I am not referring to the daytime medical talk show, but the soap opera that started off as an anthology series, mixed serial drama with contained story lines for a year, then became one of the most popular soaps of the 1960's and 70's. Lazy writing, constant change of head writer teams and really strange story lines destroyed it, ending its run at the bottom of the heap on New Year's Eve 1982. But when it was #1, it dominated the Emmy's, received tons of publicity through daytime magazines and created a few future stars, both on prime-time TV and movies. Several of the biggest soap actors of the past 50 years were regulars on the show, and one of them, Elizabeth Hubbard, became a daytime legend that only became more legendary when she went from playing troubled but noble doctor Althea Davis on "The Doctors" to the powerful Lucinda Walsh on "As the World Turns".
The return in triumph is its cult status in re-runs on cable, beginning with 1967 episodes and still going on with episodes from the mid 1970's. The story line focus on Althea and gruff Dr. Nick Bellini (Gerald Gordon) created one of the very first "super couples" (long before Doug and Julie, long before Luke and Laura), and their star-crossed romance made them magazine cover favorites. The story lines for most of the run surrounded three couples: Althea and Nick, Maggie and Matt, and Carolee and Steve, The struggles of their children made those core characters become focus of later stories, with the wealthy Aldrich's and lower class Dancy's equally as popular before the bottom began to fall out of the show.
A young romance story line for Matt's son, Mike, with pretty lab technician Toni Ferra ("Another World's" Anna Stuart) dominated much of the 1970's, and in re-runs, it is shocking to see "AW's" Donna Love being so sweet rather than the rich bitch she became on later soap roles. The future Reva Shayne of "Guiding Light", Kim Zimmer, was a major star of the last years of the show as a similar character, the seductive Nola Dancy, a part once played by Kathleen Turner. Ironically, both Zimmer and Turner worked together briefly in the movie "Body Heat", calling into question their physical resemblance. Like Reva, Nola came from a struggling family where the father had run out on the mother years before. The future Myra Murdock of "All My Children" (soap and stage vet Elizabeth Lawrence) was Nola's mother Virginia, housekeeper to wealthy Mona Aldrich Croft (the fantastic Meg Mundy), a force to be reckoned with, like "AMC's" Phoebe Tyler and "EON's" Geraldine Whitney a Rose Kennedy type character who held her thumb over everybody in the family, making her a formidable foe to daughters-in-laws Nola and Carolee.
While Carolee Campbell originated the part of the same named Carolee and played the part for a decade, it was "Secret Storm" leading lady Jada Rowland who would complete the part, and it was noted that they were practically twins. David O'Brien's Steve Aldrich was the former playboy tamed by gentle nurse Carolee, father to typical growing boy Billy Aldrich who turned into a villain when played by future movie and TV star Alec Baldwin. Years later, Baldwin would connect with his "The Doctors" roots by inviting Kim Zimmer to appear in a cameo with him on "Saturday Night Live". The last months of the show focused on who had murdered his character, the revelation of which was announced in the final episode.
Along with Turner and Baldwin, another future film star, Ellen Burstyn (then MacRae), got her start on "The Doctors". In their autobiographies, both Turner and Burstyn mentioned their time on the shows, with Turner admitting that she was unhappy with the writing at the time, and Burstyn discussing the convoluted story that to her made no sense. If that was the case back in the mid 1960's, she would have been most perplexed by the final story lines which dealt with plagues and plastic surgery designed to make old women look some 30 years younger. Obviously, the later writers of "The Doctors" were taking tips from rival medical soap "General Hospital", but was unable to make these story lines interesting to the few viewers who remained.
In looking back at the golden years, "The Doctors" indeed has its place in soap opera history by dealing with important medical issues of the 1960's and 70's, but I wonder how it would have fared had it continued past 1982, especially with the AIDS crisis on the rise at that time. The best of the show focused around the romantic crisis of the three couples mentioned above, although Hubbard's Althea had long split with Nick, was off the show for four years, and returned for an attempt to recapture the glory days with no such luck. Her last story lines involving the make-over paired her with future "All My Children" hunk Jean Le Clerc, but by that time, the writing was on the wall. No more face lift story lines and no more attempts to face lift the show. Along with "Texas" (another show later re-run), "The Doctors" became a footnote in soap history, but at least for now, soap opera fans who have seen the genre they love practically disappear can cherish the memories through these old shows that really show off how soaps made a difference not only as entertainment but as educational as well.
