Medic

1954
Medic

Seasons & Episodes

  • 2
  • 1

EP1 All the Lonely Night Sep 05, 1955

Pretty, young Helen has a collapsing colon. Unless she consents to surgery to open up a new elimination canal and container bag, she will die. But what will that mean to a young woman's self-image and life style. Daring topic for its time.

EP2 Walk with Lions Sep 12, 1955

Unaware that he has developed diabetes, a struggling young prizefighter who is also a gifted artist endangers his life by continuing to push himself in order to earn the money needed to further his education.

EP3 And Then There Was Darkness and Then There Was Light (1) Sep 26, 1955

Immediately after giving birth to her fourth child, Frances Dunbar develops a severe case of postpartum depression and becomes convinced that she can (and will) violently murder the baby.

EP4 And Then There Was Darkness and Then There Was Light (2) Oct 03, 1955

After unsuccessfully attempting to kill her baby, Frances Dunbar voluntarily admits herself to a state psychiatric institution where she receives treatment that slowly helps her to realize the reasons for her troubled mental state.

EP5 A Room, a Boy and Mr. Bodine Oct 10, 1955

A young boy, neglected by his wealthy parents, builds a dream world of his own with the help of his tattered teddy bear, Mr. Bodine. This aggravates his asthmatic condition, as he is allergic to the teddy bear.

EP6 When I Was Young Oct 24, 1955

When Gwen Kellogg becomes depressed, modern treatment helps restore her to health

EP7 When Mama Says Jump Oct 31, 1955

Dr. Styner offers advice and support when a 17-year-old track star develops severe acne and chronic fatigue due to stresses caused by his demanding mother's determination to see him achieve his father's dream of Olympic stardom.

EP8 Candle of Hope Nov 07, 1955

A citrus farmer gets married at age 45. He then wants a son but is unable to have one. He visits the doctor to get help.

EP9 Black Friday Nov 21, 1955

Little known but true story about an Army doctor who tried to save Abraham Lincoln's life. Dr. Charles A. Leale was in the audience at Ford's Theater when John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot at President Lincoln. For 12 hours Leale and two other doctors worked desperately against death.

EP10 Glass of Fear Nov 28, 1955

Comic strip artist Dick Hooper does a nationally syndicated feature called "Salty", but he can't make his due dates for finished cartoons because he's become obsessed with germs and various muscle and stomach pains that doctors can't locate. He's become a raging hypochondriac that's about to lose his wife and career.

EP11 Pray Judgement Dec 05, 1955

A county coroner's investigation will exonerate or incriminate a distraught spinsterish woman who was alone with her younger sister's baby boy when the infant died suddenly and unexpectedly.

EP12 The World So High Dec 26, 1955

During World War Two, pilots are able to take aircraft higher and higher, but they keep fainting out when parachuting out. A young doctor proceeds to do experiments back in the states on the most likely of these pilots to falter. Controlled high altitude simulations prove dangerous, but necessary.

EP13 A Time for Sleep Jan 02, 1956

The story of the contribution of the anesthesiologist to medicine. An elderly woman must undergo a thyroid operation. A large part of the success of such an operation is in the deft hands and decisions of the anesthesiologist.

EP14 The Laughter and the Weeping Jan 15, 1956

Due to circumstances at home, a young man needs to help take care of his mom and ailing father. He can't finish college and resorts to Professional Wrestling to make money. Can he restore his appearance and his dignity?

EP15 Just Like Your Father Jan 23, 1956

An elderly judge who has no close relatives is taken seriously ill. After he collapses, his ailment is diagnosed as a pancreatic tumor.

EP16 If Tomorrow Be Sad Feb 06, 1956

A successful photographer's model is told she is a victim of multiple sclerosis. Her unsympathetic husband decides he now wants a divorce.

EP17 The Homecoming Feb 13, 1956

Leprosy victim Allan Connolly is finally pronounced healthy and fit to resume a productive life in normal society, but he and his wife are unprepared for the rejection and irrational fear evinced by their friends and neighbors.

EP18 Who Search for Truth Feb 27, 1956

This is the story of Alexis St. Martin, a young fur trapper who was shot in the side and was used by Dr. William Beaumont for research into the function of the human digestive system.

EP19 The Glorious Red Gallagher Mar 12, 1956

A troubled woman has given birth to a baby by Caesarian section and has lost the will to live. She is put in the care of nurse Clara Mary Gallagher, who is retiring the next day after 39 years of service.

EP20 My Best Friend, My Guilty Friend Mar 19, 1956

This is the story of years of research to discover the cause of blindness in prematurely born infants.

