Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American Western drama television series created and executive produced by Beth Sullivan and starring Jane Seymour, who plays Dr. Michaela Quinn, a physician who leaves Boston in search of adventure in the Old West and settles in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The television series ran on CBS for six seasons, from January 1, 1993, to May 16, 1998. 150 episodes were produced, plus two television movies that were made after the series was cancelled. Dr. Quinn aired in over 100 countries, including Italy, Denmark (where it was aired on TV2), the United Kingdom, Poland, Romania, France, Canada (where it was aired on CTV throughout its run), Australia (on Eleven and 9Gem), Indonesia, Iran and Bulgaria, where it was first aired on BNT and later aired on NOVA television. Since 1996, reruns have been shown in syndication and on Freeform (formerly ABC Family and several other previous names), PAX (now Ion), the Hallmark Channel, CBS Drama, Up, Hallmark Drama, Pluto TV, fetv and INSP.
The most prominent player of the large supporting cast was Joe Lando, who portrayed Byron Sully, Dr. Quinn's most frequently featured love interest.
Plot The series begins in 1867 and centers on a proper and wealthy female physician from Boston, Massachusetts, Michaela Quinn (Jane Seymour), familiarly known as "Dr. Mike". She was born on February 15, 1833, in Boston and attended the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. After graduation, she worked with her M.D. father until his death, when she sets out for the small wild west town of Colorado Springs, to set up her own practice.
She makes the difficult adjustment to life in Colorado, with the aid of rugged outdoorsman and friend to the Cheyenne, Byron Sully (Joe Lando) and a midwife named Charlotte Cooper (played by Diane Ladd). After Charlotte is bitten by a rattlesnake, she asks Michaela on her deathbed to look after her three children: Matthew (Chad Allen), Colleen (Erika Flores, later Jessica Bowman), and Brian (Shawn Toovey). Dr. Mike settles in Colorado Springs and adapts to her new life as a mother, with the children, while finding true love with Sully. She acts as a one-woman mission to convince the townspeople a female doctor can successfully practice medicine.
Episodes
Cast Main CharacterPortrayed byPilotSeasonsFilms123456 Michaela Quinn Jane Seymour colspan="9" Byron Sully Joe Lando colspan="9" Matthew Cooper Chad Allen colspan="7" colspan="2" Colleen Cooper Erika Flores colspan="4" colspan="5" Jessica Bowman colspan="3" colspan="4" Brian Cooper Shawn Toovey colspan="9"
Supporting CharacterPortrayed byPilotSeasonsFilms123456 Loren Bray Guy Boyd colspan="8" Orson Bean colspan="1" colspan="7" Horace Bing Frank Collison colspan="8" Jake Slicker Colm Meaney colspan="8" Jim Knobeloch colspan="1" colspan="7" Black Hawk Larry Sellers colspan="8" Cloud Dancing colspan="7" Hank Lawson William Shockley colspan="7" colspan="2" Timothy Johnson Geoffrey Lower colspan="8" Robert E. Ivory Ocean colspan="8" Henry G. Sanders colspan="1" colspan="7" Grace Jonelle Allen colspan="8" Dorothy Jennings Barbara Babcock colspan="2" colspan="6"
