‘The Incredible Dr. Pol’ Is Marking Its 20th Season and 200th Episode
The Incredible Dr. Pol has been a fan favorite on the cable channel since it debuted on Nat Geo Wild in 2011. The reality show following Michigan veterinarian Dr. Jan Pol as well as his clinic’s just-as-incredible staff treating their community’s furry residents has grown in popularity since then.
And what better way to celebrate the milestone than with a special two-hour look-back episode?
‘The Incredible Dr. Pol’ is a Nat Geo Wild hit
In 2011, one of the show’s executive producers, Dr. Pol’s son Charles, had been working with Nickelodeon to develop a reality show. Unable to find one that would succeed, he eventually thought of his father’s enormous personality and the back-breaking service Dr. Pol performed in their Michigan community with a charismatic smile.
“At the time, I was working in Los Angeles at Nickelodeon and trying to sell ideas for reality shows,” he told Nat Geo Wild. “My first idea was turned down, and I was advised to find an idea with a ‘larger than life character.’ I immediately thought of my dad. I pitched the project to a production company, we filmed a sample episode, and my idea became reality.”
The reality show is marking its 200th episode
In a recent tweet, the show posted “Ready to party? We’re throwing a Pol-a-palooza! Join us for 2 hours of #DrPol’s greatest hits, followed by the 200th episode season premiere: Saturday, July 16 at 7/6c on @natgeowild!”
The two-hour special will have some special moments from the sleeper hit, as show exec producer Charles Pol announced on Facebook.
“Tune into the 200th episode and season premiere of #DrPol Saturday, July 16 at 9/8c on Nat Geo Wild. The 200th episode will be preceded by a two-hour special looking back at 20 seasons of ‘The Incredible Dr. Pol’ starting at 7/6c,” Charles posted.
“It’s next Saturday and we’re going to be having the season premiere and the 200th episode,” he said in a Facebook Live video. “… That’s going to be preceded by a 200th episode celebration where we’ll look back at all 200 episodes of The Incredible Dr. Pol. … We’ll remember some favorite clients, some favorite cases, and some favorite moments through all the years. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years.”
Dr. Pol never dreamed a show about veterinary life would take off
The Incredible Dr. Pol made veterinary work cool and put Dr. Jan Pol — his shirt off, covered in muck and blood, arm fully inside a large farm animal — on the map. Just like that, a fan base was born, as well as an audience of amateur experts in cow palpitation, uterine prolapses, calf jacks, and more.
Dr. Pol recalled in his 2014 memoir Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow, “A lot of people didn’t think a TV program about a farm vet would be popular — and I was the first one to think that. But the love for animals shared by the staff, the crew, and all of our viewers has made the show more popular than anyone could have imagined.”
Catch the two-hour look-back special of ‘The Incredible Dr. Pol’ Saturday, July 16 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, followed immediately by the premiere of the new season at 9:00 p.m.
