Marcus Welby, M.D.

This episode focused on the diagnoses of breast cancer in two women, played by Elaine Giftos and Pamela Hensley, the latter of whom was one of the 'stock' players (actors who appeared in frequent episodes on the series. Miss Hensley later played Dr. Kiley's wife).

The episode was, in my opinion, time-sensitive, in that at the time of its airing, the wives of two public political figures were going through their diagnoses of breast cancer.

The most motivational moment of this episode is James Brolin's emerging from character to talk about diagnostic and early-detection tools for breast cancer. Such is the hallmark of television that is not only entertaining but informative.

Marcus Welby, MD was a show that was a salute to a vanishing breed of men, the general practitioner. Robert Young who starred in the series had been America's role model dad in Father Knows Best. Now he became the role model doctor.

I liked Dr. Welby because of the way he treated his cases as individuals. Admittedly the job of a doctor can be routine, prescriptions and vaccinations and the dispensing of good commonsense advice of a general nature. But the episodes were of the cases that were unique and Welby treated them as such.

I could identify with him because back in my working days I tried to deal with a lot of claimants individually when I worked at NYS Crime Victims Board. There are some you just have to go the extra mile or two for. Welby did and I tried to. He had one indisputable advantage, Welby was his own boss. Try doing that in civil service where uniformity is a lifestyle.

Robert Young had young James Brolin at the beginning of his successful career. Young being a veteran of the old Hollywood studio system and Brolin one who developed his career on the small screen were two generations of actors. But they complemented each other well.

Completing the cast was another studio system veteran Elena Verdugo as the office nurse Consuela. She was very important because the one time starlet gave a voice and a face to working Hispanic women in the 40 something range.

I wish all the doctors were Marcus Welbys.

Actor Robert Young was one of the few actors on television history to be closely identified with two highly successful and long-running roles. For one,he was kindly family Jim Anderson on the situation family comedy series "Father Knows Best"(1954-1960),during the mid-1950's,that ran for eight seasons,and his other successful role was that of the kindly and passionate Dr. Marcus Welby on the medical drama "Marcus Welby,MD"(1969-1976),that ran for seven seasons. After "Father Knows Best" ended its run in 1960,Actor Robert Young came out of a seven year retirement to originate the role of Welby.

"Marcus Welby,MD",premiered on ABC-TV on September 23,1969,and it was a Tuesday night staple for the seven years that it was on the air. Created and Produced by David Victor,who served as also the executive producer,was a brilliant series that portrayed the cases of a veteran general practitioner in Santa Monica,California,and also at the hospital where he was the chief medical adviser,at Lang Memorial Hospital,where the thoroughness and dedication involve him in the lives of all sorts of patients. Assisting him was his eager and young apprentice,Dr. Steven Kiley(James Brolin). During Season One,Kiley was contracted to work with Welby for one year before his training as a neurologist(he stayed). Thus the inevitable tension between youth and experience was established,but in this case,Welby tended to be more unorthodox of the two,often confounding the dedicated but textbook-oriented Kiley with his psychiatric approach to medicine. Welby treated the whole patient,his temperament,fears,and family environment,as well as his physical ailments.

The ailments were certainly varied for a suburban GP;during the first season alone there were subjects that were never discussed or mention for television,a first when this show came around in 1969...the subject matter of tumors,autistic children,strokes,pernicious anemia, blindness,emphysema,LSD side effects and other dangerous drugs,lukemia, diabetes,Huntington's Chorea,alcoholism,dope addiction,breast cancer, dope addiction,racism,an being overweight. Other subjects were even controversial included one episode that dealt with abortion and so much more. Its no wonder this show rack up some many Emmys during its seven year-run. Out of the actors that were on this program,only actors Robert Young,James Brolin,and Elena Verdugo remained throughout its entire run. 169 episodes were produced for this series until its final episode on May 11,1976. Highly endorsed by the American Medical Association.

When "Marcus Welby,MD" premiered in 1969,it became one of the biggest hits in the history of the ABC network,and was the first ABC series ever to rank at number one among all TV programs for a full season during the 1969-1970 season and also for the 1970-1971 season as well. Within its first year,the show was second to "Laugh-In" and "Gunsmoke" in the Nielsen ratings. The guest stars for this show made it successful too from Leslie Nielsen to Heather Menzies,Arthur Hill,and Norman Fell.

I enjoyed watching this show as a child. I often wondered though if Welby only had a few patients since he had time to do home visits and become godfather to one of his patient's baby. He also seemed to moralize a lot. He would go into these lengthy monologues about morality and human behavior. It is also interesting to watch him tell a pregnant woman that drinking a glass of red wine in the evenings would be good for her nerves. How times have changed.

I was a big fan of this show from the first episode. Back in the early 70's, everyone wished they had a doctor like Marcus Welby. The way he treated patients and took a interest in their personal lives is what made the show so good. I think it was one of the first medical programs that dealt with serious medical issues and took a realistic approach in each show. One of my favorite episodes was about a small boy with autism, something that was just not talked about 35 years ago. Today, the family doctor is just about extinct with managed care and HMO's. Marcus Welby, M.D. reminds us of the good old days. I think the time has come to get these shows out in DVD so we can get to enjoy them all over again.