With As the World Turns ending this week, I was reminded of something one of the kinds of characters I miss that no longer exists on daytime television: the kindly fatherly doctor. It feels like they disappeared like house calls or the milkman.
I also wondered why soap operas have characters such as these. Was it due to the popularity of shows like Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare back in the early days of television? Was it wish fulfillment with the cliché that every woman wants to marry a doctor? So let’s focus our shows on characters with that profession because lab coats and smart men are sexy. If one looks through the history of television, characters like this are common place. In the 1970s there was MASH, the 1980s had St. Elsewhere, 1990’s ER and today we still have Grey’s Anatomy and House. Unlike the genre of westerns, medical shows have not become virtually extinct, so I wonder why on soaps it feels like they nearly have.
I grew up watching characters like Dr. Bob Hughes (from ATWT), Dr. Steve Hardy (from General Hospital), Dr. Tom Horton (from Days of Our Lives), and Dr. Joe Martin (from All My Children). While John Bernadino (Steve) and Macdonald Carey (Tom) passed away in the 90s, this year we lost the last of their kind to retirement Ray McDonnell (Joe) and cancellation Don Hastings (Bob). This isn’t to say there aren’t doctor characters on soaps now. It is just that they don’t also have the added bonus of being the grandpa/father figure in town. Also some shows have older characters, but most of them tend not to be kindly.
With As the World Turns, Dr. Bob Hughes started as a young man who in time took the role of patriarch. Bob wasn’t the perfect man or husband and still made mistakes. Bob and Kim had a wonderful marriage, but he strayed years ago with fellow physician Susan. He was a competent doctor and instilled trust in his patients. Bob is the kind of character I’d feel perfectly comfortable inviting to dinner as he is inherently seen as good. For many years, Dr. John Dixon (think House) was Bob’s contrast. He was a brilliant and brash doctor, who had raped someone in his past. While John was a father like Bob he was a lot more controlling even if he loved his children too. John and Bob even shared a child in a way, as John was the father of Kim’s son Andy.
General Hospital has doctors and nurses as part of their program, but much of the focus is on the mob. The closest heir to Dr. Steve Hardy was Alan, who had been a villain for some time and has passed away and Monica, his wife who has been marginalized. Steve’s son Tom has left town and Tony Jones died. The characters working in the hospital aren’t yet at the point of having the “Steve” role even if one is named Dr. Steve Webber. In time, if we get to know Steve Webber better perhaps he will carry on the legacy. He hasn’t been back in Port Charles for that long as he’s only been intimate with one woman and we barely know anything about him today. Patrick Drake is a brilliant doctor, but too proud. Robin has heart, and as someone who grew up on screen in time, she may fulfill the role of kindly doctor, but not the fatherly part.
On Days of Our Lives, Dr. Tom Horton’s great-grandson Nathan is a doctor. While he is a nice guy, and even was given the opportunity to read the Christmas story to the kids in the hospital, it will be at least a decade give or take a SORAS for him to be a character in the guise of Tom. The older male characters that are still living are villains, Stefano DiMera aka the Phoenix and Victor Kiriakis. On occasion, we may see them be nice to relatives, like the adorable scenes between Victor and his granddaughter Ciara, but Victor and Stefano have a blood feud. They have both been guilty of numerous crimes, and aren’t the kind of people one would like to cross.
All My Children doesn’t a traditional physician patriarch anymore either. Dr. Joe is retired and living in Florida. Palmer has passed away, kindly Stuart was murdered and Adam has left Pine Valley. While Palmer and Adam weren’t sweet patriarchs, they did love their families. Angie Hubbard who has recently gone blind is the character that fills the wonderful, understanding doctor role on that program. Her contrasting character the devilish, Dr. David Hayward has been murdered.
Characters like Bob, Steve, Tom and Joe were like people we may know in real life or wish we had. Of course, they may have handled more wounds or wacky diseases on the job than real doctors, but they provide comfort to the audience. One would believe if they said a patient would be all right that they would recover. While they weren’t perfect, they would be willing to work with or at least try to understand those in town who were outcasts. As doctors, they should do no harm and help everyone. Just because characters are older they weren’t interchangeable even if they had the same profession.
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