Retro TV is reviving a classic soap opera called The Doctors starting Saturday, July 29th. A special broadcast of the remastered series will air every Saturday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT on It’s Real Good TV.
The newly remastered and digitalized episodes starring Alec Baldwin as Billy Aldrich and David Canary are currently available to stream on-demand on It’s Real Good TV.
The Doctors ran from 1963 through 1982 and focused on storylines deemed a bit taboo at the time, including drug addiction and cancer. Set in the fictional town of Madison, the series focused on the staff and patients at Hope Memorial Hospital. The series earned 187 Emmy Award nominations during its lengthy run.
The cast was comprised of Emmy Award-winner Elizabeth Hubbard (As the World Turns), Kim Zimmer (Guiding Light), Anna Stuart (Another World), Academy and Emmy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), and Kathleen Turner (Romancing the Stone, Peggy Sue Got Married) to name a few.
Retro TV now has an additional 181 episodes that aired from January 1st through September 30th in 1980. Although Retro TV found 13 previously missing episodes from the 1960s and 1970s, any episode past 1980 was apparently erased.
“At that time the tapes were considered more valuable than the content on them and it truly is a shame,” explains Joel Wertman, President of Retro TV. “I’m very proud that our small team at Retro TV has been able to digitize and preserve the episodes on the remaining tapes. The Doctors is a quintessential series to the history of soap operas, and we knew bringing the digitization process in-house was going to be challenging, but also very important.”
Check out a behind-the-scenes look at how Retro TV digitalized the series in a special featurette From Tape to Screen. You can visit Retro TV to find the channel in your area, which also includes fan favorites such as Doctor Who, Naked City, The Saint, Danger Man, One Step Beyond, The Ray Bradbury Theater, 21 Jump Street, Wiseguy, and Dracula’s Kung Fu Theatre.