Best TV Doctors of All Time

Television docs are as numerous as television cops and lawyers. What else is there on TV? Americans don't seem to want to watch dramas about plumbers, sales clerks, and engineers. Do we?

Here's a list of ten of the best TV doctors in television history.

1. Dr. Joe Cannon in Medical Center was played by Chad Everett from 1969-1976. Dr. Cannon was cool and as with all medical shows, the episodes highlighted the current social trends and controversies.

2. Dr. Gregory House ( on House (2004-present) is bitter, spiteful, hateful, conniving, and a genius. It's amazing how many times he's wrong during a show but generally ends up being right.

3. Dr. Luca Kovak (Goran Visnjic) on ER (1994-2009) was my favorite doc on the show. He was 'real' because he had suffered back in the old country-he lost his wife and child in the Bosnia war. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy.

4. Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) on ER was another favorite and just an all-round nice guy.

5. Dr. John Carter of ER played by Noah Wylie was a rich kid who rejected his family's business in favor of helping people. He helped a lot of people and gave up a lot of money.

6. Robert Young as Marcus Welby MD (1969-1976) ran against Medical Center (CBS) on ABC. Dr. Welby was the nice old family doc.

7. Dr. Mark Sloan played by Dick Van Dyke was not only a good doctor but an affective detective as well. Van Dyke's son also played in the series Diagnosis Murder (1993-2001)

8. Dr. James Kildare played by Richard Chamberlain help inaugurate television medical shows. Dr Kildair (1961-1966) had been a radio show and series of films in the 40s and 50s.

9. Dr. Abbey Lockhart (Maura Tierney) of ER began as a nurse and worked her way through medical school to become a doc. She was probably the most well-rounded doctor as far as training and education but she had her own set of personal problems; don't we all.

10. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Pierce "Hawkeye" of MASH (1972-1983) was a great surgeon and jokester. A military doc has to be on any top ten list. I didn't care for the show but Hawkeye was good.

Honorable Mentions: Denzel Washington as Dr. Chandler on St. Elsewhere, DeForest Kelly as Dr. McCoy on Star Trek, and David Jansen as Dr. Kimble on The Fugitive.