Members Gemini730 Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 i just started watching The Doctors via the private link sent to me by a friend. I watched the show during the early/mid 1970`s when I was in my middle late teens. I watched during summer, Christmas, Spring vacations with my Mother. During the school year she kept me informed on what was going on with the various storylines. I became more interested in Ryan`s Hope when it debuted on ABC in 1975 and only watched The Doctors now and then. My favorite characters were Steve and Carolee.SPOILERS-It was fascinating to watch Dr. "Playboy Steve" mature from a cad to an honorable man redeemed by his love for sweet, compassionte nurse Carolee Simpson. I don`t have Retro tv on Suddenlink cable and so I`m thankful Retro Tv showing airing the The Doctors and the kindness of the person posting the shows which I watch on my laptop. I look forward to reading and discussing The Doctors with other fans. i love the show`s theme- I downloaded it from Amazon via the link which was posted on this discussion board. God Bless. Lorraine C. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rick55 Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Long time lurker here. I am really bothered by what seems to me like a giant swerve in the Matt/Karen/Maggie story. Since when is Matt attracted to her? All hot and bothered by her? Her being Karen. This came out of left field in a subplot that has lasted months. Pretty much from the point Retro started airing it. Could you have accused Matt of having a bit of a soft spot for Karen based on her father? Sure. Or having a blind spot to some of her manipulations? Absolutely. But attracted to her? Where. He wasn't the least bit tempted in the farmhouse. Just a couple weeks back, in her apartment, when Maggie overheard Karen asking him to get her a drink. I saw no romantic tension. This all started a week or two back. They are in his office, she touches his face with her hand, asks if he does not respond to that, and it's gone on from there. He's snapping everyone's heads off because he feels guilty because he's got something to feel guilty about. He wasn't doing that before. He could talk openly to maggie about it, when she really pressed, because he had nothing to feel guilty about. I wonder if this has something to do with Edelstein. He just recently started being listed in th credits. Maybe it was Larkin. I just don't see it as consistent with Matt's characterization these last several months. I don't like it. I don't care about Karen. It's the integrity of Matt's character that I care about. I never saw this story. I started watching in maybe 72 or 73. And I didn't like the writing for Matt in the later years. Or them breaking Matt and Maggie up. "Humanize" Matt aka flaw Matt. Even then, ESPECIALLY now, soaps have a difficult time writing truly morally upright characters. Matt, in the few months leading up to these latest developments, I think certainly qualified. Karen can throw herself at him to heart's content. I don't care not until he starts to respond. Then I have a problem. Other than that, really enjoying the show. The characters, the main ones, behave the way I remember them. Althea, Nick, Maggie and Matt(for the most part). It is really jarring to see Steve as such a heel. He was reformed by the time I started watching. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Welcome to the board. I'm a few months behind so I don't get to comment that much so it's great to see people talking about it! I guess they may have changed Matt's feelings somewhat to make it a real triangle. I know Maggie was worried back in the February episodes that he saw Karen as a wife. Maybe he did and was suppressing it, I don't know. Maybe they also wanted viewer sympathy to be with Maggie so viewers could accept the recast (did they know Bethel was gone for good at this point?). Edited January 8, 2015 by DRW50 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gemini730 Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Steve was reformed by the time I started watching in the summer of 1970, so it is also jarring for me to see him as a heel. I too did not llike to see Matt and Maggie split up in the later years. Watchng the shows from 1968, I can feel the chemistry between Steve and Carolee.I guess it takes Steve going through the relationship with the neurotic Karen to appreciate Carolee. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jam6242 Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 My take on Matt is that the he found the attention from Karen flattering but now it's gone too far and he doesn't know how to get out of it. He has minimized Maggie's feelings about the situation from the beginning. I'm really tired of him blaming Maggie. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 I'm still in February, as I'm watching with my mother, and Ruth just terrifies me. She is totally incapable of being a parent and she and her husband are a terrible match - he never supports her, he berates her in public, and he seems reluctant to even hold her. I guess it's a good thing this story was taking place in a more restrained writing era. Today they'd have her stealing babies and shooting people. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Chances are Ruth would have found out about Althea's pregnancy and then held her hostage until the baby was born. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slick jones Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 Did I hear correctly? Althea was once engaged to Matt? I had no idea... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members robbwolff Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 I know! I had no idea about that either. And did you catch Karen's remark about being incestuous? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paul Raven Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Big Friday cliffhanger!! This week is the first I've noticed that used flashbacks and voiceovers. Lydia is doing great as Maggie.I wonder if the fact we know she's going to be there for years colors our perceptions of the recast? The fashions are great(thank you Orbachs).One thing I dislike is Lydia's hair. Compared to the 60's flip Bethel was rocking before she left,Lydia's looks little stiff and set. In later years I've seen it way blonder and straighter. Carl you need to binge watch and catch up!! Edited January 9, 2015 by Paul Raven 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rick55 Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 I would certainly not dispute that an argument could be made that Matt wasn't considerate enough of Maggie's feelings vis a vis Karen from the start. He had a blind spot to her and since the feelings were entirely one way at the time, he was perplexed as to what the problem was. When Karen told him how she felt, at the farmhouse, my interpretation was it was totally unexpected to him. Still, he was clear and firm. I love my wife. Not saying that while the room was filled with tension, where he can't wait to get out of there, like the last time he was in her apartment. The farmhouse was also an uncomfortable conversation, but only because of what Karen was saying, not conflicted feelings on Matt's part. That is what is different the last couple weeks, dramatically different. It's not just that I don't like it, it's that I see it as a sudden shift in months of characterization. I didn't include Carolee before. She is another main character who is essentially the way I remember her. More humor, yes, but a down to earth really good person. The other jarring thing is how small the cast is. The cast credits are done in about 10 seconds. Yes, it's only a half hour show. Still, look at the credits from a 1982 show and compare. Much bigger cast. So many times you watch shows now. Characters, contract players, disappear for a couple weeks at a time. That couldn't happen with the 1968 Doctors. There weren't enough people. Whatever misgivings I might have about some of the particulars, what I'm watching on Retro beats any new soap material I'm watching. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slick jones Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 Was that Jo Henderson(ex Wilma AMC, ex-KateSfT) as Mrs. Ridgely the patient looking for the pill? I thought it was. That grumpy patient in the clinic in the second episode made me laugh. Love. Love. Love. the Nick/Althea dynamic more and more every day! I'm waiting for Martha to follow Ed! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members robbwolff Posted January 9, 2015 Members Share Posted January 9, 2015 I think you're right, Slick! She looked so familiar to me but I couldn't place her. If it's her, I had no idea that Jo had been a redhead. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amybrickwallace Posted January 10, 2015 Members Share Posted January 10, 2015 I actually like Lydia Bruce's pixie cut. I'm always struck at how tall and skinny she was. With high heels on, she was almost as tall as Jim Pritchett, who I would guess was between 6' - 6'2". I'm guessing without the heels she was about 5'8". Althea and Nick continue to give us "FEVER!!" like Peggy Lee's famous song goes. That would be a perfect theme for them - and ironic, since they're both doctors. I wish someone would make a montage video of Althea/Nick clips and use the song as the backdrop. They were a supercouple before the phrase was coined. They were pre-Steve and Alice (AW) and pre-Doug and Julie (DAYS), the other major couples of NBC at that time. I didn't get to post about it here yet but the double date that Carolee and Liz went on with Dr. Bill and his friend Albert - I was facilitating between squirming and hysterical laughter. I have to agree with Liz's feelings on blind dates because I had a rather horrible one myself at age 16. Nearly 20 (!!!) years later, the friend who arranged the blind date still apologizes to me about it. LOL Not much else to be said about Dr. Werner that hasn't already been said except that her fixation on Matt is boring, tiresome and annoying. But now she has something else to worry about - she's carrying a new "All Rich"!! Speaking of which, when was the last time Steve was on? Look what he's going to be coming back to!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slick jones Posted January 10, 2015 Members Share Posted January 10, 2015 Welcome back, ABW...I missed your posts! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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