The Incredible Dr. Pol - General Discussion

[AZChristian]

30 minutes ago, AncientNewbie said:

I'm all for a Dr. Lisa spinoff. She's my favorite. 

I'd like for Dr. Pol and Diane to retire, Charles to go back to L.A., and the show could continue with just the female vets.  Oh . . . and they need someone to come in and organize that office!!!!

[Jeeves]

22 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

 and they need someone to come in and organize that office!!!!

They sure do. I'm not the world's biggest neat freak, but that mess on Diane's desk and elsewhere in the clinic, makes me stabby. 

[AZChristian]

13 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

They sure do. I'm not the world's biggest neat freak, but that mess on Diane's desk and elsewhere in the clinic, makes me stabby. 

If you look at the background in pictures of the inside of the Pol house, you'll see similar stuff.  

[Jeeves]

14 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

If you look at the background in pictures of the inside of the Pol house, you'll see similar stuff.  

I've noticed that. Also, Charles' house is kind of a hot mess. At least it was before he married. I wonder if Beth has improved things. It looked to me like Charles had just moved into a house already furnished and filled with stuff acquired by a family - and an older family at that. The decor was really dated, and I doubt that Charles personally acquired all that stuff. Was that the house the Pols lived in before they built the lake house? If so, it looks like they just moved out and left most of their stuff in there.

As I said, I'm not the world's tidiest housekeeper, and when I worked in an office my desk would accumulate piles of stuff. But when I hit the limits of my tolerance for mess, I tidy up. It seems that the Pols' tolerance level for messy rooms is pretty high. 

[AZChristian]

2 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

As I said, I'm not the world's tidiest housekeeper, and when I worked in an office my desk would accumulate piles of stuff. But when I hit the limits of my tolerance for mess, I tidy up. It seems that the Pols' tolerance level for messy rooms is pretty high. 

I'm a bit OCD.  Everything in our house has a place, and is in that place unless it's being used.  Most of my professional career was as an administrative assistant.  After I retired, I'd go back to the company as a "temp."  I had quite a following, with many requests for me to cover vacations for regular admins.  One of my regulars wouldn't put in for vacation time until after she'd checked directly with me to see if I could cover her desk.

My favorite assignments were those where an existing admin was leaving the company or going to a different position.  They would schedule me for about six weeks.  I'd walk in, learn how the work flow was supposed to go, and then reorganize the desk so that the new permanent admin wouldn't have to deal with any past bad habits that were left from the prior admin.  All of the filing backup would be taken care of, supply cabinets were organized, and anything new coming in was put into the work queue to be handled in a timely manner.  And the new person would come in with a clean slate.

On one assignment, I made such a change in two days (while the boss was out of town) that when he came in on the third day, his eyes lit up as he said, "Wow - I've never seen the actual top of this desk before!!!"  I loved the assignment so much that I stayed for two years.

[Medicine Crow]

3 hours ago, AncientNewbie said:

I'm all for a Dr. Lisa spinoff. She's my favorite. 

I'm more a Dr. Emily (& her husband) fan.

[AZChristian]

14 minutes ago, Medicine Crow said:

I'm more a Dr. Emily (& her husband) fan.

We used to notice how many times she'd look at something and say, "That's not good," or "This ______'s prognosis is guarded."  We think she was kind of gloomy.

[AncientNewbie]

@Medicine Crow I liked Dr. Emily too, but I had the feeling she was done with tv vet medicine. I would never object to seeing her again, but, then again, I watch all the vet shows so what's one or two more...

[Becks]

So does anyone know what's going on with the new season? Both the first and second episodes so far have consisted of recycled footage from previous shows (hello, Dr. Emily!) despite being promoted as 'all new' episodes of the new season. I saw discussion earlier in the thread about how some of these repackaged episodes aren't given season/episode numbers, but these two episodes are clearly named as S22 E1 and S22 E2 on the Nat Geo Wild site. It makes me wonder if something is wrong behind the scenes.

(I'm relieved to find a place where people are actually discussing this show, btw! It's so under the radar that it's hard to find much info about it.)

