Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical dramatelevision program that aired Tuesdays at 10:00–11:00 pm on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as the title character, a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, who was on a first-name basis with many of his patients, James Brolin, as Steve Kiley, M.D, a younger doctor who was Welby's partner, and Elena Verdugo, who played Welby and Kiley's dedicated and loving nurse and office manager, Consuelo Lopez. Marcus Welby, M.D., was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell. The pilot, "A Matter of Humanities", had aired as an ABC Movie of the Week on March 26, 1969.
Overview
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. 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 the US Navy as a doctor during the war, and was a widower. He owned a sailboat and enjoyed the ocean. In an early example of product placement on television, Welby consumed many bottles of high-gravity malt liquor below deck and would, at times, gather inspiration for his novel treatments after one of these nautical benders. The doctors worked alongside each other in their private practice in Santa Monica, California, regularly working in conjunction with the nearby Lang Memorial Hospital. At the office, their loyal secretary-nurse and friend was Consuelo Lopez. Other characters that appeared throughout the series included Dr. Welby's frequent girlfriend Myra Sherwood, his daughter Sandy and her son Phil, and Kathleen Faverty, an assistant program director at the hospital, who worked closely with Welby and Kiley. Kiley met and married public relations director Janet Blake in 1975, at the beginning of the show's final season on the air. In the episode "Designs", Young was reunited with his Father Knows Best co-star, Jane Wyatt; she played a fashion 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.
The show was not afraid to tackle social issues. The 1973 episode "The Other Martin Loring", was about a middle-aged man whom Welby advised to resist his homosexual impulses. The Gay Activists Alliancezapped ABC, occupied its New York headquarters and picketed. The next year, "The Outrage" was a story of a teenaged student who was sexually assaulted by his male teacher, showing homosexuality with pedophilia. Seven sponsors refused to buy television advertising time, and 17 television network affiliates refused to air the episode. This was the first known instance of network affiliates refusing a network episode in response to protests. In addition, an episode dealing with abortion was refused by San Diego area ABC affiliateXETV, a station licensed to Tijuana across the border in Mexico, due to that country's views on the practice at the time.
Episodes
Crossovers with ''Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law''
During its run, Marcus Welby, M.D. had two crossover stories with its legal spin-off series . 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.
Nielsen ratings
It was the first show in ABC's history to become the number-one show on television.
Cancellation
By the mid-1970s, the popularity of medical dramas began to wane. Ratings for both Marcus Welby, M.D. and CBS's Medical Center began to drop, as did the ratings for daytime dramas General Hospital and The Doctors. Previous episodes initially went into syndication in the fall of 1975 as Robert Young, Family Doctor. The show ended its run in 1976 after 169 episodes were made.
Television movies
In 1984, the reunion movie The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. aired, with Young and Verdugo reprising their roles. Another movie was made in 1988, Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Holiday Affair.
Home media
has released the first two seasons of Marcus Welby, M.D. on DVD in Region 1. Mill Creek Entertainment released a 10-episode best-of set entitled Marcus Welby, M.D.: The Best of Season One on March 22, 2011.
