Medical Center (TV series)

Medical Center (TV series)
Medical Center
Also known as U.M.C. (pilot only)
Format Medical Drama
Starring James Daly
Chad Everett
Audrey Totter
Country of origin  United States
No. of seasons 7
No. of episodes 171
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Original run September 24, 1969 – September 6, 1976

Medical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976.

Contents

Synopsis

The show starred James Daly as Dr. Paul Lochner and Chad Everett as Dr. Joe Gannon, surgeons working in an otherwise unnamed university hospital in Los Angeles. The show focused both on the lives of the doctors as well as the patients showcased each week. At the core of the series was the tension between youth and experience, as seen between Drs. Lochner and Gannon. Besides his work as a surgeon, Gannon, because of his age, also worked as the head of the Student Health Department at the University. Helping the doctors was the very efficient Nurse Eve Wilcox, played by Audrey Totter. She started out as a bit role but was eventually upgraded to co-star status starting in 1972. Wilcox became a regular after two other similar nurses (Nurse Chambers, played by actress Jayne Meadows; and Nurse Murphy played by actress Jane Dulo) had basically served the same functions as Wilcox.

At the time the show was canceled, it tied with Marcus Welby, M.D. (which also ran from 1969 to 1976) as the longest-running medical drama on television at that point.

Pilot

The series' pilot film, U.M.C., was televised on CBS on April 17, 1969, starring Edward G. Robinson as Dr. Lee Forestman and Richard Bradford as Dr. Joe Gannon, with Daly and Totter appearing in the roles they would later play in the series; the film also starred Kim Stanley, Maurice Evans, Kevin McCarthy and Shelley Fabares. In the film, a widow accused Dr. Gannon of allowing her husband to die, in order for his heart to be implanted into Dr. Forestman, who was a mentor and friend to Dr. Gannon.

The pilot telefilm was released as a part of the Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) Warner Archive Collection from Warner Bros. on January 12, 2010, as Operation Heartbeat. Warner Archive titles are available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US. [1]

Ratings

The show's Nielsen Ratings are as follows:

Season Ranking
1970-71 #8
1971-72 #13
1972-73 #21
1974-75 #27

DVD release

On July 12, 2011, Warner Bros. released Medical Center: The Complete First Season on DVD in region 1, also via their Warner Archive Collection. [1]

References

  1. ^ http://www.wbshop.com/Medical-Center-The-Complete-First-Season/1000180257,default,pd.html

External links