Edited January 16, 2023 by Becks

[crimsongrl]

The first episode at 8p ET is the repeat. The second episode at 9p ET is the new one. I look for the episode title to make sure its the right one.

Edited January 15, 2023 by crimsongrl

[Jeeves]

22 hours ago, crimsongrl said:

The first episode at 8p ET is the repeat. The second episode at 9p ET is the new one. I look for the episode title to make sure its the right one.

Me too. The first "new" episode had recycled stuff. The material in the second episode was new to me. Only the current clinic staff were involved. Lots of Dr. Lisa. That episode is shown on my online guide as S22:Ep2 "Oh, You Paw Thing." 

ETA" the episode with the recycled content only has "S22" in the title, and no episode number. That seems to be how they title their recycled content shows these days; at most there's a season designation but not an episode number.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Jeeves

[DonnaMae]

Last night no Brenda, Diane, Charles or Tater.  I like the interaction with the office staff, but not last night.

 

[Jeeves]

1 minute ago, DonnaMae said:

Last night no Brenda, Diane, Charles or Tater.  I like the interaction with the office staff, but not last night.

I don't remember if we saw Tater but I saw Charles, Diane, and Brenda, in E22:S2. Brenda treated a newborn goat, Diane was in the office, and Charles went on a calving call with Dr. Pol.

[DonnaMae]

That wasn't the new episode last night.

 

[Jeeves]

2 minutes ago, DonnaMae said:

That wasn't the new episode last night.

Oh. Which one was it? 

[DonnaMae]

1 hour ago, Jeeves said:

Oh. Which one was it? 

Last night was Season 22, Ep. 2, "Oh You Pawthing" with Drs. Pol, Lisa and Nichole only.  Maybe you were referring to Ep. 1, which I haven't seen.

[Jeeves]

5 hours ago, DonnaMae said:

Last night was Season 22, Ep. 2, "Oh You Paw thing" with Drs. Pol, Lisa and Nichole only.  Maybe you were referring to Ep. 1, which I haven't seen.

No, I was referring to that one - S22, Ep 2. In which Dr. Brenda treated a newborn kid (at about 6 minutes into the episode), Charles was with Dr. Pol at a difficult calving (at about the 10 minute mark and the 14 minute mark as well), and Diane was in the office. Dr. P came back to the office very happy about delivering a live calf and shared the news with Diane. That's at about 18 minutes into the episode. Diane did a voiceover bit about how they share news like that all the time and there were a couple of shots of them hugging and being lovey-dovey. 

I just now reviewed my DVR recording of the episode. Brenda's appearance was just that one short case so I can see how she could be missed. Also I didn't see much of Charles; although he was involved in the calving he didn't have a TH or real camera face time. I didn't look for Tater, he may not have been featured and I agree it would be nice to see him. Maybe they're backing off of the amount of face time Charles gets and giving Diane more time instead. Drs. Lisa and Nicole did, as you said, carry most of the episode along with Pol. 

[Becks]

Okay, with the info here I think I've partially figured out how it is I'm not seeing the same season 22 episodes as other people.

I watch the show via the Nat Geo Wild site. There, S22 E1 is listed as being 'Purranormal Activity', with an airdate of 1.07.23. S22 E2 is 'The Biggest Little Fair', with an airdate of 1.14.23. Both are recycled footage episodes, not new content. After reading everyone's posts I checked Xfinity Stream for S22 E1 & S22 E2, and the titles are different: 'Mission Impawssible' for E1 and 'Oh, You Paw Thing' for E2. The two from the Nat Geo site are listed under 'Deja Moo!', with no episode numbers.

So, whoever runs the Nat Geo Wild site has screwed up and posted the wrong episodes for the new season...and apparently no one has noticed. Might need to shoot them an email.

[Jeeves]

@Becks - Thanks for that info. It does sound like a real cluster. 

I watch on Xfinity, and they did air the "Biggest Little Fair" episode just before the "Oh You Paw Thing" episode last Saturday night. I appreciate that the Xfinity system makes it possible to find a really new episode vs the "Deja Moo" episodes with the recycled content. Even so I have to pay attention to differentiate an episode with really new content, from a "new" episode of recycled stuff. Argh.