EP21 Awake to Spring Mar 26, 1956

An old man is the only family left for his crippled grandson. He's worried about his ability to carry on, and after a painful heart incident, he's convinced he'll soon be dead and his helpless charge will be doomed, so he decides they should go together and leaves the gas pipe open as they sleep.

EP22 Don't Count the Stars Apr 09, 1956

An arrogant and self-aggrandizing singer's relentless drive for success is unceremoniously halted when he learns that his hoarseness is not due to vocal overwork, but to a potentially malignant cancer of the larynx.

EP23 The Inconstant Heart Apr 23, 1956

Although resigned to the fact that he had an incurable heart ailment, a man is badgered by his wife into going to a doctor. Tonight's story concerns radiology, and viewers see the UCLA medical center and its cancer-treating cobalt bomb.

EP24 Someday We'll Laugh May 07, 1956

A father, grateful to a doctor for saving his daughter's life, offers to finance the much-needed equipment for his office.

EP25 To the Great, a Most Seldom Gift May 24, 1956

Navy surgeon saves life of sailor injured in sea explosion.

EP26 The Good Samaritan May 31, 1956

Dr. Styner stops to help a married couple involved in an automobile accident, but finds himself on trial for medical malpractice when the wife subsequently and surprisingly becomes addled and partially paralyzed on her left side.

EP27 Reach of the Giant (1) Jun 11, 1956

A man develops a crippling arthritic spinal condition.

EP28 Reach of the Giant (2) Jun 18, 1956

After sending his wife away, Jim falls again and his condition worsens to the point where he decides to undergo experimental surgery on his spine.

EP29 Till the Song Is Done, till the Dance Is Gone Jul 09, 1956

This is the story of a young girl named Mary. She has a weak heart due to a defective heart valve. Doctors race to operate on her after she collapses at a dance she attended with her classmates.

EP30 She Walks in Beauty Aug 06, 1956

It's summer vacation and Jenny is a 12 year old girl with a club foot. Her parents are worried about her "ugly deformity" as they refer to it, and whether anybody will marry her when she's older. They take her to see a specialist to see if he can surgically repair her club foot.

EP31 This Strange Ending Aug 27, 1956

Promising 19-year-old ballerina Laurie Allen's 1947 death from cancer becomes a personal obsession for newspaper reporter Joe Bailey, who conducts a series of interviews that he hopes will reveal the true story behind her untimely demise.
8.1| 0h30m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 13 September 1954 Ended
Producted By: Medic Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Medic is an American medical drama that aired on NBC beginning in 1954. Medic was television's first doctor drama to focus attention on medical procedures. Created by its principal writer James E. Moser, Medic tried to create realism which would typify medical shows from then on. Moser had previously written for the radio shows Dragnet and Dr. Kildare. He went on to write the television series Ben Casey.

