Shark Bytes

I was very young when this show was on TV, but I really liked it. I hope it will come out on DVD one day.

This show chummed the waters when that grungy, Kool-Aid stained ragamuffin, Dawn Lyn (Dodie from My Three Sons) appeared in Dr. Welby's office and he cured her instead of having her put down and that poster child for grime managed to survive.

This was a good show.

I remember they took on the controversial issue of pedophilia in a mid-seventies episode in which a boy is sodomized by a teacher.

Gay groups protested, claiming it cast gays in an unfair light and that the "bruising was exagerated" (whatever that means) even though the fact that homosexuality has nothing to do with pedophilia was openly mentioned.

Some stations found the episde so disturbing they wouldn't even televise it.

The blinding light of truth can be very uncomfortable at times.

One of my favorite TV episodes of any program ever was the Welby show when guest star Joseph Campanella convinced himself he had Huntington's Chorea, a genetic disorder which ran in his family. Unfortunately, Marcus Welby, M.D. went from being an interesting "Patient of the Week" show to a talky "Sermon of the Week" show, just like Quincy, M.E. did.

Q. What's green and walks around the hospital?
A. Mucus Welby, M.D.

Like many other shows in this era, the jump-the-shark moment came during a two-part tie-in with Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law. Lynda Day George was big sister to Kim Darby, and dear old Kim had a crush on James Brolin. Jim was not interested (saving himself for Barbra Streisand?) so Kim played the "inappropriate touching" card. Brolin got Arthur Hill to defend him, and the upshot in part two (on Marshall) was that poor Kim was seriously deranged. In fact, she died before the end of episode two! Owen Marshall made me want to be a lawyer, but Marcus Welby never made me want to be a doctor. Overall not a bad show, but it was hardly worth staying up for when I was a kid. By the way, all you shark hunters out there - Robert Young was a lifelong alcoholic suffering from manic depression. That's the reason he tried to off himself a couple of times in the 1980s and 1990s. Take a look at some of his old movies and you'll see a real talent there. The talent came through at times as Marcus Welby, but the show focused too much on "issues" and not enough on real medicine. Yes, to the previous poster - there really used to be doctors who made house calls and remained as the family doctor from one generation to the next. However, Welby's practice was based in Los Angeles, no? No wonder he kept running into suicidal teenagers and freaked-out suburbanites.

If one notices--this show ran for seven years. I think this show was trying to hold on to the memories of yesteryear. YES--DOCTORS MADE HOUSE CALLS---and every doctor seemed to be a "Marcus Welby" type. The old, wise and "good friend" doctor. They may have not always been right----BUT you always felt better after seeing the doctor. (I remember having mononucleosis while away at college---the doctor at college wanted me to CHEW HARD CANDY!!!---I got home and my old doctor got me into the hospital and put me on INTRAVENOUS (IV) support and into ISOLATION!!! THANK YOU DOCTOR MARCUS WELBY THE SECOND!!!) Think about it? Many tv shows of the 50's and 60's had the old doctor. Even Gunsmoke---"Doc"..right! The changing times brought about the demise of the DOCTOR WELBYS---plus the show. And YES--sometimes a doctor would forgo a fee. The medical field is phenomenal today--- however, sometimes that old time medicine has it all over today's "fast food" treatments.

This show was made back in the late 1960's to mid 1970's. But I think people knew better even then. In one episode a patient tells Dr. Welby that he has feelings toward other men. Dr. Welby tells the patient to not act on his feelings and to just lay low. Eventually he will outgrow them. Wrong! He'll spend the rest of his life alone but he won't "outgrow" them. A massive shark jump that should have failed and ended with a shark feeding instead.

This is a totally unbelievable goody two-shoes doctor. Oh, don't worry about the bills, I'll give you extensive and expensive medical care for free if your broke or have no insurance. I wouldn't think of referring you to the county free clinic.

I once heard that Robert Young tried to commit suicide by running a hose inside his car from the exhaust pipe-only his car wouldn't start. So,he calls Triple A,and when the mechanic sees what's going on he calls the cops!