I remember that before the pandemic, we heard that Dr. Brenda wasn't going to appear on the show anymore. Then the world got knocked sideways by that virus, and when we saw pandemic-era footage, she was still there. Now I wonder if she may be stepping back, because we saw her only in a short segment in the latest new episode, where she was treating a newborn goat. Dr. Lisa and Dr. Nicole are getting a lot of footage, which is fine with me. I enjoy both of them. I don't dislike Charles, but it wouldn't bother me to have less of his talking heads and voiceovers in future episodes. 

[DonnaMae]

21 hours ago, Jeeves said:

No, I was referring to that one - S22, Ep 2. In which Dr. Brenda treated a newborn kid (at about 6 minutes into the episode), Charles was with Dr. Pol at a difficult calving (at about the 10 minute mark and the 14 minute mark as well), and Diane was in the office

Sorry, Jeeves.  You are absolutely correct.  I started rewatching that episode.  About ten minutes in was the part you were talking about.  I must have dozed off for a few minutes and missed that part.  So Charles, Brendan and Diane did make an appearance. Shame on me. 🤪

[Jeeves]

2 hours ago, DonnaMae said:

Sorry, Jeeves.  You are absolutely correct.  I started rewatching that episode.  About ten minutes in was the part you were talking about.  I must have dozed off for a few minutes and missed that part.  So Charles, Brendan and Diane did make an appearance. Shame on me. 🤪

No shame at all! Brenda's bit was so short it would have been easy to miss, as was Charles' appearance in that crazy calving segment. And you were right about Tater! 🙂

[BookWitch]

Latest episode seemed to be about getting injured. Brenda getting her knee hurt and that one guy running over his puppy that ended up being put down. Then another dog getting run over by a motorcycle. Then Brenda was working on some calves with sore hooves and just wrapping them in that stuff without cleaning them off! That can't be good.

[DonnaMae]

1 hour ago, BookWitch said:

Then Brenda was working on some calves with sore hooves and just wrapping them in that stuff without cleaning them off! That can't be good.

You're right.  She should have washed that hoof before wrapping it.  

[AZChristian]

I'm always surprised when none of the doctors tell the farmers, "Your livestock would not have so many foot infections if you mucked out this stable once in a while."  There are times when the doctors can barely make it through the deep crap.

[BookWitch]

So the season finale was supposed to be Saturday. It didn't tape and I couldn't find it. 

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, BookWitch said:

So the season finale was supposed to be Saturday. It didn't tape and I couldn't find it. 

I have it set to record all new episodes.  I got the first run of "Dr. Pol goes to Washington" and an expanded episode.  According to IMDB, that was the last episode of the season.  They recorded on the 11th.

[Rammchick]

Wow, this special dog episode is a corker.  First, a woman has never vaccinated her two year-old Chihuahua and then, did Pol seriously not identify or treat what I'm assuming was Giardia?? 

[Dale Evans]

Aw, I have the DVR set to record new episodes of this show. I just saw the one where Athena died. Lots of tears.

Too bad Charles didn't shave off his awful facial hair as a mourning gesture. That was such a sadly missed opportunity to bring the whole show up a notch.

[smittykins]

RIP Athena.  I still remember the episode where she joined the family.

[nitrofishblue]

Because of the issues between Disney and Spectrum I was not able to watch this episode. Disney has cut the networks they have bought. This includes NatGeo Wild and Espn. There are other networks but I can't recall them at the moment

[nitrofishblue]

Got the news today that Disney and Nat Geo Wild have settled their issues and I can now watch Dr. Pol.

 

[Jeeves]

Season 24, Episode 1, "A DOCumentary," premiered last Saturday night.

Meh.

Minimal background music.

No narration.

No Dr. Nicole. No explanation - is she off the show? Gone from the clinic? 

A new vet, Dr. Olivia something-something (hyphenated name). Not introduced; we don't know if she's fresh out of vet school, or has some experience in practice already. We see her kids and her dad. She said she's known Dr. Pol since she was a kid so I assume she grew up as a local. 

