The Doctors

[Soaplovers]

 

I will say that the new headwriter has been good with removing the dead weight that the Pollocks created (Andy, Joe, and Tom).. but he's added more dead weight (Scott/Eleanor/Wendy) that has taken up so much airtime without any true connection to the hospital (I would have had Wendy being a student nurse and/or candy striper.. or Scott working at the hospital as their attorney, etc).

 

The Tom dying story went too quickly.. and it is a shame that the Pollocks didn't think to test him with other characters when the Althea/Tom relationship didn't pan out.  If they had, they would have seen he had great work chemistry with Martha.. and even possible chemistry with Toni.  Plus, Toni could have had something to do with interacting with Tom while Mike was off screen and Alan was starting up with MJ.

[amybrickwallace]

Agreed, but the one character who should not have been let go was Lauri. 

[Soaplovers]

Laurie was kind of written into a corner.  The second she married Hank, the show stopped actually writing for her as anything more then a stepford wife to Hank.  I think she stopped appearing when the Pollock's were still writing.. and at least the reason given by the next writers made sense since she had left him before when the chance to resume singing came up.

 

The one thing I've noticed about soaps are that the second a female character is married off, she loses all sense of a personality.. or it is slowly drained away.  It happened to Carolee, Toni, Lauri, and don't get me started on Althea during her marriages to Nick and John.  I can't wait till Nola Dancy shows up.. from what I hear, she never loses her fire/spirit no matter who she is paired with.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

As we know all soaps have deadwood. When an actor is signed to a one-year contract but he doesn't catch on, they usually just background him till the contract runs out. So they hang on longer than they should. Sometimes a deadwood character will be turned into a killer for their exit story, which gives them something more to do at the end.

 

Yeah I miss that character the most. She was quietly effective. One of those characters you don't realize how valuable they were until they're gone.

[amybrickwallace]

 

I would also put Katherine Squire (Emma Simpson Winters, Carolee's mom) in that category.

[MonaCroft]

A good romantic triangle can do well in a daytime drama.   Unfortunately, the Mike/Toni/Alan one does not.   The characters have garbled motivations and this plot is further upended by Armand Assante's very theatrical (hammy) emoting.   Frequently, he comes off more like Hamlet than Mike Powers.   Less is more for the small screen.

[Soaplovers]

 

The problem is that it seemed to have been nicely resolved in September 1975 with Toni declaring she was choosing herself.  Mike then left for Brazil.. while Alan/Toni dealt with lingering feelings at first.  She then focused on balancing motherhood and her career.. while he gradually moved on with MJ.  I even liked the scene where MJ told Toni that she and Alan were starting to date.. and Toni gently telling her that she doesn't own Alan and even wishing them luck.

 

I did think it would have been interesting to see how Mike would have reacted to the changes that had gone for the last three months he was gone.. but oddly, it seems like we are back at square 1.. instead of continuing the organic progression that had been nicely set up the last three months where both Alan/Toni had moved on.. and seeing how Mike would have adjusted to the fact that he hadn't moved on.  Instead we aren't seeing that.  The current head-writer supposedly is set to leave in the next month or so.. but I'm starting to see why he was replaced.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

The triangle lacks any real suspense because it is always guaranteed that Toni will choose Mike. This is because Mike came back from the dead and he's the son of the show's lead male character. If Mike had stayed dead, then maybe Toni and MJ would have fought over Alan. But Alan is clearly the runner up when Mike is around.

[All My Shadows]

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[MonaCroft]

Since I only showed up around the fall of 1974 in this rerun cycle, I am wondering if any legacy viewers can tell me if there was ever any sexual sparks between Steve and Carolee.  The January 76 breakup scenes  are badly written and David O'Brien's constant underacting makes matters worse.  I frankly don't believe them as a passionate couple.   I realize that the late O'Brien was gay and that perhaps contributed (although it shouldn't have) to this lack of sexual tension.  I cannot wait till this couple is put on the back burner despite the fact that the departing Carolee is a much stronger actor.

[robbwolff]

I gave up on The Doctors with the early 1974 episodes but have to say that Campbell and O'Brien had amazing chemistry over the years, all the way back to when he first appeared in late 1967. The Carolee and Steve you've seen are but shadows of what they were back in the late 60s. Steve was a dashing cad back then who broke lots of hearts, including Carolee's. And Carolee was someone who could be funny at times yet heartbreaking at other times (like when she shared about a boyfriend's death - I think in a war). In my mind, with many of the couples on The Doctors, the writers/producers underplayed sexual tension/passion.

[danfling]

Mr. O'Brien and Ms. Rowland played a romantic couple twice - on The Secret Storm (as Kip and Amy) and on The Doctors (as Steve and Carolee).

 

[Soaplovers]

I'm going to dread the recast of Carolee... even when the show wrote Carolee as a more paranoid ball and chain, C. Campbell always had a sarcastic and kind of whimsical way she delivered her lines.  I'm sure the recast will be good, but I'm dreading a serious Carolee.

[SoapDope]

I fast forward most of the current episodes and find them boring. I do watch the Steve/Carolee stuff. David O'Brien often comes across as prissy and sarcastic in the current run. Carolee Campbell runs hot and cold. Sometimes she nails a scene, but there are time when she drops the ball by flubbing lines or obviously reading cue cards. It will be interesting to see how Anne changes and starts plotting against Carolee to get Steve. 

[Soaplovers]

I wouldn't say I find the current episodes boring, but I think the current head-writer did a complete 180 and focused more on character building scenes and establishing a community (he came from P & G where that was the norm) then he was at creating plots (the Pollock's specialty).

 

The one character I will say has benefited from Cenedella has been Penny.. who actually has been presented more as a well rounded character than the version we saw under the Pollocks.  And the latest episodes seem to indicate that Penny's 'love' for Rico is based more on fantasy than an actual connection while he introduced the Jerry Dancy character.. and you could see the two had chemistry, but the character hasn't appeared only being mentioned a few times since his introduction.