HeartBeat is an American medical drama television series that premiered on ABC on March 23, 1988, and ran for two seasons.[1]

HeartBeat
HeartBeat title card
Genre	Medical drama
Created by	Sara Davidson
Starring	Kate Mulgrew Laura Johnson Gail Strickland Ben Masters Lynn Whitfield Julie Ronnie
Theme music composer	Bill Conti
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	18
Production
Executive producers	Esther Shapiro Richard Shapiro Aaron Spelling
Producer	George Eckstein
Running time	48 mins.
Production company	Aaron Spelling Productions
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	March 23, 1988 (1988-03-23) – March 30, 1989 (1989-03-30)

Plot

HeartBeat follows the staff of Women's Medical Arts, a medical center founded by three women who are frustrated with how women's health concerns are addressed in the male-dominated medical field.

Cast and characters

Main

• Kate Mulgrew as Dr. Joanne Springsteen/Halloran, co-founder of the clinic (the character's name was changed from Springsteen to Halloran in season 2)
• Laura Johnson as Dr. Eve Autrey/Calvert, co-founder of the clinic (the character's name was changed from Autrey to Calvert in season 2)
• Gail Strickland as Nurse Marilyn McGrath, a nurse practitioner and co-founder of the clinic
• Lynn Whitfield as Dr. Cory Banks
• Ben Masters as Dr. Leo Rosetti
• Darrell Larson as Dr. Paul Jared
• Julie Ronnie as Nurse Alice Swanson[2]

Recurring

• Gina Hecht as Patty, long-term partner of Marilyn McGrath

Development and production

The fictional Women's Medical Arts clinic was based on the Santa Monica Women's Clinic in Santa Monica, California. Dr. Karen Blanchard (OBGYN), the clinic's founder, served as a model for the character played by Kate Mulgrew.[3]

Groundbreaking lesbian content

HeartBeat was the first prime time television series in the United States to feature a recurring lesbian couple on prime-time, and a lesbian as a main character, Marilyn McGrath; she had a partner Patty, in a long-term lesbian relationship.[4][5][6] The show won GLAAD’s first Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 1990, which it shared with L.A. Law.[6] However, in his autobiography, Aaron Spelling stated that ABC demanded a scene in which Marilyn dances with Patty be cut.[7]

Release

Broadcast

HeartBeat debuted on Wednesday, March 23, 1988, at 9 p.m. (Eastern) as a special two-hour pilot; moving to its regular broadcast time of 10 p.m. the following week. For the second season, the schedule was changed to Thursday at 10:00 p.m. This programming made it compete with L.A. Law, one of the most popular series at the time. HeartBeat did not perform well in the ratings and was canceled at the end of its second season. The series finale aired on April 6, 1989.[1]

Episodes

Season 1 (1988)

Season 2 (1989)

Reception

HeartBeat is praised by LGBT television historians for its inclusion of Marilyn and Patty as a couple, and for their sexual orientation being treated as a non-issue. However, ABC received criticism because unlike the heterosexual characters, Marilyn and Patty were not permitted to be sexual or physically affectionate with each other.[24] The feminist content and context of HeartBeat have been studied by feminist cultural critics.

Awards and nominations

HeartBeat was nominated for the 1989 People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama.^{[citation needed]}

It received the first-ever GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 1990 (shared with L.A. Law).[25]

References

Further reading

• Abelove, Henry; Barale, Michéle Aina; Halperin, David M., eds. (1993). "11. Television/Feminism: HeartBeat and Prime Time Lesbianism, by Sasha Torres". The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 176–185. ISBN 978-0415905190.
• Carter, Cynthia; Steiner, Linda, eds. (2004). "Old Strategies for New Texts: How American Television is Creating and Treating Lesbian Characters, by Marguerite J. Moritz". Critical Readings: Media And Gender (1st ed.). Open University Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0335210985.
• Jamie Z. (February 25, 2014). "Your Guide to Ladies Loving Ladies on Television". House of Geekery.
• Tyer, Christopher (December 26, 2018). "Giving a 'Heartbeat' to Lesbians". About Magazine.
• HeartBeat at TotallyKate.com.

External links

• HeartBeat at the BFI Film & TV Database
• HeartBeat at IMDb 
• HeartBeat at epguides.com
• HeartBeat at TV Guide