''Heartbeat'' (formerly ''Heartbreaker'' during production) is an American

medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series based on the real life of Dr. Kathy Magliato, as described in her book ''Heart Matters''. It stars

Melissa George Melissa George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian actress and entrepreneur. A former national artistic rollerskating champion and model, George began her acting career playing Angel Parrish in the Australian soap opera Home and Away (1993– ...

as Alex Panttiere, a world-renowned heart-transplant surgeon at the fictional St. Matthew's Hospital in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, who struggles to balance her personal and professional life. The series premiered on March 22, 2016, on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. On May 13, 2016

canceled the series after one season.

Plot

Alex Panttiere is a cardio-thoracic surgeon, and a very good one. She has just been appointed to a senior role at a major hospital. While this brings more responsibility, it does not dull her rebelliousness or unconventional methods.

Cast

Main

as Dr. Alexandra Panttiere, the new Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of St. Matthew's hospital, a cutting-edge

research hospital A university hospital is an institution which combines the services of a hospital with the education of medical students and with medical research. These hospitals are typically affiliated with a medical school or university. The following is a l ...

. She has a very idiosyncratic personality, and is constantly dealing with demons from her past history at the hospital. *

Dave Annable David Rodman Annable (born September 15, 1979) is an American actor. His roles include Justin Walker on the ABC television drama '' Brothers & Sisters'' (2006–11), Henry Martin on the ABC supernatural drama ''666 Park Avenue'' (2012–13), and ...

as Dr. Pierce Harrison, Alex's boyfriend and fellow surgeon. *

Don Hany Don Hany (born 18 September 1975) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role in the series ''White Collar Blue'', Dr. Chris Havel in ''Offspring'', and the leading role of Zane Malik in the SBS series '' East West 101''. He is also ...

as Dr. Jesse Shane, chief of surgery at St. Matthews, and Alex's former mentor from when she interned at the hospital. *

Shelley Conn Shelley Deborah Conn (born 21 September 1976) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Lady Mary Sharma in the hugely successful Netflix series ''Bridgerton'', as Isabella in the film ''Love Sarah'', as Dr Elizabeth Shan ...

as Dr. Millicent Silvano, hospital administrator. She is a stickler for procedure and the rules, much to Alex's chagrin. *

Joshua Leonard Joshua Granville Leonard (born June 17, 1975) is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his role in ''The Blair Witch Project'' (1999). He has since starred in films such as '' Madhouse'' (2004), '' The Shaggy Dog'' (2006), '' Higher G ...

as Max Elliot, Alex's gay ex-husband *

Maya Erskine Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

as Nurse Ji-Sung *

D. L. Hughley Darryl Lynn Hughley (; born March 6, 1963) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hughley is best known as the original host of BET's ''ComicView'' from 1992 to 1993, the eponymous character on the ABC/ UPN sitcom ''The Hughleys'', and as ...

as Dr. Myron Hackett, hospital psychiatrist *

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He has played Randy Meeks in the ''Scream'' franchise (1996–2000) and a multitude of characters in ''The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' (2002–2004) on The WB. His othe ...

as Dr. Casey Callahan, a surgeon in the hospital. *

JLouis Mills JLouis Mills is an American actor best known for the television series '' Heartbeat''. In 2013, Mills lost vision in one eye which soon became discolored, causing him to wear an eyepatch. Before landing his role on ''Heartbeat'' Mills worked as ...

as Dr. Forester, the resident anesthesiologist who is blind in one eye.

Recurring

*Caitlyn Larimore as Lynn *Greyson Foster as Gabrielle Elliot *Rudy Martinez as Marty *Adlu Fahrezy as Rudi

Episodes

Production

NBC picked up the pilot to series under the name ''Heartbreaker'' in May 2015. The series was moved to a midseason release due to George's real-life pregnancy. In December 2015, NBC changed the title from ''Heartbreaker'' to ''Heartbeat''. The pilot was filmed in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, with the remainder of the season filmed at

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

Reception

''Heartbeat'' has received negative reviews among critics. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 17% approval rating. The site's critical consensus reads: "''Heartbeat'' is a Frankensteined drama made up of hospital genre cliches and unlikable characters, though the cases-of-the-week are sporadically interesting." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the series holds a score of 37 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 4481266, Heartbeat 2016 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American LGBT-related comedy television series 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2010s American medical television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television shows based on non-fiction books Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Los Angeles