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Reviews

Jeff Sultanof "Medic" is one of the finest shows ever produced for television. The grandfather of 'modern' medical shows, in many ways it is styled as a documentary; each segment deals with a specific medical issue and all bets seemed to be off - breast cancer, epilepsy, diabetes mental illness, tuberculosis, muscular dystrophy, leprosy, poor parenting, and hearing loss were all covered and more. During a time when one couldn't use the word pregnant on television, the series presented the story of a woman who dies while giving birth, and the birth is shown. It is often graphic and surprisingly candid, many times quite serious. Voice-over narration gives many facts and explanations about diagnoses and procedures.This series is a time capsule of where medicine was in 1954-6, which makes it invaluable as a teaching tool for those studying medicine, especially since each episode is packed with information about the illness being dealt with (imagine seeing what a polio sufferer went through). This series was overseen by doctors, and many appear in the series.The producer was Worthington Miner, who was responsible for Studio One, one of the greatest live dramatic anthology series in the history of television. The 'host' of the series is Richard Boone, an exceptional actor, director and teacher. He appears in every episode, but only acts in a few of them (one of them is one of the best in the series, about a possible atomic bomb attack). He is so convincing as a doctor that many viewers did not think he was an actor, and when it came time for him to audition for "Have Gun, Will Travel," the producers were initially not sure that he would be convincing. Overall, the acting is exceptional, with such actors as a very young Dennis Hopper, Vera Miles, Bobby Driscoll, Beverly Garland, Lee Marvin, Warren Stevens and more.Music was written by Victor Young, and orchestrated by Sidney Fine. This is one of the last projects composed by Young (he died in 1956) and it beautifully supports the action. Many of the scores are just plain gorgeous, and it's a pity that Young did not record an album of some the themes he wrote for the series (thankfully, many of the scores he wrote exist, donated to UCLA).Such a series was doomed from the start due to its subject matter and its seriousness; this would be a hard series to watch as a marathon. Immediately branded 'controversial,' it was scheduled at the same time as "I Love Lucy" and was frequently preempted for other programming. It managed to hang on for two years and 59 episodes, of which Timeless Media has made 44 available (reportedly, acceptable prints of the missing 15 could not be located).Still not well known, Medic deserves to be celebrated as the important series it is. If you collect classic early television, the Timeless set is a must-buy.
Joseph Harder James Moser was one of the outstanding writing talents in Television history. Sadly, he is almost forgotten and is, probably, quite unknown. He graduated from a Catholic college in California, then booked ship as a sailor on a tramp steamer headed to Australia. After working a variety of jobs in Australia, including journalism, he returned to the states and started writing for Radio. Jack Webb noticed his talent and hired him to be head writer on Dragnet. Moser wrote a wide range of teleplays in the fifties, including a dramatization of the life of Charles Proteus Steinmitz. Moser came up for the idea of an intelligent, realistic medical drama, that would star Richard Boone as Dr. Conrad Styner. To make sure the show was authentic, Moser worked as an orderly in a Los Angeles hospital for nearly two years. Medic, while critically acclaimed, lagged in the ratings, and was canceled after several years. Moser later came up with an idea for an even better, equally hard-hitting medical show, Ben Casey. Later Moser created another superb show that flopped in the ratings, Slattery's People. In 1965, he was the first person to receive The Gabriel Award from The Catholic Academy of Broadcast Professionalws for creating "shows that uplifted the human spirit." Of Course, NONE of them can be found on DVD.
NewtonFigg Medic had the bad fortune to be scheduled opposite I Love Lucy. Richard Boone, in the character of Dr. Konrad Styner, introduced the stories about doctors' experiences and acted in at least one episode, Flash of Darkness. Had anybody seen it, that episode would have been discussed in every news magazine and on every talk show. In it, Dr. Styner was at his office when he received a call that an atomic bomb had been dropped over the nearby city. He and his staff rushed to an improvised medical center and treated the injured while not knowing if their own families had survived. In 1954, the possibility of an atomic bomb attack by the Soviets was considered very real, and school children practiced marching calmly to the basement (three minute warning) or scrambling under the desk (no warning). Yet, I am not aware that there was any reaction to this show.In another episode, Never Come Sunday, a couple have an autistic daughter. The medical profession can do nothing for the child's condition and the mother desperately seeks out expensive quacks who hold out the promise of a cure. Unfortunately, this show could run today and be as pertinent as it was a half century ago.In the episode, My Brother Joe, a 10 year old boy succumbs to injuries he sustained from being hit by a drunk driver.The show was not exactly escapist fare. It dealt with real issues not often seen on television, and dealt with them realistically and without sensationalism. No wonder it didn't do well.
Robin Cook I'm waiting for the other DVD's, so I've watched four episodes of this series thus far. I remember when I was young when this show came on the air, but was too young to appreciate it or understand it. The episodes I've watched are, My Brother Joe (6); The Wild Intruder (11); Break Through the Bars (20); and General Practitioner (27). These short half hour episodes (B&W) were actually very good even in comparison with the forensic flashiness of CSI's and terminology crazed Bones series. Richard Boone's appearance as only the introductory narrative was disappointing since I was hoping he would be starring in the episodes, but that disappointment was cast aside as I watched each show. Each episode was instructive with various situations of both medical and family topicked issues. These issues were very well addressed to teach the public ... and were not done in in the push-down-your-throat kind of way, which gave this series more class than most of what I've seen today. I must admit I laughed a few times when the camera focused on some old forensic equipment as state of the art, but I did wonder if they did use actual medical equipment for this series.I did not find this series as a nostalgic view, nor did I find it corny or creepily old-fashioned or melodramatic. This show had class of an upper crust that I believe would be good to run re-runs on television today (if they haven't already done so).Naturally, technology has changed since this series aired, but these episodes I have viewed, their content is timeless and still applies to today's perspectives. For example, in Break Through the Bars episode, Lee J. Cobb stars as a man in a bank who suddenly undergoes depression and manic episodes. Social stigma was stronger at the time this episode aired, but I don't believe it has changed that much today for mental illness. In the episode The Wild Intruder, the subject of breast cancer still remains a mystery and one that is hard to treat, plus the personal hardship of having a breast removed ... and, at the end of the episode there is Richard Boone narrating a summarization in a medical scheme of basically informing the public that such is the sacrifice to continue living.This series addresses some very tough issues other than medical. So, if people can get past the black and white versus color mental block, I sincerely believe they'll enjoy watching this good oldie series.