 ran from 1961 to 1966, and is headwaters from which every TV medical drama since has flowed. I've never seen it. Too young. I don't get a chance much these days to say that, it's nice! This week I finally watched the two-part 1964 

 surf-themed episode called "Tyger, Tyger," and it was so much better than I expected. Great pacing, fine performances, some silly edits on the surf parts, but so what. Richard Chamberlain is the devastatingly handsome and quiet-voiced MD, so wise and deliberate, a stick-in-the-mud kind of but not really. In "Tyger," Kildare first treats then falls hard for Pat Holmes, played by blonde stunner and free spirit Yvette Mimieux, who's surfing days are halted by epileptic seizures. Kildare is at first baffled by the sport and its mysterious attractions, but soon enough he buys a board, paddles out, does the beachboy rumba with Pat out beyond the lineup, looks on with awe at a surf movie (Johnny Fain and Miki Dora sit to Kildare's left during the screening), and takes his first few steps down the surfer's path. Drama awaits. I'll say no more.

You wouldn't guess from the sun-bleached hair or the French name, but LA-born Yvette Mimieux is half Latina. She broke out in 1960's 

, had a long midlevel career in TV and film, and hit a peak of sorts in 1963 with a 

 put Yvette on Page One? I could only find a few examples online, but I think 

 cover-line, below, sums it up perfectly.

DR. KILDARE, "TYGER, TYGER" - SURFING GOES PRIME TIME

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