Doc is a Medical Drama program that ran on the PAX network from 2001 to 2004. Starring Billy Ray Cyrus (whose song "Stand Still" served as the show's theme), the show followed "Doc" Clint Cassidy, a folksy Montana physician who comes to New York after a reporter with whom he fell in love returns to the city thanks to a job offer. Though Doc doesn't get the girl, he does encounter a whole new social circle: cop and family man Nate Jackson and his wife Beverly (Richard Leacock and Tracy Shreve), spunky youngster Raul Garcia (Tyler Posey), good-natured Dr. Derek Hebert (Derek McGrath) and snarky nurse Nancy Nichol (Andrea Robinson). Despite battling illnesses and injuries of all varieties, as well as procedure-bound nemesis Dr. Oliver Crane (Ron Lea), Doc proves you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy.
This series contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abuse Mistake: One episode has Doc dealing with a sick baby. The child's mother is defensive, and his sister has a black eye. Later on, Doc also learns that the woman was investigated by Child Safety Services after her first son died. Despite the family's father telling him his wife is innocent, all this is enough to make Doc suspicious enough to talk to Child Safety. However, he's horrified by the CSS ripping the daughter out of her home against her will and, after becoming convinced the mom is innocent, goes to bat for them. He ultimately finds out that the baby's sickness was caused by the raw honey the family uses for sweetener; his older sister put some on his pacifier.
- Anger Born of Worry: In one episode, Doc's mentor/father figure Dr. Johansen comes to visit and ends up in emergency surgery for a heart problem, which he's been putting off dealing with while getting a new secondary doctor. In his end-of-episode email, Doc tells his mentor that if he conceals another medical emergency from him, he won't need to worry about his health because Doc will kill him himself.
- Annoying Patient: Though Nate is normally tough and relatively easygoing, he becomes "a big baby" in Beverly's words when he comes down with the flu. His constant requests for new items (either ones he didn't think of or ones with different features than the current ones) cause Raul and Beverly to run to the store multiple times a day.
- As the Good Book Says...: Being on a network that was founded and originally owned by a devout Christian (Lowell "Bud" Paxson); this pops up from time to time, including a reference to Luke 11:9 in the theme song line of "But the Bible says, Seek and ye shall find".
- Brick Joke: While Nate is sick with the flu, he requests orange popsicles. After going into a coma thanks to on-the-job injuries, the first thing he says when he wakes up is that he'd like an orange popsicle.
- Captain Superhero: One episode involves a children's entertainer, Captain Supremo, a Human Alien superhero who does magic. He's just a little too far into his character. Even some of the people he deals with regularly just know his character's address (on another planet), not the actor's.
- Chekhov's Skill: In "Karate Kid", Lauren teaches Raul a single martial arts move that only works against a charging opponent. Raul uses it to save her from the school bully at the end of the episode.
- Closest Thing We Got: Dr. Hebert's wife Nellie goes into premature labor during the clinic Christmas party. A snowstorm is blanketing New York and none of the regular obstetricians can reach the hospital to do the emergency cesarean necessary for her and the baby. Dr. Crane, who knows something about the situation but usually handles non-pregnant adults, ends up being the primary physician, with Dr. Cassidy providing backup.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Billy Ray Cyrus sings the theme tune "Stand Still"; which he also wrote.
- Drugs Are Bad: "Queen of Denial" revolves around one of Ms. DeWitt's sorority sisters, who comes to the clinic with mysterious symptoms. When she forges a prescription for a risky type of medication, Doc and Ms. DeWitt realize that she's addicted. The drug abuse has caused her to lose her job and could destroy her hearing, but it still takes Tough Love from Ms. DeWitt to make her admit she has a problem and take steps towards fixing it.
