Retro TV Brings ‘The Doctors’ Back To Life

Retro TV announced that The Doctors episodes from 1980 are now available on It’s Real Good TV for audiences to watch on-demand, and in addition it will air a special broadcast of these new episodes on Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m. for those who tune in over-the-air.

The episode dates range from Jan. 1, 1980, to Sept. 30, 1980, making a total of 181 new episodes. Audiences will be able to enjoy Alec Bladwin as the devilish “Billy Aldrich,” and soap star David Canary returning as cult leader “Far Wind” to cause problems for “Steve” and “Carolee.” In addition, 13 episodes that were previously missing from the 1960s and 1970s were found, and seven old episodes have been replaced with new masters.

During the digitization process, Retro TV discovered that although it had been told the tapes they were receiving were dated up through 1982, Colgate no longer had those tapes. After exhaustive research and discussions with the Colgate team, it was determined that those tapes were reused by NBC and the episodes taped over.

“At that time the tapes were considered more valuable than the content on them and it truly is a shame,” said 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.”

Retro TV has a behind-the-scenes look at the digitization process, From Tape to Screen, that can be watched here.

Set in the fictional New England city of Madison and Hope Memorial hospital, The Doctors ran from 1963 to 1982, earning 187 Emmy Award nominations during that time. The series was not afraid of storylines that were well ahead of the time, such as drug addiction and cancer. Cast included notable talents such as 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), Kathleen Turner (Romancing the Stone, Peggy Sue Got Married), among others.

The Doctors airs on Retro TV Monday through Friday at noon and 6:30 p.m. ET/PT, and at the same time on the network’s live stream via the It’s Real Good TV app.