HeartBeat (1988 TV series)

This article is about the 1988 ABC series. For the 1992 ITV series, see Heartbeat (British TV series). For the 2016 NBC series, see Heartbeat (2016 TV series).

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
Original release
Network	ABC
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

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	7		March 23, 1988 (1988-03-23)	April 21, 1988 (1988-04-21)
2	12		January 3, 1989 (1989-01-03)	March 30, 1989 (1989-03-30)

Season 1 (1988)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Rating/share (households)
1	1	"Pilot"	Harry Winer	Sara Davidson	March 23, 1988 (1988-03-23)	14.7/25^[8]
2	2
3	3	"Where's Solomon When You Need Him?"	Gene Reynolds	William A. Schwartz	March 30, 1988 (1988-03-30)	14.0/23^[9]
4	4	"Two Out of Six"	Gene Reynolds	William A. Schwartz	April 6, 1988 (1988-04-06)	12.3/22^[10]
5	5	"Cory's Loss"	Gene Reynolds	Sara Davidson & William A. Schwartz	April 13, 1988 (1988-04-13)	12.3/21^[11]
6	6	"To Heal a Doctor"	Dale White	William A. Schwartz & Sara Davidson	April 20, 1988 (1988-04-20)	12.4/22^[12]
7	7	"The Wedding"	Gene Reynolds	Dan Wakefield	April 21, 1988 (1988-04-21)	8.8/15^[12]

Season 2 (1989)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)	Rating/share (households)
7	1	"Paradise Lost"	Bill Duke	Sara Davidson & Frederick Rappaport	January 3, 1989 (1989-01-03)	17.3^[13]	12.7/21^[13]
8	2	"Bivouac Babies"	Michael Fresco	Sara Davidson, Frederick Rappaport, William A. Schwartz, Doug Steinberg, Joe Viola	January 5, 1989 (1989-01-05)	8.3^[13]	6.7/11^[13]
9	3	"Critical Overload"	Reza Badiyi	Sara Davidson & Carol Mendelsohn	January 12, 1989 (1989-01-12)	9.4^[14]	7.0/11^[14]
10	4	"Stress"	Nancy Malone	Sara Davidson & Robert Harders	January 19, 1989 (1989-01-19)	10.1^[15]	7.1/11^[15]
11	5	"Baby, Maybe"	Robert Becker	Sara Davidson, Frederick Rappaport, Doug Steinberg	January 26, 1989 (1989-01-26)	9.4^[16]	7.2/12^[16]
12	6	"Prison"	Al Waxman	Sara Davidson & Robert Harders	February 2, 1989 (1989-02-02)	9.9^[17]	7.5/12^[17]
13	7	"South and a Little to the Right of Eden"	Kim Friedman	Sara Davidson, William A. Schwartz, Doug Steinberg	February 16, 1989 (1989-02-16)	6.9^[18]	5.6/9^[18]
14	8	"Last Tango"	Helaine Head	Sara Davidson & Doris Silverton	February 23, 1989 (1989-02-23)	6.7^[19]	5.4/9^[19]
15	9	"From Russia With Love"	Al Waxman	Sara Davidson, Frederick Rappaport, Doug Steinberg	March 9, 1989 (1989-03-09)	7.9^[20]	6.3/11^[20]
16	10	"Gestalt and Battery"	Gwen Arner	Sara Davidson & Julie Sayres	March 16, 1989 (1989-03-16)	8.2^[21]	6.3/11^[21]
17	11	"Confidentially Yours"	Greg Rose	Sara Davidson, Frederick Rappaport, Doug Steinberg	March 23, 1989 (1989-03-23)	10.8^[22]	8.1/14^[22]
18	12	"What the Inspector Saw"	Robert Becker	Sara Davidson, Jennie Blackton, Joanne Greenberg, Robert Harders	March 30, 1989 (1989-03-30)	7.3^[23]	5.2/9^[23]

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

1. Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Ninth ed.). Ballantine Books. p. 596. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
2. "No glitz, no glitter here". Daily News. New York, New York. January 3, 1989. p. 97. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.  
3. Ringer, Ronald Jeffrey, ed. (1994). "6. Whose Desire? Lesbian (Non)Sexuality and Television's Perpetuation of Hetero/Sexism, by Darlene M. Hantzis and Valerie Lehr". Queer Words, Queer Images: Communication and the Construction of Homosexuality (1st ed.). New York University Press. p. 107. ISBN 0-8147-7440-7.
4. Toepfer, Susan; Hutchings, David (April 25, 1988). "Is Prime Time Ready for Its First Lesbian? Gail Strickland Hopes So—and She's About to Find Out". People. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
5. Capsuto, Steven (2000). Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television, 1930s to the Present (1st ed.). Ballantine Books. pp. 240-242. ISBN 0-345-41243-5.
6. Maya Salam (29 November 2019). "The Very (Very) Slow Rise of Lesbianism on TV - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
7. Aaron Spelling : A Prime Time Life : An Autobiography (1996)
8. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. March 30, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest 305993024.
9. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. April 6, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest 306060935.
10. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. April 13, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest 306023207.
11. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. April 20, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest 306035713.
12. "Nielsen ratings". Life. USA Today. April 27, 1988. p. 3D. ProQuest 306042628.
13. "NBC, laughing all the way". USA Today. January 11, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306165080.
14. "NBC clinches season's ratings title". Life. USA Today. January 18, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306171627.
15. "NBC scores super ratings". Life. USA Today. January 25, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306147740.
16. "Midseason entries boost NBC". Life. USA Today. February 1, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306144802.
17. "Comedies sweep up for NBC". Life. USA Today. February 8, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306179902.
18. "NBC's back alone on top". Life. USA Today. February 22, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306175741.
19. "CBS up despite Grammy drop". Life. USA Today. March 1, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306152931.
20. "NBC, in front with 'Left Behind'". Life. USA Today. March 15, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306172200.
21. "Glad tidings for all networks". Life. USA Today. March 22, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306198820.
22. "A 'Brewster' boost for ABC". Life. USA Today. March 29, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306173300.
23. "ABC's roller-coaster week". Life. USA Today. April 5, 1989. p. 3D. ProQuest 306171172.
24. Tropiano, Stephen (2002). The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (1st ed.). Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. pp. 44-46. ISBN 1-55783-557-8.
25. "GLAAD Media Awards: 1990 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 1 July 2018.

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

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