- Fish out of Water: Whether played for laughs or drama, one of the main ideas of the series is that the titular country doctor is quite out of place in New York City. Dr. Crane brings it up constantly, irritated that Clint's countrified ways make the clinic look less professional and proper.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: In "Home is Where the Heart Is", Nate's brother comes to visit, much to Beverly's irritation. According to her, the brother has always been a shameless grifter, but Nate has a blind spot for him. It also turns out that said brother has a past of gambling and drug problems, as opposed to the straight-and-narrow Nate. However, he does legitimately want to put that behind him.
- Happily Adopted: Though there are a few initial hiccups, Raul quickly settles in with Nate and Beverly after the death of his mother, and most episodes have them treating each other just like born family.
- Hiccup Hijinks: In one episode, Dr. Hebert has a persistent case of the hiccups. The entire office pitches in to help him get rid of them, constantly suggesting home remedies like eating sugar, drinking from the wrong side of a glass, and rolling back and forth on a balance ball. None of these works.
- Ironic Echo: "Queen of Denial" has Raul and Justin trying to film a clip for an America's Funniest Home Videos knockoff. When Beverly smacks Nate after they play a prank on her with a rubber spider, demanding to know why he let them, he protests that he tried to discourage them. (He did, but very weakly.) He also says that it was humorous and if we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at? Later on, Beverly lures him into doing a song-and-dance number for another clip and retorts with the same words when Nate protests.
- Loveable Rogue: Doc meets Junior and Jellybean, two watch sellers, on his first day in the city, and successfully intimidates them out of attacking him. From that point forward, they're played as much more friendly, and they become Doc and his friends' go-to guys whenever they need to conduct a sting.
- Meaningful Name: Dr. Hebert and his wife initially plan to name their child "Lizzie" if it's a girl. However, when the baby survives a premature birth on Christmas Eve, they decide to call her "Grace" instead.
- Mistaken for Dying: In "Captain Supremo: Have Tights, Will Travel", the titular children's entertainer collapses in the middle of a show at the hospital. However, he refuses to wait around for Clint to give him the test results, and by the time the doctor tracks him down, he's begun trying to act as a real superhero. He has a family history of a terrible brain disease and wants to die on his own terms. When he ends up in the hospital with a gunshot wound, Clint finally gets a chance to tell him that he doesn't have any signs of the disease; his symptoms were caused by untreated diabetes, which has a much better prognosis.
- Pet the Dog:
- The neighborhood taxidermist (who is the target for all kinds of rumors) turns out to be a drug dealer and to have used some pets for his work. However, he's nice enough to scare away a couple of older boys who are about to beat up Raul and Justin and give the boys back the ball that got thrown into his house.
- Dr. Crane, who's usually quite exasperating and has been even more so during the Christmas Episode because he's awaiting biopsy results, waxes poetic about the wonder of birth and is actually quite accepting of Doc Cassidy after they deliver the Heberts' firstborn together.
- In "Nobody", a baby is left on the steps of the clinic. Dr. Crane joins the rest of the office in caring for her and keeping her company when she gets sick, even stroking her head.
- In "Smoke in the Eyes", the clinic ends up looking after Gracie thanks to the Heberts having issues finding a sitter. Dr. Crane deeply enjoys it, taking Gracie on his rounds, cooing to her, and proudly saying that she's going to be a doctor while she tries to put together a brain sculpture.
- Pie in the Face: In one episode, the office gets an award for Doc's "House Calls for Shut-Ins" program. When Nurse Nancy catches Dr. Crane planning to steal credit for it in the acceptance speech, she calls together Dr. Hebert and Tippy and puts together a football play chart so they can keep Dr. Crane from getting to the podium before Clint. Tippy's attempts to help them end up accidentally pushing Dr. Crane into a cake.
- Properly Paranoid: In "Nobody", Beverly meets up with a successful old boyfriend, who instantly earns Nate's jealousy and dislike. Beverly and Raul both initially think he's acting out, but the guy does turn out to be willing to cheat on his wife with Beverly, who he believes is still interested despite her protests. Nate arrives to try to make amends just in time to see his wife slap said boyfriend after he forcefully kissed her.
