Doctor Doctor (1989 TV Series) - Backstory

Backstory

Coming from a family of medical professionals, Mike Stratford first befriended Abe Butterfield while attending Harvard Medical School. Aware of his need for a study group, Abe invited Mike to join his, where Mike met Grant Linowitz, Deirdre Bennett, and Peter Balcovske. At first, Mike got off to a bad start with the group with his apparent lack of preparation, and nervous habit of clowning around. But Mike's medical skill was soon made evident when he quickly came to the aid of Belkovske, the study group leader, who was having an epileptic attack and eventually dropped out of medical school.

Wanting to avoid the pitfalls of working in HMOs, the four decided to start a practice together after graduation. However, this decision initially led to conflicts as Mike's approach to medicine constantly conflicted with his partners', particularly Grant's. The conflicts increased as he started a promotional campaign for his first novel "Panacea," and began doing medical segments for the local morning news show "Wake Up Providence."

Mike made his first appearance on "Wake Up Providence" only to promote his new novel. However, he soon found himself bickering with host Hugh Persons during the live broadcast as it was plain to see that Hugh was attempting to fake his critique when he had never read the book. Producer Elizabeth McQueen liked his style (and that someone finally took the pompous host down a peg or two), and offered him a spot on the show. Though Mike tries to cover serious medical issues in his segments on "Wake Up Providence," they usually devolve into unplanned lunacy, which only endears him more to his viewers, and even raises the show's ratings, much to Hugh’s dismay.

Elizabeth: The kids at the hospital love you. They call you Dr. Doofus.
Hugh: “Dr. Doofus!” Children have such insight.

After Elizabeth's departure from the show, Mike finds himself fending off requests to do "disease of the week" pieces, or even to promote products such as a "Miracle Slimming Supplement."

Running gags in the show include:

Abe's trademark goofy laugh, which draws a comment from Grant ("I HATE that laugh!") when it's at his expense. When one episode features a flashback with the characters in medical school, Deirdre haughtily responds, "Are you gonna laugh like that for the rest of your life?" It appears to have been passed on to his son.
Deirdre's name, as she insists on the Irish pronunciation "Dehr-dra" while Mike insists on pronouncing it "Deer-dree." He is also fond of various modifications like "Dier-drops" or "Dier-drums."
Faye's crossword puzzle, as the nurse's attempts to solve the puzzle usually involve lewd and lascivious answers based on her promiscuous nature.
"Yeah, right!" The typical response when anyone muses about the possibility of Grant showing depth or compassion.
Patient exam or Dr. Mike's medical segment, Each episode begins with one of these scenes, primarily the former, where Mike has to contend with goofy scenes like a patient suffering from a bad case of the hiccups, another suffering from body odor, an Elvis Presley impersonator attempting to get Mike to declare the King is alive, or a wrestler who takes extreme issue with Mike's snide comments about wrestling being fake.