The Doctors

[j swift]

Thank you for the reminder, I just updated the app, and it is very well curated by date

[applcin]

My subscription just renewed about a month ago so I guess I'll be seeing that refund soon. I haven't watched in many months, probably close to a year and I'm still in the early 70s episodes. But I kept the scrip since it wasn't very much. 

I had a feeling this subscription thing was going to tank sooner rather than later, for several reasons. One is that they never really lived up to their early declarations of what the paid content was going to have. I remember "trivia games" being mentioned and how it all was going to be so interactive. I know COVID sidelined some things, including access to their warehouse. But, 3 years down the road from that and they hadn't really added much of anything new. (I'll have to check out the site again; last time I checked a couple of weeks ago was when they had that disappearing act except for that horror channel and then the episodes came back all jumbled and not monthly sectioned like it had been.)  I also think that they probably overestimated the amount of people that were willing to pay premium for what amounted to just one series. All along, the whole thing has felt like, to mix metaphors, the little guys were trying to play in the big leagues and perhaps biting off more than they could chew. It all just sounded more lofty and exciting than how it turned out.

[te.]

Even more interestingly, it actually works for me from Europe. Interesting.

[Khan]

That would be FANTASTIC if they did!  I must confess that, aside from what Rita Lakin wrote, THE DOCTORS disappointed me.  Even Douglas Marland couldn't seem to write strong, memorable stuff for the show.

[j swift]

Another example of the poor profitability in reairing classic soap episodes. I hope we remember this the next someone suggests that if a production company were "smart" they'd re-run old daytime dramas on a streaming service.  I enjoy the nostalgia, but the track record suggests it is not a good business model. 

Edited May 12, 2023 by j swift

[Chris B]

I completely disagree with that. The Doctors is a super old show cancelled in 1982 and yet they’ve still managed to air it successfully for years and have an app going into its third year. Hardly what I’d call a failed experiment. 
 

Their biggest issue isn’t what they’ve done so far, but that there isn’t more content available. I know they tried with P&G and had they been able to add any of their shows, it would’ve driven more people to subscribe. I still think the price is good for what we have now, but when I’m done with this show I won’t have a need for it. 

[j swift]

Retro TV, which owns the app, filed for bankruptcy in 2021 after being dropped from 120 affiliates to 80.  Of course, I would not attribute that only to The Doctors. Still, there has never been a successful media company that re-aired soaps (including Sony's SoapCity, Disney's SoapNet, and Viacom's PopTV).

Edited May 12, 2023 by j swift

[Jdee43]

It's great that they've made it all free, but I wonder what incentive now do they have for finishing this project and putting up the rest of the episodes. 

[Chris B]

A network doesn’t file for bankruptcy because of one show so I’m unsure how you’re putting that on The Doctors when the bulk of their programming isn’t soap related. 

[dc11786]

I think as of 2021, they had digitized January and February 1980, and possibly a little farther as random episodes were being found on their website very briefly. They claimed they were going to wait until the entire series was finished before releasing the rest of the show. Again, take that for what it's worth. 

To be so close to the end and not get there would be very frustrating. 

[slick jones]

Elizabeth Hubbard's son Jeremy Bennett reveals her insurance issues at the time of her passing --includes footage from THE DOCTORS

 

Aired last night on NBC Connecticut News at 11.

 

[Chris B]

So the app has been updated and it is now free with refunds provided to subscribers. I downloaded the new app and it’s good but if they’re no longer making money off it by charging a subscription, I can’t see any incentive for them to upload the remaining episodes which is disappointing. I’m going to try and speed through 78-79 just in case. 

[DramatistDreamer]

Why oh why couldn’t some of these that produced soaps have gotten together and done some sort of FAST platform? I have been wondering this for years. From what I have come to understand over the years from sitting in on conferences, it’s not as difficult as people may assume. Every individual effort seems to fizzle out at some point.
I hope that these folks can see things through here, if only to break the cycle of soap fans being perpetually left in the lurch.

[Chris B]

Y&R and B&B have FAST Pluto channels and GH just launched one through ABC. 

While I’m sad to see The Doctors streaming clearly on its last legs, I still say it’s a big achievement and something to be proud of. To take a long forgotten soap and syndicate and stream it for so many years is a win no matter how you look at it. 1967-1979 available in 2023 in unreal so kudos to them. I just wish a bigger platform had gotten it. 
 

The biggest shame to me is that P&G streamed their soaps too early. The AOL thing and AW on Hulu were all great ideas, but streaming hadn’t picked up yet. Not to mention the Prospect Park soaps being top five on Hulu, but the damn company ran out of money. 
 

It feels so unlucky to be a soap fan, but I’ll keep hoping someone gets it right. I’m really pulling for Neighbors on Amazon FreeVee. If that works who knows? Maybe they’ll pursue a reboot of a US soap. If P&G does still have their library, I’m sure Amazon would be the ones to convince them to stream it. 

[DramatistDreamer]

I completely forgot about Pluto TV and their Y&R/B&B channels. I remember when they debuted, people were complaining that the episodes weren’t considered genuine classics as they didn’t go far back enough. Is this still the case?