- Rescue Romance: Played With in "Karate Kid". Raul gets saved twice from a bully by Lauren, a girl who knows martial arts. However, he doesn't appreciate it, being annoyed that she gave him the reputation of needing a girl's protection. After finding out that martial arts are harder than they look, he asks Lauren to teach him, and she acquiesces to a single self-defense move. While she's teaching him, Raul gets a crush on her and accepts her invitation to a social, only to deny it when the other kids tease him. On the night of the social, Raul comes to apologize and has to save Lauren, who's been wrapped in a banner by the same bully, using the self-defense move she taught him. Then they go to the party together.
- Secretly Dying: In "You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello", Nancy's mother comes to visit, which doesn't initially go well because Nancy dislikes her for never being around. While Clint is trying to work things out, he discovers that Nancy's mother is terminally ill. However, she refuses to let him tell her daughter, saying that she doesn't want Nancy to reunite with her out of guilt or duty. After managing it, she does tell Nancy herself.
- Secret Test of Character: In "First Impressions", a famous older actress, Irene Hart, comes to the clinic, ostensibly to see if she wants to bestow an endowment on it. However, when Doc offers to drive her home after her chauffer doesn't show, he sees that she lives in an unassuming apartment building. He suspects that maybe this means she doesn't have much money, but he and Dr. Hebert still agree to let her continue hanging around because they think she needs an audience, and she perks up the office. By contrast, Dr. Crane flies into a temper when he finds out where she lives, cancelling a party he had planned in her honor and calling her an "old bag". At the end of the episode, it turns out that she owns the apartment building. She leaves Westbury Clinic a generous donation, large enough to cover everyone's personal projects...with the stipulation that Dr. Crane can't use any of it.
- Shout-Out: In one episode, Raul finds a husky. It turns out to be a hearing ear dog named Levi, who belongs to a deaf woman named Ann Thomas who reads lips and signs.
- Slipping a Mickey: A variant; trying to get rid of an irritating stress-management specialist, several office members conspire to give him espresso rather than the decaffeinated coffee he usually drinks.
- Stealing the Credit: In one episode, the clinic wins a community award thanks to Doc's "House Calls for Shut-Ins" idea. Though Dr. Crane initially blows off the ceremony, he discovers that one of the guys in charge of an award he hopes to win will be at the awards banquet. He immediately decides he's going and pushes Clint out of the position for giving the acceptance speech. When Nurse Nancy peeks at the script, she sees that he's planning to claim that he came up with the idea. Outraged, she schemes to get Clint to the podium first.
- Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Deconstructed in "Home is Where the Heart Is". A college-aged young woman has an overprotective single father, meaning she has to keep anything remotely risky that she wants to do secret. Over spring break, she goes to Jamaica, where she picks up malaria. Though her father suspected all along that it wasn't flu, the sneakiness she used to get around his rules kept the doctors guessing for valuable time.
- Taking the Bullet: In "I've Got a Secret", a thug Nate is apprehending tries to shoot some kids who wandered into the area. Nate just manages to reach the boys in time to throw himself in front of them.
- Taking the Heat: In one episode, Jellybean confesses to robbing a pawn shop. His partner Junior, Nate, and Doc are confused because normally Jellybean's illegal endeavors are less violent. After quite a bit of investigation, they find out that he lied to protect his younger brother, who was on his third strike.
- Third-Person Person: Captain Supremo refers to himself as "Captain Supremo."
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Gender-flipped; Nancy was mostly raised by her father because her businesswoman mother was always wrapped up in her own projects. When the woman tries to reunite with her, Nancy chews her out for missing every single event in her formative years, up to graduation.
- Would Hurt a Child: Two thugs in "I've Got a Secret" threaten Raul when he accidentally witnesses a robbery and tell him to keep silent if he doesn't want himself or his family to get hurt. When Nate corners them later, one of them pulls out a gun and tries to shoot a pair of boys who just wandered in.
