A look at ‘The Incredible Dr. Pol'
He’s plucked countless porcupine quills from the snouts of dogs, delivered calves in snowstorms and castrated a petite house cat and a 2-ton bull in the same day.
There isn’t much that rural veterinarian Jan Pol, 75, hasn’t seen or done in a half-century of practicing animal medicine in and around his Weidman, Mich., clinic.
Reindeer with a head cold? Check. Dog with a chronic erection? Check. But even weirder than that case of the bovine with a fifth leg is the twist his career has taken over the last seven years.
While most of Pol’s peers have long since retired, the no-nonsense, Dutch American doctor who can fashion a goat’s leg splint out of parts from an old apple barrel has become a reality TV star of global proportions.
Now in its 12th season — there are two seasons per year — Nat Geo Wild’s “The Incredible Dr. Pol” surpassed the 100-episode mark last year and is still breaking ratings records at the same network that gave us the smash series Cesar Millan’s “Dog Whisperer.” “The Incredible Dr. Pol” remains Nat Geo Wild’s No.1watched series. As recently as December it delivered the network’s most-watched weeks ever with the holiday marathon “12 Days of Dr. Pol.”
Pol met his wife, Diane, when he arrived in Michigan from the Netherlands as an exchange student in the 1960s. The two run Pol Veterinarian Services, so she is a presence on the show. But she often opts out of the frame and is the low-key yin to her husband’s gregarious yang. The cameras also follow their son, Charles, and vets on staff including Dr. Emily and Dr. Brenda as they deliver puppies or perform surgeries on ailing pigs.
“The Incredible Dr. Pol” resonates with a diverse swath of viewers in ways that more targeted reality programming about loners roughing in the Alaskan outback, rich housewives fighting it out in the suburbs or Bigfoot hunters who find nothing week after week, have not. In a world of cable news brawls and social media tantrums, the down-to-earth charms of Pol have proved a soothing panacea.
Escaping society or climbing its ladder at any cost are popular themes in unscripted docu-series, and though the vet’s practice is tucked into rural America, the divisive ratings ploys of reality TV have no place in “The Incredible Dr. Pol.” It’s drama enough wrangling a wily, adolescent alpaca without humans adding their issues into the mix.
The work here is often graphic and messy, meaning invasive emergency surgeries, equine dental treatments with giant metal files or probing arm-deep in the back ends of bloated livestock. Yet viewers still keep coming back for more. Or maybe that’s part of why they keep returning.
“There was some talk that it might be too much for audiences, but it’s turned out to be OK,” noted Pol recently in Pasadena during the Television Critics Assn. meeting. “Kids in particular are really interested in what we’re doing. It’s usually the dads who are upset.”
“And lucky for them they aren’t also getting the smell,” says Charles, the show’s co-creator and producer, who isn’t a vet but often accompanies his father on farm calls.
Pol speaks around the globe about the care and treatment of animals, a theme that runs throughout his book “Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow: My Life as a Country Vet.”
In person, he’s a hearty character with brilliant blue eyes, a wicked sense of humor and a crushing handshake. He speaks with a Dutch accent yet peppers his conversation with classic Americanisms such as “yep” and “well, lemme tell ya.”
The universal draw of helping animals, which can mean saving their lives or simply deworming them, is the initial lure of the show. It follows in a long tradition of unscripted shows featuring vets and animals.
Other Nat Geo Wild shows feature furry and feathered fare, but they don’t have Pol as a main point of entry, and it’s clear what’s missing. His quick wit, years of experience, stubborn tenacity and generous heart are a big part of the show’s draw as he makes his way across bucolic green fields and winter blizzards to reach his patients.
“It’s a slice of life that I think people feel very nostalgic for, even if they never experienced it themselves growing up,” says Charles while taking a break with his dad between events at the conference. “There’s also lots of space, open landscape, animals and … “
Pol, who was seated across the table, jumps in, “and that time when I dropped the syringe and Charles bent down to pick it up and boom, he got it in the head from a steer. Three cameras caught it. Where else can you see that?” he jokes.
The doctor’s quick wit, and episodes with titles like “Twist and Snout,” “Show Me the Bunny,” “Noah’s Bark” and “Paw and Order” counterbalance the heavier moments and loss that come with the territory.
Calves die unless they’re delivered on time, and even then there’s no guarantee. Dogs and cats cling to life after being hit by cars, shot by cowardly snipers or attacked by other animals. Sick horses are put down. It’s sad but also realistic, no artificial happy endings here.
“I can’t save every animal, though I wish I could,” said Pol. “But that is part of life. It is important to see that side of things too. I want the show to be real, otherwise, why are we doing it?”
“The Incredible Dr. Pol” was co-created by Charles, one of three children the Pols adopted. He wanted to make movies and TV shows, and he moved to L.A. 10 years ago, where he worked at Nickelodeon in operations.
“It sounded interesting enough,” says Pol of Charles’ idea. “He said just do what you do, don’t look at the camera. And yeah, that has been the format ever since. So what you see is real. We once had a producer who said, ‘This is what I want you to do, and people will love it if you just do this.’ And I said ‘I’m not doing it!’ Stubborn Dutchman, you know. So he just left.”
A camera crew follows Pol’s team several months out of the year. The crew’s problem isn’t fabricating a story from nothing, it’s keeping up with Pol. He’s notorious among those who know him for driving and moving quickly.
“I can’t stop for the cameras or do a retake,” he explains. “Once I pull that calf out, I’m not pushing it back in so they can get a better shot.”