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Medic

C

Cincinnati Kid

I wonder if anyone has any memories or thoughts of the TV show "Medic" which starred Richard Boone and ran on NBC for two seasons (1954-55 & 1955-56)?

I feel this series was at least 20 years ahead of its time in terms of content. One program showed the birth of a baby, another featured the subject of mental illness, while another showed the aftermath of an atomic attack (over 28 yeas before the made-for-TV-movie "The Day After"). There were many other shows with other topics as well.

Any memories or thoughts?
 
I remember the show, but not specific episodes. Richard Boone had a career-long pattern of appearing in programs that were at least semi-intellectual, such as Have Gun, Will Travel.

A show that was similar to Medic ran on CBS in the early sixties called Diagnosis Unknown.
 
Boys and Girls, in March of 1955 "Theme from Medic" was a hit for Les Baxter on Capitol Records Song was known as "Blue Star and was the flip side of Unchained Melody, which made it to number one!
 
Poster just ahead of me: your name isn't Bob Moke,
is it? :) (He does "Moments To Remember," pre-rock 'n'
roll hits of the early and mid-'50s on XM radio.)

A new employee at Philip Morris' ad agency got the
company to switch sponsorship from "I Love Lucy"
to "Medic," which aired at the same time. Reason?
More men watched "Medic." His name was Paul Klein,
and as Fred Silverman's predecessor as head of NBC
was a great believer in demographics. It's ironic, though,
that "Medic" could show the birth of a baby while Lucy
couldn't even say the word "pregnant."

Although we usually associate Richard Boone with Westerns
("Have Gun, Will Travel" and "Hec Ramsey"), don't overlook
his 1963 switch on the standard anthology format, "The Richard
Boone Show." He used a repertory company rather than new
actors each week.
 
A new employee at Philip Morris' ad agency got the
company to switch sponsorship from "I Love Lucy"
to "Medic," which aired at the same time. Reason?
More men watched "Medic." His name was Paul Klein,
and as Fred Silverman's predecessor as head of NBC
was a great believer in demographics. It's ironic, though,
that "Medic" could show the birth of a baby while Lucy
couldn't even say the word "pregnant."

Ah, yes, those were the days, when medical shows were sponsored by cigarette companies!
 
Dave said:
A new employee at Philip Morris' ad agency got the
company to switch sponsorship from "I Love Lucy"
to "Medic," which aired at the same time. Reason?
More men watched "Medic." His name was Paul Klein,
and as Fred Silverman's predecessor as head of NBC
was a great believer in demographics. It's ironic, though,
that "Medic" could show the birth of a baby while Lucy
couldn't even say the word "pregnant."

Ah, yes, those were the days, when medical shows were sponsored by cigarette companies!

But for a touch of irony, in 1955, when "Medic" was on the air,
scientists discovered the first link between smoking and lung cancer.
Edward R. Murrow did a report on it on "See It Now" and (naturally)
he smoked through the whole broadcast. It wasn't until about ten
years later that the link became an established fact; Murrow had had
a lung removed because of cancer but it returned, hit his brain, and
killed him in 1965.
Click to expand...
 
Dave said:
A new employee at Philip Morris' ad agency got the
company to switch sponsorship from "I Love Lucy"
to "Medic," which aired at the same time. Reason?
More men watched "Medic." His name was Paul Klein,
and as Fred Silverman's predecessor as head of NBC
was a great believer in demographics. It's ironic, though,
that "Medic" could show the birth of a baby while Lucy
couldn't even say the word "pregnant."

Ah, yes, those were the days, when medical shows were sponsored by cigarette companies!
Click to expand...

I wonder...had I Love Lucy aired on NBC, ABC or even on DuMont and not on CBS could Lucy actually say the word pregnant on the air? I am pretty sure Joan Davis did say that word on her "I Married Joan" TV show and her show was on TV at the same time as I Love Lucy. However I Love Lucy was a FAR more popular show and Joan's show was on NBC, not CBS unlike Lucy. My guess is that Lucy & Desi "could have" used the word pregnant if theyreally wanted too but they ( and CBS & Phillip Morris ) knowing their show was such a huge hit did not want to take any chances.
 
CBS didn't even want to SHOW Lucy pregnant.
When she announced she was pregnant, the
Eye Network wanted to shut down production
until after the baby (Desi Jr.) was born.

Desi Sr. convinced CBS that there is nothing
unusual about having a baby; he filmed the
pregnancy episodes and asked a minister, priest,
and rabbi to look at them. If they found even
one thing objectionable, he promised to scrap
them all and take his losses. They found nothing
tasteless about them. It was a first, however,
and a surefire plot device on sitcoms during sweeps.
 
Lkeller said:
And just to prove once again that you can find anything on the internet.

Opening segment and theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpdYFtS693I

Closing comments by Richard Boone followed by closing credits and theme music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4wYNyE0TG0
Click to expand...

Medic
created by James E. Moser

Ben Casey
created by James E. Moser

No wonder I detected a similarity in the open to "...man, woman, birth, death, infinity."

But I didn't see any gurneys come crashing through swinging doors on Medic. ;)

And did Dr. Zorba ever thank Michael Rennie for correcting the formula on his blackboard?
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
Ben Casey
created by James E. Moser

No wonder I detected a similarity in the open to "...man, woman, birth, death, infinity."
Click to expand...

Ben Casey would be spoofed in skits from at least 1967-past the year 2000 on Cleveland's WJW-TV 8's Hoolihan and Big Chuck/Big Chuck and Lil John movie show as "Ben Crazy" Luminaries such as Tim Conway and Muhammad Ali would appear in the short sketches about Dr. Crazy, played by Chuck Schodowski..The open would go Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity..with a dollar sign at the end..punctuated by the four note theme..

The Ben Crazy series of skits went on for so long that many younger viewers had no clue of the TV show it was trying to spoof..
 
In 1962, John D. Loudermilk had a hit with a Ben Casey parody song called "Callin' Dr. Casey".

I haven't heard the song since it was on the charts way back then. I'm confident that Dr. Demento must have it somewhere in his vast collection.

Lyrics:

http://www.ihesm.com/jdllyr/LyCasey.html
 
bpatrick said:
CBS didn't even want to SHOW Lucy pregnant.
When she announced she was pregnant, the
Eye Network wanted to shut down production
until after the baby (Desi Jr.) was born.

Desi Sr. convinced CBS that there is nothing
unusual about having a baby; he filmed the
pregnancy episodes and asked a minister, priest,
and rabbi to look at them. If they found even
one thing objectionable, he promised to scrap
them all and take his losses. They found nothing
tasteless about them. It was a first, however,
and a surefire plot device on sitcoms during sweeps.
Click to expand...

Actually over the years I have heard it was Phillp Morris and not really so much with CBS who didn't want to show Lucy pregnant. Even back then it wasn't considered "proper" to show a woman on TV expecting a baby AND smoking a cigarette at the same time even though of course many pregnant women at the time ( and many sadly still do ) did smoke while pregnant not too mention I seem to recall reading a few years back that at the time of I Love Lucy some 85% of adult Americans smoked and the remaining who didn't bought cigarettes anyway for parties and such because not to have smokes on hand for those who will show up at your party and they smoked, well that was considered "rude" at the time. Amazing how much power the sponsors had with TV back then and I don't think few had more power than the cigarette companies did.

Of course it was the quiz show scandals of the late 50's that took a lot of the programming out of the sponsors hand and gave it back where it belongs..the networks.
 
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