Except for learning that Dr. Brenda sings in an a capella group and Dr. Lisa likes to go paddelboarding, this was a real yawner. 

There was a memorial slide at the end; I can't remember his name. I assume he was a member of the production team.  He was fairly young. May he RIP. 

If this is the new format for the show I don't think I'll make much effort to watch future episodes. The scenes with Lisa and Brenda were the best part of this one. 

[DonnaMae]

Why don't they tell us when one of the veterinarians leaves?  I find this very annoying.  I really liked Dr. Nicole and would like to know what happened to her.

[Jeeves]

1 minute ago, DonnaMae said:

Why don't they tell us when one of the veterinarians leaves?  I find this very annoying.  I really liked Dr. Nicole and would like to know what happened to her.

I've looked at her public social media. She hasn't posted anything that suggests she's changed jobs. She's still actively licensed as a veterinarian in the state of Michigan, according to the state's public licensee online information. 

I agree; I've enjoyed watching her on the show. She appears to enjoy, and also take seriously, her veterinary practice. And also has a pleasant and open on-camera presence.

[Medicine Crow]

I was so annoyed because I couldn't find the first episode introducing their "farm" that they promoted on Facebook more than once.

[Jeeves]

16 hours ago, Medicine Crow said:

I was so annoyed because I couldn't find the first episode introducing their "farm" that they promoted on Facebook more than once.

The first two episodes of the series ran on NatGeoWild on Saturday evening immediately after the new episode (Season 24, Episode 1) of the "real" show.

I gave it a hard pass because I have a low tolerance for Charles' on-camera goofball act - which at least doesn't dominate the real show. Looks like the new "farm" show is all about Charles, all the time. 

I have Xfinity, and it looks like all the episodes of Season 1 of "The Incredible Pol Farm" are available on demand. It's also streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. Screenshot of what Google sez as to streaming availability:

Edited January 9 by Jeeves
Sentence fragments are bad

[Medicine Crow]

Of course I only have Paramount Plus, so ...  (I don't think I'd enjoy it either.)

[Stevie Nicks]

Why is there no narrator? And yet there was a narrator in the ending credits. It was really annoying without the narration. I hope that's not how it's going to be. The farm show was meh. I may give it a couple of weeks. 

[Maximoose]

On 1/9/2024 at 8:03 AM, Jeeves said:

I gave it a hard pass because I have a low tolerance for Charles' on-camera goofball act - which at least doesn't dominate the real show. Looks like the new "farm" show is all about Charles, all the time. 

It really is, he just seems to bumble through it without much clue.

It boils down to Charles being Charles, his brother in law/others doing most of the work, and them bringing in his dad when they're completely lost on something.

[Claire85]

I haven’t watched the farm show yet, but man this is the most subdued episode of Dr. Pol I’ve ever seen. If this is what the whole new season is gonna be like I think I’ll take a pass. I like the narrator and the music, especially when they pluck the violin string as they pull out the porcupine quills. If they don’t have the little bit of silliness in it, it makes a kind of boring to me.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I have Spectrum TV with the Entertainment view, and that has Nat Geo Wild, but that's only on Disney +.  I now can get that through Spectrum, but you have to make another sign in, and I'm not interested in Charles and his buddies.  

Edited January 15 by CrazyInAlabama

[Rammchick]

Is/was Dr Nicole pregnant?

[BookWitch]

She definitely looked it but none of her social media says anything. 

I can't believe that farm that lost the two calves. They KNEW something wasn't right and waited 12 HOURS!  That's inexcusable.  AND that poor cow was rolling around in filth. I get that farm life is messy but for FS clean the place up! 

[DonnaMae]

On 1/14/2024 at 6:42 AM, Rammchick said:

Is/was Dr Nicole pregnant?

She did look that way.  I'm glad that she still works there.  Dr. Pol certainly has a booming business......he and four more vets.  

[Jeeves]

I was also glad to see Dr. Nicole in this episode. And yep, she def appeared to be pregnant. I wouldn't be surprised if that's discussed in a future episode.