Other supporting Nick Ramus as Chief Black Kettle (seasons 1–3) Heidi Kozak as Emily Donovan (season 1) Gail Strickland as Olive Davis (season 1) Ben Murphy as Ethan Cooper (seasons 1–3) Jennifer Youngs as Ingrid (seasons 1–4) Helene Udy as Myra Bing (seasons 1–4; guest: season 5) Haylie Johnson as Becky Bonner (seasons 1–6) Georgann Johnson as Elizabeth Quinn (seasons 2–6) Alley Mills as Marjorie Quinn (seasons 2–6) (saloon girl, season 1) Elinor Donahue as Rebecka Quinn Dickinson (seasons 2–6) Charlotte Chatton as Emma (seasons 4–5) Michelle Bonilla as Teresa Morales (season 5) Alex Meneses as Teresa Morales Slicker (season 6) Brandon Douglas as Randolph Cummings (episode 4.16), Dr. Andrew Cook (seasons 4–6) Jason Leland Adams as George Armstrong Custer (seasons 2–3), Preston A. Lodge III (seasons 4–6) John Schneider as Red McCall (episode 1.09), Daniel Simon (seasons 5–6) Brenden Jefferson as Anthony (season 4) Brandon Hammond as Anthony (seasons 5–6) Donald Moffat as Walt Whitman (episode 5.21) Pamela Kosh as Martha (3 episodes - 2.6, 2.7, 2.11)
Guest stars
Edward Albert as Dr. William Burke (episode 2.06) David Beecroft as Sergeant Terence McKay (episodes 5.25, 26; 6.1–3, 11) Bibi Besch as Beatrice Cartwright (episode 4.23) Verna Bloom as Maude Bray (pilot) David Carradine as Houston Currier (episode 5.20) June Carter Cash as Sister Ruth (episodes 2.05, 3.09, 5.16) Johnny Cash as Kid Cole (episodes 1.04, 2.05, 3.09, 5.16) Maxwell Caulfield as Andrew Strauss/David Lewis (episode 2.24) Denise Crosby as Isabelle Maynard (episode 4.25) Robert Culp as Dr. Elias Jackson (episode 1.07) Steven Culp as Peter Doyle (episode 5.21) Jon Cypher as Preston A. Lodge II (episode 5.10) Kristin Davis as Carey McGee (episode 3.09) Fionnula Flanagan as Heart (episode 2.14) Zach Galligan as Chester Barnes (episode 6.12) Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Zach Lawson, Hank's son (episode 1.15) Dorian Harewood as Sgt. Zachary Carver (episode 2.17) Jerry Haynes as Mr. Royce (episodes 6.8, 9) Christine Healy as Dr. Miriam Tilson (episode 4.22) Richard Herd as Dr. John Hansen (episodes 2.6, 7) James Keach as Brent Currier (episode 5.20) Stacy Keach Sr. as Judge Webster (episodes 5.3, 7, 14) Diane Ladd as Charlotte Cooper (pilot, episode 2.11) Sheryl Lee as Catherine / Shivering Deer (episode 2.15) Matt Letscher as Tom Jennings, Dorothy's son (episode 2.19) Anne Lockhart as Maureen, one of Michaela's older sisters (episodes 2.6, 7) Barbara Mandrell as Gilda St. Clair (episode 5.04) Richard Moll as John (episodes 3.06, 3.28, 3.29) Willie Nelson as Marshall Elias Burch (episodes 5.09, 6.19) David Ogden Stiers as Theodore Quinn (episode 5.15) Tom Poston as Mysterious 'Dead Man' (episode 2.03) Andrew Prine as Thaddeus Birch (episode 1.09) Fred Rogers as Reverend Thomas (episode 4.19) Kenny Rogers as Daniel Watkins (episode 1.16) Richard Roundtree as 'Barracuda' Jim Barnes (episode 6.21) Hal Sparks as Gentle Horse (episode 3.14) Nick Tate as Martin 'Avishominis' Chesterfield (episode 6.18) Travis Tritt as Zachary Brett (episode 4.14) Casper Van Dien as Jesse (episodes 3.3, 4) Ray Walston as Lucius Slicker (episode 5.08) Craig Wasson as Julius Hoffman (episode 2.18) Jane Wyman as Elizabeth Quinn (episode 1.03) Trisha Yearwood as Choir Director (episode 3.10) Nancy Youngblut as Claudette, one of Michaela's older sisters (episodes 2.6, 7) Dan Lauria as Major Samuel Morrison, the notorious Indian hater (episode 6.11)
Production Production notes The pilot episode was shot in early 1992 and aired in a two-hour television special on New Year's Day 1993. CBS aired a second, hour-long episode the next night in order to attract and maintain the audience's attention. The pilot served more as a made-for-television movie – or mini-series suggestion – which could either be developed later into a full series or remain as a stand-alone two-hour movie. CBS ordered the show picked up immediately for the full season.
