Daytime TV covered the world of soap operas for decades before finally folding in the 1990s. In the mid-70s, the magazine did an excellent series titled "The Complete Story of..." recounting the history of a soap opera from its inception. Below is the historical feature on the first 10 years of NBC's The Doctors (1963-1973), which is currently being aired on Retro TV.
Some of the interesting tidbits include:
* The Doctors did not start as a serial; it began as a "half-hour anthology series of medical dramas, set in the large metropolitan Hope Memorial Hospital, and with the four principals alternating daily in the lead role, according to NBC's original announcement. The roles were Dr. William Scott (played by Jock Gaynor), Dr. Jerry Chandler (portrayed by Richard Roat), Dr. Elizabeth Hayes (played by Margot Moser) and Rev. Samuel Shafer, a hospital chaplain (played by Fred J. Scollay).
* Later in the first season, Herb Kenwith and Paul Lammers became the directors. But after nine months, The Doctors shifted to a continuing story line, and by 1965, James Pritchett was portraying Dr. Matt Powers, chief of staff at Hope Hospital, and Elizabeth Hubbard was playing Dr. Althea Davis, chief of the Outpatient Clinic.
* James Pritchett did a single performance during The Doctors' one-story-a-week phase, on June 20, 1963. "I played a corporation president running away and having a broken back that brought me to the hospital." He returned to The Doctors on July 9, 1963 as Dr. Matt Powers when the serial was still was still a one-story-a-week show.
