Medical Center (TV series)

Medical Center
File:Medical Center logo.jpg Title sequence
Also known as	U.M.C. (pilot only)'
Starring	James Daly Chad Everett Audrey Totter
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	171 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	MGM Television
Distributor	MGM Television (1969-1976, original) Turner Entertainment/Warner Bros. Television (current)
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	September 24, 1969 – September 6, 1976
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Medical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by MGM Television.

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 United States.[1]

Episodes

Main article: List of Medical Center episodes

Season		Episodes	First aired	Last aired
	Pilot	1	April 17, 1969 (1969-04-17)
	1	26	September 24, 1969 (1969-09-24)	April 15, 1970 (1970-04-15)
	2	24	September 16, 1970 (1970-09-16)	March 10, 1971 (1971-03-10)
	3	24	September 15, 1971 (1971-09-15)	March 8, 1972 (1972-03-08)
	4	24	September 13, 1972 (1972-09-13)	February 28, 1973 (1973-02-28)
	5	24	September 10, 1973 (1973-09-10)	April 15, 1974 (1974-04-15)
	6	24	September 9, 1974 (1974-09-09)	March 24, 1975 (1975-03-24)
	7	24	September 8, 1975 (1975-09-08)	March 15, 1976 (1976-03-15)

Ratings

The show's Nielsen ratings are as follows:

Season	Ranking
1969-70
1970-71	#8
1971-72	#13
1972-73	#21
1973-74
1974-75	#27
1975-76

DVD releases

Warner Bros. has released the first five seasons on DVD in Region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. These are manufacture-on-demand (MOD) releases, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. Season 5 was released on July 15, 2014.

DVD Name	Ep. #	Release Date
The Complete First Season	26	July 12, 2011
The Complete Second Season	24	September 18, 2012
The Complete Third Season	24	June 25, 2013
The Complete Fourth Season	24	March 18, 2014
The Complete Fifth Season	24	July 15, 2014
The Complete Sixth Season	24	TBA
The Complete Seventh Season	24	TBA

External links

• Medical Center at IMDb
  • U.M.C. at IMDb
• Medical Center at TV.com