Thoughts about "The Doctors" - January 1974

Another month's worth of episodes of "The Doctors" has aired on RetroTV. Below are my thoughts on what has aired for the month of January 1974.

Alan continued working at the hospital and with his uncooperative patient Mr. Benson. He convinced the erstwhile Santa and truck driver to submit to tests. They showed that even though he is under 30, he will need heart bypass surgery. Mr. Benson continued to be stubborn, and checked himself out of the hospital. He went back to work driving a rig off camera. Margo finally joined Alan in Madison, and they ended up moving into Matt and Maggie's home. (Why they couldn't move in with Ann in Mona's house, I have no idea. If Mona liked the place, there is no way that Margo would not.)

Carl and Nick continued to care for Althea. She had to have surgery lest she died, though John wanted to postpone, as he didn't want Althea to share what we knew. Before the surgery, a paranoid patient of Maggie's knocked Carl with a knife, so he couldn't use his hand. (This man went to the clinic and then was referred to John as a psychiatric patient.) Nick had to do it. Eventually Althea woke up, but she had lost some of her recent memory.

Nick found out that Toni was pregnant, and was surprised that she didn't tell him herself, as Martha mentioned it in passing. Toni had her first OBGYN appointment in Steve's new office in the private practice. (The set looks like part of a home, which considering that it is, makes sense, though it is not remarkable.) The desk is on the far end unlike how it was the opposite at the hospital and there is a dark blue highlight color under the faux window. (Since they changed baby Stephanie's the family photo was moved away, so we can't see the baby, and they have yet to update the Erich picture.) We found out that Toni doesn't like milk, and that obviously Carolee will help Toni if she asked.

Early in the month, Carolee was surprised that Steve was home early due to not having as long hours in a private office and Erich made an appearance. That said, he didn't completely abandoned the hospital. Steve and Alan spoke about Mr. Benson, and Carolee was determined to find the man's wife, because she won't let down any of her kids. She went to Wyndham Falls and spoke to his neighbor Marge, a drunk, who was no help.

Lauri was still rehearsing for the party for the pediatrics wing. Don Imus is doing a guest stint, as himself, a radio disc jockey, who interviewed Lauri when she was performing. Imus had broken his leg skiing and was stuck as a patient in the hospital. This situation frustrated Lauri, as she was moving on with her life.

Those were the highlights of January 1974. There were many lost and preempted episodes this month, which is why this was so short. It was preempted January 7 (due to a soap that probably wasn't archived "How to Save a Marriage", which as someone who watches reruns of "The Doctors" is very interested in seeing due to behind the scenes staff.)  January 18 was missing, and January 23 was too degraded to air, and the next available episode aired on January 29 (so 24, 25 and 28 of January also were unavailable.)