When it comes to Westerns, many people think the genre peaked in the '50s and '60s. However, it wasn't until the '90s that Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman hit the air. Taking place in the 1800s, a wealthy doctor named Michaela Quinn moves from Boston to the Wild West after her father dies. When she arrives, she takes on a motherly role for her friend's children while juggling her own practice — as the first female doctor the small town of Colorado Springs had ever seen.
The series wasn't expected to be picked up at all, but ran for six seasons, from 1993 to 1998. Here are some things you might not know about Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
1
Joe Lando is almost as rugged as Sully
Lando didn’t want to get a stunt double, so unless something was very dangerous to do himself, it was all him. According to IMDb, Lando said he was willing to do things like eat worms and run on top of a train because he couldn’t imagine being given another opportunity to do so again.
2
‘Dr. Quinn’ was offered to Seymour at a lucky time
In an interview with NPR, Seymour admitted that she would have taken any role offered to her at the time of Dr. Quinn. "I'd been married to one of the top business managers and one day I found out that I was completely beyond bankrupt," she said. "Like $9 million in the red with lawsuits from every major bank including the FDIC." She had a day’s notice about Dr. Quinn's pilot before she signed a five-year contract the next morning.
3
Sully's many dogs
Throughout the series Sully's dog "Wolf" was played by numerous dogs. The first dog to take on the role was Cody who had his very own stunt double, Mica, who was used exclusively for growling scenes. Cody eventually retired due to old age and was replaced by his son, Chaz.
4
There were a lot of cast changes
When the pilot aired, producers didn’t expect it to get picked up as a series, billing it as a TV movie instead. When it did get picked up, many actors were unable to commit to the grueling schedule and were replaced. Most notably, child star Erika Flores left her role as Colleen Cooper after two seasons when producers refused a raise. She was replaced with Jessica Bowman.
5
Mr. Rogers stopped by the neighborhood
Fred Rogers was a TV personality, but had never acted before. However, when he expressed how much he enjoyed Dr. Quinn, producers invited him to guest star as Reverend Thomas. It was the only fictional character he’s ever portrayed.
6
You can still join a fan club
If you were a big fan of William Shockley, who played the brothel owner Hank Lawson, you can join an active fan club called 'Hank’s Hussies,' which has an active Facebook Group to this day. As recently as 2014, the group attended a red carpet premiere for a movie he was in.
7
Albums were recorded at Jane Seymour's home
While filming happened, Seymour had to live in California, leaving her home in England empty. Well, kind of. St. Catherine's Court, her manor house, was used as a recording studio. Radiohead recorded OK Computer, The Cure recorded Wild Mood Swings and New Order recorded Waiting for the Sirens' Call.
Image: Discogs
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18 Comments
Krista
Dr Quinn Medicine Woman is yet so popular it could yet be the current airing time.
I will verify it asap❣
But the first two episodes they don't show was terrific. They have it as as pilot movie, but it's really the first two episodes. And it's terrific ! I have the DVD's since I need more a day then just the two morning episodes they show on Start TV. i have to have my Dr. Quinn dose at least twice a day. Love the town and the people and the way it makes you feel a part of it all. And finally a show that tells the truth about how the Indians were treated by the Yankees. Even if they got the territory part of it wrong - Colorado was a proud Confederate territory, not a US one. The US just invaded there like they did everywhere else. But that is why the Indians and the people were treated so badly since that is how the US treated all territories and states they had no right to be in.
Apparently the characters and writers did not know they were proud to be Confederate territories since they were truly free then - and that was all taken from them and the Indians, once the Yankees invaded. Confederates were friends to the Indian Tribes. It was the Yankees who killed off the Indians to steal their land. That brutal action by the Yankees disgusted the Confederates. The Confederates treated the Indians with kindness.
It's the only partly stone building in town.
Such a homey town. You feel like you live there yourself as you watch it.
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The next best series was Touched by an Angel and Sue Thomas FBI. These series all had educational and historical substance and qualities plus left you feeling uplifted and better for seeing them.
The worst series they wasted time and film on was the dreaded "Good Wife" that could be listed as porn. It left you feeling nasty and dirty. Was nothing "good" about that 'wife' who was a serial adulterer and bed hopper. It totally mocks marriage . She was also out to double cross and backbite anyone she chose to as did the rest of the characters. Backbiters and deceivers all. A Terrible series.
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Totally insane , out of control series. The last episode was the best and most in reality when she mixed alcohol , drugs and crack smoking that ended her in a body bag. That was the only episode that was reality. This series was a total waste of film !
In the episode "THE VISITOR" in season one, it's made clear taht the children are NOT related to Michaela, but the children of her good friend she made that took her under her wing when Dr. Mike first arrived into the muddy streets of Colorado Springs. The mother of the 3 children fast became Dr. Mike's best friend and helped her to adapt to this new wild territory. I'm a Country Southern gal so i know what it's like when the city-slickers come to your town. That first two episodes were so important and so well done - they should be shown as part of the base of the series..And teh British actress Jane Seymour did a perfect job jumping into her first filming only 24 hours after she first had the script put into her hands and most of the time she did the American accent well. I only notices a few slips of British that came in. The one everyone could notice was when she pronounced Migraine (severe headache) that she called a Meegrin. The British put their emphasis on the first syllable of a word or name while in America grammar we always emphasis the second from the last vowel unless there is an accent placed over another vowel in the word.. They do it all the time in commercials trying to get Americans to speak like they do when they mis-pronounce the spice Tur-MER-ic. They say it with emphasis on the first syllable so it comes out TURmeric. To be that way in American there would need to be an accent on the U. But there isn't so they pronounce it wrong. They do the same thing with the word for ringing in the ears = Tinnitus. They pronounce it so badly it took me awhile to know what they were referring to. They pronounce it = TITanus with emphasis on the first syllable. Whee it's suppose to be pronounced Tin I tus. with Emphasis on 2nd syllable.
British English is hard for me to understand so when Jane used an American accent it was a blessing. She did a splendid job !
They just stopped the series way too soon - we wanted and still want MORE !