The return in triumph is its cult status in re-runs on cable, beginning with 1967 episodes and still going on with episodes from the mid 1970's. The story line focus on Althea and gruff Dr. Nick Bellini (Gerald Gordon) created one of the very first "super couples" (long before Doug and Julie, long before Luke and Laura), and their star-crossed romance made them magazine cover favorites. The story lines for most of the run surrounded three couples: Althea and Nick, Maggie and Matt, and Carolee and Steve, The struggles of their children made those core characters become focus of later stories, with the wealthy Aldrich's and lower class Dancy's equally as popular before the bottom began to fall out of the show.
A young romance story line for Matt's son, Mike, with pretty lab technician Toni Ferra ("Another World's" Anna Stuart) dominated much of the 1970's, and in re-runs, it is shocking to see "AW's" Donna Love being so sweet rather than the rich bitch she became on later soap roles. The future Reva Shayne of "Guiding Light", Kim Zimmer, was a major star of the last years of the show as a similar character, the seductive Nola Dancy, a part once played by Kathleen Turner. Ironically, both Zimmer and Turner worked together briefly in the movie "Body Heat", calling into question their physical resemblance. Like Reva, Nola came from a struggling family where the father had run out on the mother years before. The future Myra Murdock of "All My Children" (soap and stage vet Elizabeth Lawrence) was Nola's mother Virginia, housekeeper to wealthy Mona Aldrich Croft (the fantastic Meg Mundy), a force to be reckoned with, like "AMC's" Phoebe Tyler and "EON's" Geraldine Whitney a Rose Kennedy type character who held her thumb over everybody in the family, making her a formidable foe to daughters-in-laws Nola and Carolee.
While Carolee Campbell originated the part of the same named Carolee and played the part for a decade, it was "Secret Storm" leading lady Jada Rowland who would complete the part, and it was noted that they were practically twins. David O'Brien's Steve Aldrich was the former playboy tamed by gentle nurse Carolee, father to typical growing boy Billy Aldrich who turned into a villain when played by future movie and TV star Alec Baldwin. Years later, Baldwin would connect with his "The Doctors" roots by inviting Kim Zimmer to appear in a cameo with him on "Saturday Night Live". The last months of the show focused on who had murdered his character, the revelation of which was announced in the final episode.
Along with Turner and Baldwin, another future film star, Ellen Burstyn (then MacRae), got her start on "The Doctors". In their autobiographies, both Turner and Burstyn mentioned their time on the shows, with Turner admitting that she was unhappy with the writing at the time, and Burstyn discussing the convoluted story that to her made no sense. If that was the case back in the mid 1960's, she would have been most perplexed by the final story lines which dealt with plagues and plastic surgery designed to make old women look some 30 years younger. Obviously, the later writers of "The Doctors" were taking tips from rival medical soap "General Hospital", but was unable to make these story lines interesting to the few viewers who remained.
In looking back at the golden years, "The Doctors" indeed has its place in soap opera history by dealing with important medical issues of the 1960's and 70's, but I wonder how it would have fared had it continued past 1982, especially with the AIDS crisis on the rise at that time. The best of the show focused around the romantic crisis of the three couples mentioned above, although Hubbard's Althea had long split with Nick, was off the show for four years, and returned for an attempt to recapture the glory days with no such luck. Her last story lines involving the make-over paired her with future "All My Children" hunk Jean Le Clerc, but by that time, the writing was on the wall. No more face lift story lines and no more attempts to face lift the show. Along with "Texas" (another show later re-run), "The Doctors" became a footnote in soap history, but at least for now, soap opera fans who have seen the genre they love practically disappear can cherish the memories through these old shows that really show off how soaps made a difference not only as entertainment but as educational as well.
