable to lie to him.).

 

The Joan Dancy story reminds me of a Columbo mystery where the audience knows the identity of the killer including their motive, but we watch to see how they're caught.  Perhaps Marland wasn't sure how to proceed with that type of story (and he was known for dragging a story on too long... hello Carolyn Crawford murder mystery on ATWT anyone?).

 

I think you should review 1976 (Feb through September 1976) because she had some strong script writers that helped flesh out her story and outlines.  

[vetsoapfan]

 

As previously noted, my generally unenthusiastic response to DePriest's writing of TD may have been due to the fact that I was watching so many giants of the industry writing for other soaps at the time, and MD's material just paled in comparison.  Of all the countless headwriters I have watched do their thing over the decades, DePriest is certainly not the worst of the lot. I would take her over the current scribes at DAYS, GH, Y&, and B&B, that's for sure.

 

I would like to start watching TD reruns from the very first episodes that were released by Retro TV a few years ago, if they are available online anywhere. If not, I will start with the eps from 1969 onward, which I know where to find.

 

I agree that the Carolyn Crawford storyline went on too long, and ended up being convoluted and awkward; it was certainly not DM's finest hour. Again, based on my memories of long ago, I would rate his material on TD as **1/2 out of ****.

[robbwolff]

Who was head writer when Dave Bachmann died?