I’m Not a Movie Star… I’m a Veterinarian

Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and let’s talk animals.

People sometimes ask me what it was like making television for all those years.  The answer usually surprises them.

I wasn’t making television.

I was practicing veterinary medicine.

The cameras just happened to be following me around.

I’ve never thought of myself as a movie star.

Movie stars remember their lines. I don’t.

In fact, that’s probably one of the reasons the show lasted so long. Nothing was scripted. If a calf decided it was coming into the world right then… That calf wasn’t going to wait while the camera crew got into position.

If a horse decided it had enough of all of us…

Well… we all found out together.

Did we ever do a second take? Not very often. If the crew missed a shot, they missed it.

I can’t exactly put the calf back inside the cow and ask it to come out one more time.

That’s not how veterinary medicine works. The animals were always in charge. The camera crew found that out very quickly.

One of our camera operators, Mark, found that out the hard way.  His team went out ahead for an emergency calving and they wanted to capture my arrival.

When he and his team got to the farm they wanted to get some footage of the mother in the field, in distress.  They asked the farmer if she was friendly.  The farmer said, “Oh yeah, she’s friendly”.  So they went out to the field to capture some footage.  Well, a cow may be friendly but a cow in distress is a completely different animal. People have a misperception about cows.  They think they are just docile, meek animals.  That can’t be further from the truth. Cows are powerful animals.  They can be dangerous.  And this cow perceived Mark as a threat.

She charged him and ran him over.

He didn’t have time to even realize what was going on before he was flat on his back.

Now luckily, he was okay.  He was just happy the camera was okay.  But man, was I mad.  I told the crew, “You do not go into a pen with an animal until I am on location. I don’t care what the farmer says.”   And they never did again.

One of my favorite things about filming was that some of the best moments weren’t planned at all.

If I saw an opportunity to make someone laugh… I  took it.

Sometimes I’d grab the camera and shake it or I’d pretend to poke them with a needle just to watch them jump.

Don’t worry…

The cap was still on.

Diane would usually shake her head and say,

“Jan…you’ve got to stop doing that.”

I couldn’t help myself. If people around me are smiling, I’m smiling too.

My favorite spontaneous moment happened while we were filming a promotion for Nat Geo’s SharkFest.

Someone had written a nice little paragraph for me to read.

The crew had me do it again.

And again.

And again.

Five times.

Ten times.

Maybe fifty.

After a while I thought,

“They’re never going to use any of these.”

So I climbed into my Jeep to head out on my next farm call. As I was driving away, I rolled down the window and yelled as loud as I could…

“SHARK FEST!”

Then I drove away.

Guess which one they used.

That’s television. Or maybe that’s just me.

Looking back, what I miss most isn’t being on TV. It’s the people.

Over the years that crew stopped feeling like a crew. They became family.

Our Director of Photography, Jason Neff, started with us at the very beginning. We spent more than ten years together. I watched him get married. And I still miss working with him every day.

That’s what happens when you spend that much time together.

In fact, many of the people who joined us in Season Two stayed with us for the run of the show.  I’ve attended many weddings, watched their families grow, and shared joy and heartache.

It was a lot like summer camp. We’d work together for four weeks. Then everyone would go home for two. Then we’d do it all over again. That was our bond.

We spent so much time together that we learned how each other worked. They knew when to stay out of the way. They knew when something funny was about to happen because they knew me so well. Sometimes I don’t even think they had to turn the cameras on.

They already knew what I was going to do.

People sometimes tell me,

“Dr. Pol, you were so natural on television.”

I was just being me. The cameras happened to catch it. That’s something I’ve always appreciated about the show.

We never tried to manufacture moments.

You can’t script real life.

Maybe that’s why so many people connected with the show.

It wasn’t perfect.

Neither am I.

It was just honest.

I’m grateful that so many people invited us into their homes for all those years.

And I’m grateful to the crew that became part of our family along the way.

I was just trying to be a good veterinarian. Everything else was just a bonus.

We’ll see ya.

— Dr. Jan Pol