The Doctors

[Paul Raven]

Dec 21 1976

Larry Weber debuts as Barney Dancy.

 

I'm finding Glenn Corbett very wooden as Jason.

 

The episode opened with Steve asleep in his office next to a photo of Carolee. She looked very grim in that shot and I wondered why anyone would have such a depressing photo of their wife as a memory. They then went into a dream sequence and David O'Brien's acting was awful.Something was off, maybe just a difficult scene for anyone to master.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Is he on the show until the end? He has a credit on the IMDb for an episode that aired in 1982.

[robbwolff]

 

I know Weber showed up as Burton Canfield on Texas in 1982. He was definitely in the final episode of Texas, appearing alongside Lori March who played his wife Mildred.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

The credit on the IMDb I referenced is for an episode for The Doctors from April 1982. Maybe it was one of his last episodes and he soon moved over to Texas. He obviously had a long run on The Doctors, he was the longest lasting Dancy.

 

I see he played Jada Rowland's father on The Secret Storm.

 

This was the episode from the 22nd of December 1976. I just finished watching it. I think Steve's dream, which was one part flashback and one part fantasy, was meant to be over-acted. It was filmed in a very stylized fashion.

 

Marland did surreal dream sequences  like this on As the World Turns. There was a very famous one with Liz Hubbard as Lucinda Walsh and Lisa Brown as Iva Snyder, fighting over Lily (Martha Byrne). Where Lucinda went to sleep worrying about Lily finding out Iva was the biological mother. In the dream Lily is confronting them both and the two mothers are fighting over Lily.

 

I think Marland liked doing these kinds of campy dream scenes, but they don't play well today. They seem incredibly contrived. The acting is meant to be over the top, almost like silent film actors overdoing every single emotion. Fortunately Marland was not in the habit of presenting these all the time. I'm sure the actors had fun performing them. In Britain this is called "panto" style acting. It probably has its roots in the Theatre of the Absurd movement.

Edited November 9, 2018 by JarrodMFiresofLove

[robbwolff]

Actually Luke (Lew) Dancy lasted longer. He showed up right after Joan Dancy died and was there till the last episode on December 31, 1982.

 

 

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Interesting. Was it the same actor who played Lew/Luke the entire time? When was Virginia Dancy written out and what were the circumstances surrounding her departure?

[robbwolff]

Frank Telfer played Luke the entire time. I think Virginia was written out in 1978.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

I posted this on the Daytime Royalty site yesterday:

 

How is everyone feeling about the departures Marland handled? I didn't like Toni's at all. Hank's felt rushed, as quick an exit as Andy Anderson got, no foreshadowing whatsoever. At least Mike's exit played out over a few weeks and Armand did some good acting at the end...but I don't quite buy the idea that Mike would leave Michael Paul behind. How Toni can go all those months without her baby is cruel.

I think we're very close to the end of Martha's tenure. None of the Soap Opera Digest synopses for 1977 mention her so I wonder if she just simply stops appearing. Sara's role as babysitter for Michael Paul robs Martha of a chance to appear in scenes, and Marland has seldom featured Martha working at the hospital. 

It feels like we've said goodbye to some long-standing sets. Althea's place is never shown anymore. All her scenes are either at Penny's place, at the hospital or at the Powers home. I would imagine Martha's home will drop out of sight, unless someone moves in there. We don't see the lab at the hospital anymore. The hospital cafeteria is rarely used. We don't even have those nice long scenes in the elevator the Pollocks used to do all the time. Now we have the Dancy apartment, the bar where Matt & Barney hang out and Jason's very fancy law office.

[Soaplovers]

 

I don't blame Marland for Toni's departure since it happened a week or so after he started.. just like I didn't blame Depriest for Alan's sudden exit (his last episode was either her first day.. or right before she started).  Yet, the Pollock's wrote Anna out fairly quickly when they took over.. but had her accepting a PR job out of state, reuniting with a guy she had dated, and giving some advice to Carolee/Nick/Matt before departing.

 

With that said, he had three months to come up with a suitable exit for Hank.. and it didn't really fly with me.  Mike's exit, I agree, was handled better.. and it did look like the show was testing Sara/Mike before his departure (Armand Assante had better chemistry with the actress that played Nola than Sara..imho).  I don't get why Sara couldn't have been tied better to the hospital (working in the peace corp could have afforded her some medical experience and/or working in the pedatric wing of the hospital)... than just being a babysitter.

 

I do agree there haven't been any cute Martha/Ernie scenes since Marland took over... Pollacks, Cendella, and Depriest all made sure to include scenes of their 'friendship'/romance.  I still contend the Dancy's weren't designed to be long-term.. just lasting for the duration of the Joan Dancy case (at least Sara/Luke).

 

I've also noticed the lack of hospital sets for being used... no more long elevator scenes, break room scenes, and the clinic scenes have dwindled as well.

 

Marland has always said he learned so much when head-writing The Doctors.. and it shows that he made so many mistakes.. but he at least corrected some of them on different shows that he worked on.

[victoria foxton]

Tom Carroll made his first appearances on the Jan 21 1977 (11-21-18) episode. But he was not played by Johnathan Frakes. 

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Edited November 22, 2018 by victoria foxton

[Paul Raven]

James Rebhorn was the first Tom, but I don't think he lasted too long.

 

Jason's office with all the brown and white panelling is something to behold.

 

A few episodes back there was  yet another fake flashback and Carolee was at the the new nurses station, but she left town before it came into use...

Edited November 22, 2018 by Paul Raven

[danfling]

I remember that the cafeteria set was used during the episode that featured Judy Collins (as Judith Howard).

It was also used on the final episodes.

[Khan]

 

A Mike/Nola pairing with Armand Assante and Kathryn Harrold would have been golden.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Kathryn Harrold is my favorite actress in these 1976/77 episodes. She's excellent. She doesn't flub her lines the way so many others do. She has totally nailed the character, making Nola feisty not bitchy. It's a fascinating portrayal.

[Paul Raven]

something about the role of Nola seemed to be a lucky charm for the actresses involved. 

 

I think both Kathleen Turner and Kim Zimmer also got a lot of positive reaction to their portrayals.