Paging Our Favorite TV Doctors

En español | As played by Patrick Dempsey (near left), Dr. Derek Shepherd — aka McDreamy — keeps Grey's Anatomy fans swooning. Back in the 1960s, Dr. Kildare's Richard Chamberlain could have been given the same nickname.

Doogie Howser, M.D. (Neil Patrick Harris) and Marcus Welby, M.D. (Robert Young) were decades apart in age and airdates for their eponymous shows, but the teen prodigy and the veteran physician shared a kind bedside manner and a passion for patient care.

Bedside manners were hardly a priority for House's prickly Gregory House (Hugh Laurie). On Grey's Anatomy, the surly Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is referred to as "the Nazi" by her interns and hospital colleagues.

Patients came first for E.R.'s Doug Ross (George Clooney) and, before him, for M.A.S.H's Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (Alan Alda). These rebels flouted the rules, typically saved the day, and always got the girl.

On the sitcom Frasier, psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) doled out advice he often needed to follow himself. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) was a painfully displaced New Yorker working as a country doctor in the Alaska-based Northern Exposure.

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (Jane Seymour) took her practice to the Western frontier. On Grey's Anatomy, contemporary docs Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) doctor patients and their own personal lives in the halls of Seattle Grace.

Laughter was the best medicine for The Cosby Show's Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) and The Love Boat's Adam "Doc" Bricker (Bernie Kopell), both of whom seemed to spend more time practicing punch lines than medicine.

Star Trek's chief medical officer, the irascible Bones McCoy (DeForest Kelley), spent years gainfully employed in space. The X-Files' Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) was actually a surgeon, albeit one working as a skeptical FBI agent in search of non-earthly beings.

As doctor detectives, Quincy, M.E. (Jack Klugman) and Diagnosis Murder's Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) didn't have to worry about losing a patient — only a body.

Therapy sessions were rather more dramatic for psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) of The Sopranos than they were for comedian Bob Newhart's alter ego — psychologist Bob Hartley — on The Bob Newhart Show, but both docs worked with their share of curious characters.

Once upon a time, Denzel Washington and Mark Harmon charmed viewers as St. Elsewhere doctors Philip Chandler and Robert Caldwell. Each would go on to become a People magazine Sexiest Man Alive (in 1996 and 1986, respectively) and acclaimed actor.

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