The first two episodes of this season have given the new doc, Olivia, lots of air time. I suppose it makes sense because she's new and they always need new content. But I hope she doesn't continue to be the star of the show (well, the co-star anyway). I mean, she's okay, but I like seeing the rest of the crew as well.

[String Theory]

On 1/6/2023 at 9:47 AM, AZChristian said:

I'd like for Dr. Pol and Diane to retire, Charles to go back to L.A., and the show could continue with just the female vets.  Oh . . . and they need someone to come in and organize that office!!!!

@AZChristian ITA!!!!

Unfortunately, Charles isn't going anywhere.  There's a new show (comes on right after the Incredible Dr. Pol) called "The Incredible Pol Farm".

It's all about Charles, Beth & their kids.  They're supposedly "farming" now.  I think the house is pretty close to the clinic.  Charles purchased three cows, four sheep at the Fair.   In the most recent episode, Dr. Pol let his Freisan horses graze in Charles field.

All the episodes I've seen involve Charles "supervising" his brother in-law (Beth's brother) who lives a couple hours away. He conveniently has his own landscaping business but has come to help.   His brother in-law lives in a small construction trailer on the property.  (Again a side eye- I'm sure Charles or The Pol's have plenty space for him to stay.  Michigan summers are very hot & humid, I don't see an A/C, fridge or stove in his "home".

Charles has grandiose ideas (they bought and old barn & deconstructed it).  They"ve moved it piece by piecè to Charles place.  Again, his brother in-law does all the work Charles watches.

On occasion, Dr. Pol drops by. Usually to let Charles know what he's screwed up.  The latest was a sheep shelter.  It needed to have a concrete floor & a proper water supply for the sheep; neither which Charles considered.  When they had to rebuild it, Charles showed up to " help" wearing bedroom slippers!  I'm doubtful that Charles & family live in Michigan full-time (last episode he said Winter was difficult to do projects).

They took one of their goats to see Dr. Pol.  There was no trailer, just loaded it into his 325 BMW. At best, this is a hobby farm for them.  I've never been a fan of Charles; fortunately, these episodes are only 30 minutes long.  Basically it's Charles (and Beth) waxing about memories of working with their parents. Growing up Beth's mom had a huge garden that fed their whole family.  Charles had his brother in law build a huge pond w/waterfall (again he didn't help). Charles "helped" by showing bolders he wanted moved from Dr. Pol's house.  He "remembered the bolders from his childhood & named them. (Another eye roll)  This episode ended with Beth making plans for next seasons garden.  Of course, she was having her brother plan it & build raised bed frames for next season.

I've never been a fan of Charles hope he and this show goes away....soon!

Edited February 10 by String Theory
Punctuation

[String Theory]

On 1/14/2024 at 9:42 AM, Rammchick said:

Is/was Dr Nicole pregnant?

Yes she is.  Think she announced it two weeks ago on the show.

[Rammchick]

On 2/9/2024 at 8:36 PM, String Theory said:

Yes she is.  Think she announced it two weeks ago on the show.

Thanks!  Yep, I saw it.

[Medicine Crow]

I've noticed a few times on the show that some of the examining rooms are a bit tattered (chairs) & the floor around the pedestal of the table was dirty.  You'd think with all the money they make, they'd be able to afford a janitorial service???

[Jeeves]

My goodness. As little patience as I have for Charles' goofball act, I was sorry to see in a recent episode that he got hurt by a horse on a farm call. It was bad enough - generally, tendons/ligaments were seriously ripped out of place on one leg/knee - and I'm glad it wasn't worse. It was a "call 911" situation; they also called Beth who got out there. Charles was treated by EMTs and transported by ambulance to the hospital. 

The show coulda milked it, but I give them props for not doing that. We were told that he had surgery and did rehab. IIRC two or three months post-injury, we saw his rehab session where he was finally able to ditch a big leg brace he'd been wearing.  IMO the injury and recovery got enough air time but not too much. It was good to see that he recovered. 

Edited February 24 by Jeeves
Grammar