Thoughts about "The Doctors" - June 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 June 1976.

Jerry and Penny became closer, and Jerry admitted that he wished his sister Joanie was dead, as there was no way she would get better. He nearly pulled the plug, but stopped himself. He admitted this to Matt and Maggie, and they were not happy with him. Penny admitted to Jerry that she had never been serious with anyone, because everyone she liked didn't like her back, and vice versa. Penny and Jerry kissed, but were interrupted before anything else happened.

Virginia wanted Joanie to be kept alive, and that it was in the Lord's hands. Greta tried to talk to her parents about the situation with the Dancy's, but Matt and Maggie became upset. Matt had another episode, which was not a heart attack. Virginia got bothered at the hospital, by the press, and fell apart over the situation. Nola was mentioned for the first time, as she sent her clothes ahead to Madison.

Paul Summers was getting everything in place to destroy Matt. Years earlier, Paul and his wife had a child with special needs. The child is in an institution, and Paul wishes that the hospital had not gone to extreme measures to save him. Paul's wife had an emotional breakdown, and eventually committed suicide.

Steve finally went to Mike to get help finding Carolee. In New York City, there was a Jane Doe, who fit Carolee's description. He had a patient, so he couldn't leave, and then Ann lied and said Steffy had strep, so Steve didn't go. Once Steffy was okay, Steve decided to go, and we saw Steffy be upset over her dad leaving/ Paul went and saw that it was Carolee, and Ann decided to get to NY before Steve did, to whisk her away. Ann posed as Mrs. Lomax (who was a parent of a patient), whose identity she stole. She said she was Mary Ellen's sister, (using the id of Paul's dead wife). Ann got Carolee (whose face we never see) to Long Island, and then went to New York to pick up Steve, saying Mona was worried so she went. Steve had flown to NY so he didn't have his car.

Other than getting Mona to buy his home, Paul wanted her on the hospital board. He said it was to help Matt, but that was far from the truth. Only Ann knew that Paul wanted to hurt Matt, but due to her kidnapping over Carolee, he had leverage. Paul also was using Stacy, he gave her speed, on her request. Stacy went to Rico, and upon discovering that she was high, ended it for good, as he wouldn't sleep with someone who had to drug themselves to have sex. Paul thought Stacy reminded him of his late wife, but Paul's only friend was his cat Figaro.

Scott considered driving his wife Eleanor crazy. He still wanted Althea, but Althea wasn't interested. He first told Eleanor, he wanted a divorce and then changed his mind. He invited Paul and Mona over, and broke her pearl necklace putting individual pearls in the wine glasses. Eleanor didn't believe she did it, and Wendy who was upset told Althea what happened. 

Althea went through the surgery, and it was very close. Nick had less than two minutes to do the work, and was successful. Hank was good support in this as well as in the Joan story. At first Althea still couldn't see, so she felt like it wasn't worth it. Then she saw Matt's lighter, and was excited. What was funny of course, was that Althea recognized Matt from his smell. Before the last incident with Rico and Stacy, Rico told Nick he was thinking about neurosurgery and wondered if he could move to Arizona to study that field of medicine. Once Althea was doing better she and Nick kissed, and while they haven't gone further it was due to her health, and no other reason. Nick checked out of his hotel to move into Althea's apartment.

MJ got upset with Kevin, as he misunderstood what she meant by casual. Toni and Mike spent time together and with their son. Mike and Matt had one nice moment together when Steve kept them at his house for a drink. In the closing credits, we see everyone celebrate Mona's appointment to the hospital board.

Those were the highlights of June 1976, there were no missing episodes or holiday preemption. I'm glad that something finally happened between Jerry and Penny.