Doc (2001 TV series)

Plot summary

Doc follows rural doctor Clint "Doc" Cassidy who has taken a position at Westbury Clinic, a small medical center in New York City. Doc is a young Christian bachelor from the mountains of Montana, who brings his small-town values and ideology to an environment that seems to lack familiarity with them.

Supporting characters include the doctors, nurses and other staff of Westbury Clinic; a 10-year-old orphan, Raúl García; and a young couple, Nate and Beverly Jackson, who live in the same apartment building as Clint.

Themes

Each episode has three interconnecting plot lines; the predominant plot line follows Clint and his involvement in the lives of his patients. Another plot line involves Clint's relationship with his clinic coworkers, and the third involves the Jackson Family. In later seasons, the Jackson family plot line or the clinic plot line are occasionally left out in preference to the predominant Clint one. The plot lines are then resolved at the end of each episode, when Clint writes an email to his guardian, Doc Johansson, back in Montana.

Westbury Clinic

Dr. Clint "Doc" Cassidy (played by Billy Ray Cyrus) is a kindhearted doctor from Montana who has moved to New York to work at Westbury Clinic, a medical center adjacent to the local hospital. He originally left Montana to be with his girlfriend Samantha (Claudette Mink). Clint breaks up with her in the pilot because she and he are from two different worlds. Clint has a love for God and for people, making him a popular doctor at the clinic. He often likes to insert little bits of wisdom from Montana into the clinic team's activity. It is mentioned in some episodes that Clint's parents died when he was young; he was taken in by his hometown's doctor, Doc Johansson. This adoption leads to Clint's love for medicine. He is the show's main character.

Nancy Nichols (Andrea C. Robinson) is a young nurse who is smart, energizing, and a little bit vain. She possesses good bedside manners, common sense, and a sharp wit. She isn't afraid to speak her mind. Nancy's parents divorced when she was twelve, and Nancy had a touching reunion with her mother, who had cancer at the time. This reunion, and the mother eventually succumbing to her cancer, were the focuses of two episodes of the shows. She and Clint have a mutual relationship, much like Sue Thomas and Jack Hudson in Doc 's successor, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye. This is the focus of several episodes. Clint proposes to her in the final episode and she says "yes".

Dr. Derek Hebert (Derek McGrath) is a portly, witty, but insightful doctor who is a very good friend of Clint's. Derek is friends with all of the clinical team (with the exception of Dr. Crane) and, despite his soft-spoken personality, never afraid to get involved in anything the clinic is involved in. Derek has a wife, Nellie, and a child, Gracie. He has a phobia of small rodents, especially rats and mice.

Donna Dewitt (Ruth Marshall) is the clinic-hospital administrator. She combines a warm heart with a focus on the bottom line. Her occasional role as an antagonist as a result of her goal of cutting costs contrasts with her warmth, approachability and unfailing support of the rest of the staff.

Dr. Oliver Crane (Ron Lea) is frequently the antagonist of the series. He is egotistical and selfish, and usually more concerned with his personal convenience and getting recognition from peers (especially outside of the clinic) than with his patients. He is also a schemer in a sense, trying to get money and compliments, but these almost always fail. But despite his mean and outspoken demeanor, Oliver did soften slightly toward the end of the show's run.

Tippy Williams (Paula Boudreau) (later Tippy Doss) appears in the pilot episode, and joins Westbury later in the first season. She thinks differently than most people, and often comes across as a bit of a dimwit. She keeps the team on their toes in a silly, geeky way. However, shining through Tippy's somewhat woolly mind is a heart of gold that loves, sacrifices, and longs to learn.

Jackson Family

Nate Jackson (Richard Leacock) is an officer with the New York Police Department. Nate Jackson is initially skeptical of Clint's country ways, but the two become close friends quickly. Nate is also a building supervisor, and arranges an apartment for Clint.

Raul Garcia (Tyler Posey) is an orphaned boy who is 8 years old when the series starts and around 11–12 when it ends. He and his single mother were homeless, and they slept in the basement of a New York church before Mrs. Garcia became ill and died. Despite attempts to take Raul into custody by his abusive father, Raul ends up getting adopted by Nate and Beverly Jackson. He is a basic pre-teen boy who gets instruction on making wise choices from and his parents and from Clint, among others.

Beverly Jackson (Tracy Shreve) is Nate's caring, conscientious wife who teaches at Raul's school. She gets pregnant in the first half of season three, then gives birth to a baby, Mattie, at the end of the season.

Other supporting characters

Notable guest stars

Broadcast history

Doc was broadcast on PAX TV and has Christian undertones. It was written by Dave Alan Johnson and Gary R. Johnson. The producers and writers were also involved with the series Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye. PAX, now ION Television, resumed airing reruns October 1, 2007—only to take it off the air again November 16, 2007.

It was rebroadcast throughout 2005 on Network Ten in Australia on Saturday mornings at 4:00am.

During 2006, Doc was shown on the Canadian Showcase cable television specialty channel, Monday through Friday at 10:00am and 6:00pm. It also aired in Spanish on Mexico's National Broadcast channel at 10:30 pm Sunday through Friday. As of June 2012, it airs on VisionTV weekdays at 2 p.m.

In the United States, Doc has aired on Gospel Music Channel and on Hallmark Channel. It began airing on BYUtv weekdays at Noon and 6 PM January 16, 2012.

DVD release

On February 3, 2004, PAX Home Entertainment (Distributed by Ventura Distribution) released Season 1 of Doc on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.