| Marcus Welby, M.D. | |
|---|---|
 Marcus Welby, M.D. title card | |
| Created by | David Victor |
| Starring | Robert Young James Brolin |
| Theme music composer | Leonard Rosenman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 170(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | David Victor |
| Producer | David J. O'Connell |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | Universal Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 23, 1969 (1969-09-23) – May 4, 1976 (1976-05-04) |
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an Americanmedical drama television series that aired onABC from September 23, 1969, to May 4, 1976. It starredRobert Young as the title character, a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, who made house calls and was on a first-name basis with many of his patients;James Brolin as his partner Steven Kiley, a younger doctor; andElena Verdugo as Consuelo Lopez, Welby and Kiley's dedicated and caring nurse/office manager.
Marcus Welby, M.D. was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell throughUniversal Television, which was then an MCA company. The pilot, titled "A Matter of Humanities", had aired as anABC Movie of the Week on March 26, 1969.
The program notably became the first ABC network show to rank No. 1, in the1970–71 television season.
As with most medical dramas of the day, the plots often concerned a professional conflict between well-meaning physicians. Here, Welby's unorthodox way of treating patients was pitted against the more straight-laced methods of Kiley (Brolin). The catch with this particular program was that the roles were reversed in that Kiley was much younger than Welby. The opening credits of each episode reminded viewers of the generation gap between the two doctors, Welby driving his sedan and Kiley riding a motorcycle. Welby had served in theUS Navy as a doctor duringthe war, and was a widower.
The doctors worked alongside each other in their private practice inSanta Monica, California, regularly working in conjunction with the nearby Lang Memorial Hospital. (This was later revealed in exterior shots to be the real-lifeSaint John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica.) At the office, their loyal secretary-nurse and friend was Consuelo Lopez (Elena Verdugo). Other characters that appeared throughout the series included Dr. Welby's frequent girlfriend Myra Sherwood (Anne Baxter), his daughter Sandy (originallyChristine Belford, and laterAnne Schedeen) and her son Phil (Gavin Brendan), and Kathleen Faverty (Sharon Gless), an assistant program director at the hospital, who worked closely with Welby and Kiley. Kiley met and married public relations director Janet Blake (played byPamela Hensley) in 1975, at the beginning of the show's final season on the air.
In the episode "Designs", which aired on March 12, 1974, Young was reunited with hisFather Knows Best co-star,Jane Wyatt; she played afashion designer whose marriage to an embittered paraplegic led her to fall in love with the doctor while keeping her marriage a secret most of the episode.
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Its handling of many varied medical cases – some common, some uncommon – made it an instant hit for ABC. Story lines includedimpotence,depression,brain damage,breast cancer,mononucleosis, teenagedobesity,juvenile diabetes,sexually transmitted diseases,epilepsy,learning disabilities,leukemia,haemophilia,paraplegia,dysautonomia,rape,Alzheimer's disease, and addiction to painkillers, among others. At its second season (1970–1971), it ranked number one in theNielsen ratings, becoming the first ABC show to top the list. The same year, both Young and Brolin wonEmmy Awards for their work, as did the show for Outstanding Dramatic Series. Young won aGolden Globe in 1972 for his performance. Members of theAmerican Academy of Family Physicians served as technical advisers for the series and reviewed every script for medical accuracy.
The 1973 episode "The Other Martin Loring" was about a middle-aged man whom Welby advised to resist hishomosexual impulses. TheGay Activists Alliance (GAA)zapped ABC, occupied its New York headquarters and picketed.[1] The next year, "The Outrage" was a story of a teenaged student who was sexually assaulted by his male teacher, associating homosexuality withpedophilia. Sevensponsors refused to buytelevision advertising time, and 17television networkaffiliates refused to air the episode.[2][3] This was the first known instance of network affiliates refusing a network episode in response to protests.[4]
In addition, an episode dealing with abortion was refused bySan Diego area ABC affiliateXETV, a station licensed toTijuana across the border inMexico, due to that country'sstance on the practice at the time.[5]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| Pilot | March 26, 1969 (1969-03-26) | |||
| 1 | 26 | September 23, 1969 (1969-09-23) | April 14, 1970 (1970-04-14) | |
| 2 | 24 | September 22, 1970 (1970-09-22) | March 30, 1971 (1971-03-30) | |
| 3 | 24 | September 14, 1971 (1971-09-14) | March 14, 1972 (1972-03-14) | |
| 4 | 24 | September 12, 1972 (1972-09-12) | March 6, 1973 (1973-03-06) | |
| 5 | 24 | September 11, 1973 (1973-09-11) | March 12, 1974 (1974-03-12) | |
| 6 | 24 | September 10, 1974 (1974-09-10) | March 11, 1975 (1975-03-11) | |
| 7 | 24 | September 9, 1975 (1975-09-09) | May 4, 1976 (1976-05-04) | |
| TV films | May 16, 1984 (1984-05-16) | December 19, 1988 (1988-12-19) | ||
During its run,Marcus Welby, M.D. had two crossover stories with its legal spin-off series,Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law.
In "Men Who Care", Marshall defends the father of Welby's patient when the man is accused of murdering his daughter's boyfriend. In "I've Promised You a Father", Marshall defends Kiley in a paternity suit filed by a nurse claiming that Kiley is the father of her child.
| Season | Rank | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1969–70 | #8[6] | 23.7 |
| 1970–71 | #1[7] | 29.6 |
| 1971–72 | #3[8] | 27.8 |
| 1972–73 | #13[9] | 22.9 |
| 1973–74 | #29[10] | 19.5 |
| 1974–75 | #53[11] | 16.6 |
| 1975–76 | #43[12] | N/A |
It was the first show in ABC's history to become the number-one show on television.
By the mid-1970s, the popularity of medical dramas began to wane. Ratings for bothMarcus Welby, M.D. and CBS'sMedical Center began to drop, as did the ratings for daytime dramasGeneral Hospital andThe Doctors. Previous episodes initially went intosyndication in the fall of 1975 asRobert Young, Family Doctor (to avoid confusion with the first-run episodes still airing on ABC). The show ended its run in 1976 after 169 episodes were made. On an awards show[which?] that year, Young joked publicly, "I knew that it was time to quit when I started taking time off to play golf!"
In 1984, the reunion movieThe Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. aired, with Young and Verdugo reprising their roles. The major conflict, aside from interactions with patients, centered around Welby being accused of being too old to retain his medical license safely. Though Brolin was unavailable to reprise his role as Kiley, a statement described as being from him was read before the board that would decide Welby's fate. Another movie was made in 1988,Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Holiday Affair. This last made-for-television film was the last acting role of Robert Young's career.
Shout! Factory (under license fromUniversal Studios) has released the first two seasons ofMarcus Welby, M.D. on DVD in Region 1.[13][14]
Mill Creek Entertainment released a 10-episode best-of set entitledMarcus Welby, M.D.: The Best of Season One on March 22, 2011.[15]
| DVD name | Ep # | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 26 | May 4, 2010 |
| Season 2 | 24 | October 12, 2010 |
