Q: Did Alec Baldwin ever appear on "The Doctors"? — Sharon in Burton, Ohio

A: Yes, he did. From 1980 to 1982, he played the often surly Billy Aldrich. His romance with Greta Powers was one of the first soap opera teenage romances.

After Billy and Greta married, he took a mistress. Billy's death was one of the show's strangest plots. Billy's lover had a mad scientist for a mother. The chemist concocted a potion that stopped, even reversed, aging. Hiding her daughter, she took on the girl's youthful persona.

Billy, unaware that he was now involved with the mother, not the daughter, was given a lethal dose of another one of her experiments. After Billy's death, mom set her daughter free and returned to her real age.

Eventually, her plot unraveled. Good for justice. Billy did not return from the dead.

Baldwin does not diss his years on the soap, but he does not bring up the subject. As for "The Doctors," when it debuted in 1963, it was not a true soap opera. The show was an anthology series. Each day, a new story was presented. A year later, the show came back as a traditional soap opera. The show was canceled in 1983.

"The Doctors" was just ahead of its time when it came to teen romance. From the beginning, it had black characters that were integral to the show.

There was also a pretty dark side on the soap. On most soaps, when a character is set to die, they are given a fake ailment. "The Doctors" bucked that trend, having a major character succumb to leukemia. Even the good guys, like Dr. Matt Powers, had their bad side. At one point, the character cheated on his ever-faithful wife, Maggie.

The show's women also had careers. At the time the show aired, women usually stayed in the kitchen and baked brownies. On "The Doctors," every female character had a career. Back then, when a soap opera woman had a career outside the home, she was labeled as "selfish."

"The Doctors" ended because its storylines became too preposterous. There is always a story that kills soap. For "The Doctors," the weather was the culprit. The show was set in New England. It was decided that several characters were going to be killed off in a natural disaster. The disaster that hit land was a hurricane. OK. There goes that show's credibility.

Baldwin was not the only cast member to reach stardom. Oscar winners Kathy Bates and Ellen Burstyn appeared on the show, as did Ted Danson, Brooke Shields, Kathleen Turner, Armand Assante and Terry O'Quinn.

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.