Thoughts about "The Doctors" - May 1976

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 May 1976.

Virginia did not want to give up hope that Joan would recuperate while Jerry didn't think it would happen. Jerry introduced Penny to his mother. He also got a job with Scott, at first he made a bad impression, but due to Wendy, he was given another chance. Virginia also got a position as a housekeeper to the Aldriches. She thought Mona wouldn't give her the job, due to an awkward moment with Billy and Steffy, but Mona was okay with it. Virginia gave Hope Memorial money for Joan's care, but $25 doesn't do much for that.

Nick decided that Althea was well, and he could go back to Arizona. There was a scene between Nick, Matt and Maggie, which was emotionally charged. He went to the airport, but got a phone call that Althea was in trouble. Althea had a moment of blindness while driving with Penny, but now she couldn't see anything. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with her, and did some tests.Scott wanted information, but Althea wanted him far away. The tests showed that it was a blood clot near her optic nerve. Nick wanted to do surgery, but the risks were high. Only about half the people survived. Althea was faced with blindness or death. At first, Althea chose blindness, but eventually she said she would risk her life, especially after Nick admitted that he only lost 20% of his patients in that surgery.


Dr. Paul Summers was a schemer, who had a past with Ann and was in debt for gambling. Stacy who still missed Rico tricked him into giving her drugs. Earlier, Rico had tried to give Stacy back her things, but she would not take them. Stacy stopped doing artwork, and Rico later told her that he couldn't even take looking at the wonderful thing she created.

Paul and Scott knew each other as well, and Scott was trying to convince Mona to buy Paul's home. Ann convinced Mona to get the house, and Paul lied and said it was to protect one of his kids. Mona wanted Steve and the kids out of the house they shared with Carolee. The kids didn't want to move, and Steve wanted to make them happy. It seems like Steve listened to Toni's fears about Billy. Mona and Steve argued at the end of the month. Steve wanted the police to help him find Carolee, which he should have done a month earlier, while Mona felt that Steve deserved better, which made him livid.

Kevin McIntyre and Mike knew each other from earlier in Kevin's career. Kevin asked MJ out, and she just wanted something casual. She didn't mention Alan, by name, but that was the reason why. Kevin invited MJ to dinner at Alan and Toni's, and MJ was late as she had been trying to help Althea, who came home blind.

Those were the highlights of May 1976, there were no missing episodes or holiday preemption. The Nick goodbye scene "felt" like a goodbye, but was a fake-out. I can see the audiences of that era having no idea that he wasn't actually leaving.