TV series or program
Medical Center
(also known as
Calling Dr. Gannon
) is an American
medical drama series
that aired on
CBS
from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by
MGM Television
.
Plot
[
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]
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 and 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
Jayne Meadows
; and Nurse Murphy played by Jane Dulo) had basically served the same functions as Wilcox.
Cast
[
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]
- James Daly
as Dr. Paul Lochner
- Chad Everett
as Dr. Joe Gannon
- Chris Hutson as Nurse Courtland
- Virginia Hawkins
as Nurse Evvie Canford
- Daniel Silver as Anesthesiologist
- Audrey Totter
as Nurse Eve Wilcox
- Corinne Camacho as Dr. Jeanne Bartlett
- Eugene Peterson as Dr. Merrill Weller
- Ed Hall as Dr. Stan Bricker
- Jayne Meadows
as Nurse Chambers
- Fred Holliday
as Dr. Barnes
- Jane Adrian as Nurse Joyce Baxter
Production
[
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]
Pilot
[
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]
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 later played 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, so his heart could 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 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]
Cancellation
[
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]
At the time the show was cancelled, 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.
Episodes
[
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]
Ratings
[
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]
The show's
Nielsen ratings
are as follows:
Season
|
Ranking
|
1969-70
|
|
1970-71
|
#8
|
1971-72
|
#13
|
1972-73
|
#21
|
1973-74
|
#39
|
1974-75
|
#27
|
1975-76
|
#35
|
Home media
[
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]
Warner Bros. has released the seven seasons on
DVD
in Region 1 via their
Warner Archive Collection
. These are manufacture-on-demand releases, available exclusively through Warner's online store and
Amazon.com
.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
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
|
March 15, 2016
|
The Complete Seventh Season
|
24
|
July 19, 2016
|
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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1960s
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1970s
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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2010s
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2020s
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