Playing Doctor: Television, Storytelling, and Medical Power

Copyright

Copyright © by Joseph Turow 1989, 2010 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper 2013 2012 2011 2010 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Turow, Joseph. Playing doctor : television, storytelling, and medical power / Joseph Turow. — New and expanded ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-472-03427-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Medicine on television. 2. Medical television programs. 3. Medicine—Public opinion. 4. Physicians—Public opinion. 5. Medicine—United States—Societies, etc. I. Title. pn1992.8.m43t8 2010 791.45’6561—dc22 2010020143 isbn 978-0-472-02757-6 (e-book) For Rebecca, Marissa, and Jonathan ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing Playing Doctor in the mid-1980s and in the late-2000s meant telling stories about storytelling. I couldn’t learn those stories without the help of people who were quite generous with their time and their memories. Some of the people below who played formative roles in the creation and evolution of the television doctor show and who I interviewed more than twenty years ago have passed on. I feel fortunate to have had the privilege of their memories. Thanks are due to Gerald Abrams, Harry Ackerman, George Andros, M.D., Marvin Antonowky, William Asher, Paul Attanasio,* Lew Ayres, Neal Baer, M.D.,* Larry Balmaggia, Ed Begley, Jr., Douglas Benton, Buzz Berger, William Blinn, John Block, Josh Brand, Bert Briller, Don Brinkley , James Brolin, Dorothy Brown, Joseph Campanella, Robert Claver, Calvin Clements, Joe Cohn, Jackie Cooper, Tia Dankowki, R.N., Michael Dann, Jerry Davis, Larraine Day, Howard Dimsdale, Walter Dishell, M.D., Ann Donahue,* Robert Easton, Vince Edwards, John Falsey, Mike Farrell, Norman Felton, David Foster, M.D.,* John Furia, Stephen Furst, Lou Gallo, Larry Gelbart, Jack Ging, James Goldstone, Elliot Gould, Perry Grant, Abby Greshler, Robert Halmi, Eugene Hoffman, M.D., William House, M.D., Chris Hutson, R.N., Jerry Isenberg, Bettye Ackerman Jaffe, Jay Kahn, M.D., Norman Katkov, Joel Katz, Sheldon Keller, and Dennis Koenig. Asterisks(*) indicate individuals interviewed in 2009. Thanks also go to Michael Kozoll, Barbara Krause, R.N., Thomas Kurzy, Perry Lafferty, Bill Lawrence,* Arthur Lewis, Jonathan Littman,* Norman Lloyd, Jerry McNeeley, Howie Mandell, Abby Mann, Randy Mantooth, Lawrence Marks, John Masius, Bernard McEveety, Burt Metcalf , John Mitchell, Christopher Morgan, James Moser, Marvin Moss, E. Jack Neuman, David Newman, David O’Connell, Bernie Orenstein, Barry Oringer, Bruce Paltrow, Matthew Rapf, Robert Reed, Gene Reynolds, Shonda Rhimes,* Clinton Roath, M.D., Joel Rogosin, Sam Rolfe, Victor Rosen, M.D., Wilton Schiller, Beth Hill Shafer, Lou Shaw, Hannah Shearer, Max Shulman, Charles Siebert, Andy Siegel, Sterling Silliphant, Elliot Silverstein, Martin Starger, Andy Stein, Thomas Stern, M.D., Susan Sullivan, E. W. Swackhamer, Brandon Tartikoff, Jerry Thorpe, Robert Van Scoyk, Elena Verdugo, David Victor, John Whelpley , Shimon Wincelberg, Robert Wood, Robert Young, M.D., Michael Zinberg, and Randy Zisk (in 1986 and 2009). A number of individuals and organizations helped me with the resources and the time to work on this book during the mid-1980s. I am grateful to National Endowment for the Humanities for supporting an important segment of this research. Purdue University and, later, the University of Pennsylvania also helped by funding portions of the research and writing. The Communication Studies Program at UCLA pitched in by hiring me to teach a summer course as a visiting professor while I was conducting many of the interviews in the 1980s. UCLA’s Paul Rosenthal, Paul Von Blum, Kathy Montgomery, Jeff Cole, and Mardi Gregory were kind to share ideas and contacts with me while I was in the formative stages of the project. Susan Grant, Ann Livingston, and Helen Banks, my research assistants, involved themselves wholeheartedly in the search for articles about doctor shows in the popular and trade press. Leslie Slocum, head of the Television Information Of‹ce Library, helped make my work there enjoyable and ef‹cient. Marsha Siefert offered insightful suggestions and comments about the manuscript as it moved toward completion. So did...