A Brief history Dr Dr Quinn Medicine Woman the TV drama

January 24th, 2007 by

Westerns used to be staple fare on TV in past decades, before they fell out of favor but a western series with a difference revived the genre when Dr Quinn Medicine Woman ran from 1993-1998. The show was immensely popular around the world, winning numerous Emmy Awards. It is a family show with a mixture of drama, comic moments and good characters. Although seen as family entertainment, the series was not afraid to tackle social issues in its stories. These were often on the theme of race relations and feminism.

British actress Jane Seymour played the central role, as a female doctor trying to break into a man’s world. She moves from her hometown of Boston to Colorado Springs, enduring a culture shock as she adapts to her new life in the ‘wild west’. Dr Mike Quinn sets up her practice and struggles to gain the trust of the small community. Female doctors are extremely rare in the 1860s and the women are just as wary of her as the men. In time, she demonstrates that she is a fine doctor. The townsfolk also warm to her honestand kind nature.

Quinn befriends Sully, played by Joe Lando, a handsome man who is respected by the locals and has a relationship with the Cheyenne. Eventually, this friendship leads to romance and they get married in an extended episode. Seymour fell pregnant in real life so the happy couple in Dr Quinn Medicine Woman has a daughter together. Quinn’s other close ally is midwife Charlotte Cooper and she asks Quinn to be the guardian for her three children as lays dying from a snake wound. She cheerfully takes on this responsibility and is a wonderful parent to Matthew, Colleen and Brian.

The show attracted a lot of high profile guest appearances with various actors performing in three or four episodes each. These additions to the regular cast lifted Dr Quinn Medicine Woman from being too predictable and included Edward Albert, Maxwell Caulfield, Ben Murphy and Stacy Keach. Special guests also included Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash.

Fans were dismayed and shocked when the announcement came that the show had been cancelled. The network said that the series had run its course and ratings had dropped. The fans mounted a determined campaign to bring Dr Quinn Medicine Woman back to the screen. The producers decided not to continue with the series but they did make two made for television movies. These took the characters to their logical conclusion. Nowadays, the fans must be content with watching the encores.