''Medical Center'' (also known as ''Calling Dr. Gannon'') is an American medical drama series that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by

MGM Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/dis ...

Plot

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 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' ...

. 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 Audrey Mary Totter (December 20, 1917 – December 12, 2013) was an American radio, film, and television actress and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s. Early life Audrey – some sources indicate "Audra" – Totter w ...

. She started out as a

bit role In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British televisio ...

, 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 Jayne Meadows (born Jane Cotter; September 27, 1919 – April 26, 2015), also known as Jayne Meadows Allen, was an American stage, film and television actress, as well as an author and lecturer. She was nominated for three Emmy Awards duri ...

; and Nurse Murphy played by Jane Dulo) had basically served the same functions as Wilcox.

Cast

* James Daly as Dr. Paul Lochner * Chad Everett as Dr. Joe Gannon * Chris Hutson as Nurse Courtland *

Virginia Hawkins Virginia Hawkins (February 1, 1934 - March 27, 2020) was an American actress, who remains best known for her role in the 1980s television series ''Dynasty'' as maid Jeanette Robbins. She also appeared regularly in the series '' Medical Center'' a ...

as Nurse Evvie Canford * Daniel Silver as Anesthesiologist *

as Nurse Eve Wilcox * Corinne Camacho as Dr. Jeanne Bartlett * Eugene Peterson as Dr. Merrill Weller * Ed Hall as Dr. Stan Bricker *

as Nurse Chambers * Fred Holliday as Dr. Barnes * Jane Adrian as Nurse Joyce Baxter

Production

Pilot

The series'

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, ''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 Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as House Majority Leader under spea ...

, and

Shelley Fabares Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares (; born January 19, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her television roles as Mary Stone on the sitcom ''The Donna Reed Show'' (1958–1963) and as Christine Armstrong on the sitcom ...

. 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. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

on January 12, 2010, as ''Operation Heartbeat''. Warner Archive titles are available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the United States.

Cancellation

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 A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...

on television at that point.

Episodes

Ratings

The show's

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

s are as follows:

Home media

Warner Bros. has released the seven seasons on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in Region 1 via their

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

. These are manufacture-on-demand releases, available exclusively through Warner's online store and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

References

External links

* ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Medical Center (TV Series) 1969 American television series debuts 1976 American television series endings 1970s American medical television series Best Drama Series Golden Globe winners CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by MGM Television Television shows set in Los Angeles