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BEN CASEY: THEN, SUDDENLY, PANIC! {SERIES FINALE} (TV)

Summary

The final episode in this medical drama series about a resident physician named Ben Casey. In this episode, a stage performer named Charlie Boyd plays dice with her friends backstage and then rehearses a number to "What is This Thing Called Love," but suddenly collapses in a seizure. At the hospital, Casey explains that he wants to run tests on her, but she declares that she is soon to be married and wants to leave the hospital in time. Pat Mason arrives and explains to Casey that her handwriting has changed after a car accident and he asks her to check into the hospital, suspecting a skull fracture, but she asks him to join her for dinner at her home first. Johnny, Charlie's fiancé, grows annoyed when Casey seems to have few answers about her case, and Casey admits that he suspects a brain tumor, which he will investigate via surgery. He then goes to Pat's home for dinner and she talks about her travels in Europe, crediting him with saving her life in the past. She surprises him with a painting, although he does not seem to "understand" it at first, but they are then both distracted by the noticeable weakness in her right hand. She checks into the hospital and becomes Charlie's roommate, learning after tests that her accident did indeed affect her motor skills, but should likely vanish in time with therapy. She admits that she is afraid, and begins to bond with Charlie.

Charlie's test results come back and Casey explains to her that she has a tumor, saying that he will do his best to remove it, though cautioning her that there may be residual side effects even if it is benign, including paralysis, not unlike Pat's case. Charlie accepts the news with relative ease, and then, after observing them together, suggests to Pat that Dr. Graham is enamored of Casey. Pat dismisses this, but assures her that Casey can "work miracles" in the operating room, and Casey chides her later, upset that she has given Charlie undue hope. Charlie undergoes surgery and the biopsy reveals that her tumor is indeed benign, and Casey works to remove it. Later, she awakens with Casey and Johnny by her side, and she realizes that her left side is paralyzed. She seems glad to be alive, however, and relatively unfazed by the setback. Pat works on her physical therapy and is soon told that she can go home and continue outpatient work, but when Charlie begins her own rehabilitation, though she starts off in good spirits, she grows frustrated when the exercises prove difficult and painful and declares that she cannot do them. Pat overhears Graham and Casey agreeing to meet later and assumes it is a date, which bothers her. Later, in their room, Pat prepares to leave, and a bitter Charlie ridicules her for being a "doormat" and remaining passive while she "loses" Casey to Graham. Johnny arrives and tries to cheer Charlie up with jokes, but she tells him to go away, saying she no longer cares about marrying him.

Pat finds Casey and encourages her to talk to Charlie, saying she is "not herself," and Casey points out that her "miracles" comment may have misled her. Pat then admits that she is in love with Casey, though suspects he is not with her, and he tells her that he is helping Graham with her troubled brother and there is nothing romantic between them. Charlie tells Jonathan that she feels trapped in her room and asked to be taken out, and he takes her to the sun deck on the roof. She fakes illness and when he runs for her pills, she attempts to throw herself off the roof. Casey, Johnny and the others arrive just in time to pull her back, and she laments that she will be a burden on Johnny, but he declares that he wants to marry her as much as ever. Ben privately explains to him that patients sometimes experience delayed emotional reactions to serious prognoses. At physical therapy, Pat apologizes to Casey, saying she had a "sense of panic" in reaction to her suspicions about Graham and her difficulties with her health. Charlie attempts her exercises and starts to despair again when they prove challenging, but Casey gets tough with her and orders her to try, and she begins to power through and show her old determination as she attempts to get better. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: ABC
  • DATE: March 21, 1966 10:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
  • COLOR/B&W: B&W
  • CATALOG ID: B:15568
  • GENRE: Drama, medical
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical
  • SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1961-1966
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Irving Elman … Producer
  • James E. Moser … Created by
  • Marc Daniels … Director
  • Ellis Marcus … Writer
  • Dean Riesner … Writer
  • Meurisse Duree … Choreographer
  • David Raskin … Theme Music by
  • Vincent Edwards … Cast, Dr. Ben Casey
  • Sam Jaffe … Cast, Dr. David Zorba
  • Harry Landers … Cast, Dr. Ted Hoffman
  • Bettye Ackerman … Cast, Dr. Maggie Graham
  • Jeanne Bates … Cast, Miss Wills
  • Janet Blair … Cast, Charlie Boyd
  • Kathryn Crosby … Cast, Pat Mason
  • Gavin MacLeod … Cast, Johnny Whelan
  • Richard Collier … Cast, Jonathan
  • Shyrl Formberg … Cast, Miss Welch
  • Buddy Lewis … Cast, Sammy
  • Bryan O'Byrne … Cast, Pathologist
  • Alice Rodriguez … Cast, Miss Howe