By the standards set by recent similar TV series as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Bones", "Marcus Welby M. D.", which ran originally on ABC from 1969 to 1976, must seem painfully antiquated. But it came from a time when television was really starting to come into its own, being forced to move out of the formalism it had been locked in for so long. A lot of this had to do with the presence of the legendary Robert Young, who had already been the star of one TV series ("Father Knows Best") and had a number of great movie roles, notably as a cop in the landmark 1947 film-noir classic CROSSFIRE. It also succeeded for as long as it did because it focused on a lot of topics that were rarely ever discussed, either in the popular culture or out in the real world.
The episode "The Daredevil Gesture", the twenty-first episode of the series' first season (1969-70), which aired on March 17, 1970, features Frank Webb as a young high school student who wants to enjoy the activities of normal school kids his age, and is encouraged (if not outright forced) by his mother (Marsha Hunt) to do. The problem? Webb is afflicted with hemophilia; and his desires to have a normal school life conflict with the need to keep his classmates from getting what he has. It becomes a situation that Webb has to navigate with the help of Young, as well as his assistant doctor Steven Kiley (James Brolin) and his nurse Consuelo Lopez (Elena Verdugo).
What is very notable about this particular story, given that it could otherwise have been just another routine TV episode, is the fact that it really zeroes in on the human and social elements in a way that television had only started doing around that time. Some of the credit should go to the episode's writer Jerome Ross; but the main center of attention is the highly attentive director of one Steven Spielberg, here doing only his second professional assignment overall (following the "Eyes" segment of the TV pilot film NIGHT GALLERY in late 1969), and first full-length television episode. Even at the age of 23, Spielberg already knew a fair amount about the humanity contained in the situation, especially given the way he effectively directs Webb, who had been a student with Spielberg at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona several years earlier. Young, Brolin, and Verdugo give really good performances under Spielberg's innovative direction of what could otherwise have been a painfully formulaic 45-minute TV episode. For those who only ever thought of lost arks, dinosaurs, and the like when they thought of Spielberg, this is a very good, not to mention very early, example of the kind of director he'd be with a lot of other films to come in succeeding decades, including SCHINDLER'S LIST, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE POST, WEST SIDE STORY, and THE FABELMANS.
Thus, "The Daredevil Gesture" gets a well-earned rating of '9' from me.
The episode "The Daredevil Gesture", the twenty-first episode of the series' first season (1969-70), which aired on March 17, 1970, features Frank Webb as a young high school student who wants to enjoy the activities of normal school kids his age, and is encouraged (if not outright forced) by his mother (Marsha Hunt) to do. The problem? Webb is afflicted with hemophilia; and his desires to have a normal school life conflict with the need to keep his classmates from getting what he has. It becomes a situation that Webb has to navigate with the help of Young, as well as his assistant doctor Steven Kiley (James Brolin) and his nurse Consuelo Lopez (Elena Verdugo).
What is very notable about this particular story, given that it could otherwise have been just another routine TV episode, is the fact that it really zeroes in on the human and social elements in a way that television had only started doing around that time. Some of the credit should go to the episode's writer Jerome Ross; but the main center of attention is the highly attentive director of one Steven Spielberg, here doing only his second professional assignment overall (following the "Eyes" segment of the TV pilot film NIGHT GALLERY in late 1969), and first full-length television episode. Even at the age of 23, Spielberg already knew a fair amount about the humanity contained in the situation, especially given the way he effectively directs Webb, who had been a student with Spielberg at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona several years earlier. Young, Brolin, and Verdugo give really good performances under Spielberg's innovative direction of what could otherwise have been a painfully formulaic 45-minute TV episode. For those who only ever thought of lost arks, dinosaurs, and the like when they thought of Spielberg, this is a very good, not to mention very early, example of the kind of director he'd be with a lot of other films to come in succeeding decades, including SCHINDLER'S LIST, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE POST, WEST SIDE STORY, and THE FABELMANS.
Thus, "The Daredevil Gesture" gets a well-earned rating of '9' from me.