The show made some imperative casting changes. Several pilot leads and a few of the supporting cast were replaced. Henry Sanders was recast as Robert E. in place of Ivory Ocean as a less folksy hard-nosed working man. Orson Bean replaced Guy Boyd as a more fatherly, cynically-comical Loren Bray. Colm Meaney was replaced by Jim Knobeloch, a contemptuously stoic Jake Slicker.
Larry Sellers's character, a Cheyenne brave called Black Hawk, listed in the closing credits as such, who played an auxiliary role as one of Chief Black Kettle's aides and spoke only their language, was quietly retooled into Cloud Dancing, Sully's blood brother and a major recurring character, who, in addition to aiding Black Kettle, plays a large role in quelling the tribulations of the Cheyenne and other neighboring tribes. He also acquired the ability to speak English, allowing him to act as a liaison alongside Sully. His character's name was never spoken on-screen during his first appearance, which can cause viewers to inadvertently re-interpret this look-alike as Cloud Dancing's first appearance before his formal debut.
Filming Dr. Quinn was largely filmed at the Western set on Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills. Fans of the show were able to visit the sets, talk to the actors, and watch episodes being shot during its six-year run. Since Dr. Quinn ended, the ranch has been used numerous times for other filming projects. Numerous buildings, including the church, Sully's homestead, the school house, and the Spring Chateau Resort, were leveled soon after the series ended. However, the entire town still remained. Despite minor changes over the years, it was still recognizable as the Dr. Quinn set, and was a popular tourist attraction for many fans until the entire set was destroyed in the Woolsey Fire in late 2018.
Other areas used throughout the series were the back lot at Universal Studios in Hollywood, including the New England street as the location of the Quinn family home, and the New York streets, doubling as the streets of Boston and Washington. The setting of Boston in the final movie was filmed in Canada, using locations in Old Montreal.
Music William Olvis wrote the underscoring music for the series, except for a few episodes in season one (where he either alternated with Star Trek spin-off series composer David Bell, or co-scored with Bell) and the Revolutions movie.
In the episode "For Better or Worse: Part 1", the 1892 folk song "I've Been Working on the Railroad" was played by the brass band.
Casting Veteran actress Jane Seymour, labeled a mini-series "queen", was a last-minute casting choice for Michaela Quinn, having read the script only a day before production began on the pilot. She was instructed beforehand to review the script and make a decision of whether or not she felt the role was right for her, and, if so, that she truly wanted to commit to the strict contract Sullivan had demanded for the title character. The next day she began the wardrobe fittings for the series.
In a 2015 feature on National Public Radio, Seymour said that she signed her contract for the show, including both the TV-movie/pilot and a five-year series commitment, because she had just discovered that her then husband/business manager had lost all her money and gotten her $9 million in debt. She had told her agent that to avoid losing her house and to protect her two young children, she would do any TV project available, no matter what it was, and Dr. Quinn was the first one offered to her.
Colleen portrayer changes There were cast changes of minor characters during the series. The most controversial change took place during the show's third season, when the character of Colleen Cooper was recast halfway through the year. Unlike the other actors, who signed five-year contracts with the show, Erika Flores was hesitant. She asked to be offered a contract of less than five years. Rumors circulated that Flores's father gave her an ultimatum to end the contract unless they offered her more money, or he would cut her off financially. Flores has denied such rumors, saying that she left the series for personal reasons and to pursue other opportunities.
Beth Sullivan decided that she wanted the character to continue instead of being killed off or sent away. As a result, Jessica Bowman was cast as the new Colleen in Flores's place. Some of Erika Flores's fans were quite vocal in their anger over the change and wrote to CBS demanding to know why the actress had been replaced. The producers of the show felt that Jessica Bowman had the ability to successfully recreate the character on her own.
Other cast changes