The Doctors

[amybrickwallace]

 

That's a terrific site. He would have appeared not long after the show debuted. I'm guessing this was still Dane Witherspoon playing Joe.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Gil Gerard was sexy as hell on TD.

 

Just sayin'.

[amybrickwallace]

I'm looking forward to seeing him. I know that in more recent years, Gil Gerard has battled weight problems - so serious that he developed Type 2 diabetes and had to undergo surgery. Imagine if gastric bypass had been around back in the early 1970s? It would have been very interesting had TD dealt with that topic.

[SoapDope]

 I remember people getting that stomach stapling thing in the early 80's. Was it around in the early 70's ? In the late 70's and early 80's GH and Y&R was doing stories about overweight characters.  

[amybrickwallace]

I don't know when stomach stapling was around in the early 1970s, but can you imagine if TD had Richard Simmons on their show instead of GH? That would have been...interesting!!!

[SoapDope]

I think it would have been funny to see Richard Simmons at Hope Memorial whipping everyone into shape. I saw a 1981/1982 photo of David O'Brien (Steve) where on one side he was holding a cigarette and an ashtray full of butts and the other was him in workout clothes doing push ups. I guess it must have been a promotional ad for stop smoking and getting into shape. 

[amybrickwallace]

 

It was. In late 1982, very close to the show's end, there was a storyline about Steve trying to stop smoking. Actors like Tony Randall and Brooke Shields made cameos in that plot. I don't know if the annual November "smoke out" was around in 1982, but the story was airing during that month, so it would make sense.

[SoapDope]

Oh, OK. I do remember hearing about Brooke and Tony's appearances on the show, but didn't know what the story was about.  

[amybrickwallace]

 

Judy Collins also supposedly appeared in that storyline, but not as herself. I think she played a patient. Brooke Shields played a friend of Erich's named Elizabeth. Tony Randall did play himself. He had been signing autographs at "Madison Mall" when he had suffered some minor mishap that required him to get stitches. The nurse who tended him was Carolee, who introduced him to Steve. Then Tony gave Steve a long lecture about smoking.

[SoapDope]

 

I wonder if we will get to see that ? I hope RTV keep running them till the end and that guy artax84z keeps posting the episodes on youtube. I saw some of David O'Brien's work on Another World a few months ago. I could tell he was not in good health. He died in 1989 along with Christopher Bernau (Alan on GL). 

[DRW50]

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[amybrickwallace]

^ That was great!! Thank you for sharing that commercial.

 

In the reruns, we've just seen the last of Peter Burnell as Mike. Wow, those final episodes with him were so intense!!

[amybrickwallace]

Starting with the last few episodes, the cameras have been upgraded and there is no cold open - there's a prologue and then the theme music with the voiceover comes in. It's been interesting to watch. Now that Mike has left town, it looks like John's house of cards is getting ready to fall. @TimWil, Angela Thornton as Lisa Kincaid is back and she's not taking it anymore!!

[~bl~]

I find it hard to watch anyone from The Doctors from time frames later than what we're seeing except for Liz Hubbard (since my mental picture of her is much more current.) The video of Jim Pritchett a year after The Doctors ended makes me think about how old he looks, but then I realize that I see him as 10 years younger than that advertisement. 

 

The change to no longer having silent regular cast or "people" is an adjustment, but it seems more contemporary to have the action and then the title screen. 

 

 

[Paul Raven]

Guess that change was the result of Joe Stuart becoming producer...