"She is my HEARTSONG!"

When one thinks of T.V. shows of the 90’s, things like Seinfield, Friends, 90210, and even 21 Jump Street (Very young Johnny Depp? Watch it.), come to mind.
But one of the greatest and most underrated television shows to come from the decade of boy bands and ugly clothing was Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman.

Just a few weeks ago, my roommate Susie and I were discussing some of the things we love, even going so far as to discuss our guilty pleasures. Susie suddenly became very serious and turned to me. She bit her lip and giggled a little. “Erin,” she said looking ashamed, “I have always loved the T.V. show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman…” I immediately shot up out of my reclined position in bed and yelled “ME TOO!” We both grinned and giggled, proceeding to talk about how much Dr. Quinn absolutely inspired us both to find a man like Sully and to be our own woman.

This blog is, you guessed it, entirely about the gloriousness of Dr. Quinn.

The main character is Michaela Quinn, the female doctor from Boston that rocks my world. How can a female doctor who adopts 3 random children, moves to the Wild West, and manages to woo a beautiful but rugged mountain man NOT be awesome? She is quite possibly one of the most beautiful women on the planet. And her dresses always seem to be very floofy and girly even though she always gets splattered with blood and guts. She also has a very strong moral compass. She’s always fighting about soe kind of moral dilemma going on in the little town of Colorado Springs. But there is one serious flaw she possesses: the woman does NOT know how to kiss. Every time she and Sully share a kiss, she ends up looking like a dead fish with her lips all puckered out. It’s just no good.

Dr. Mike adopted three random children when their mother unexpectedly died: Matthew, the brooding older brother who ends up being very good looking and kind of a rebel (and gay in real life…dern), Colleen, the girl initially following in Dr. Quinn’s footsteps to be a doctor but instead marrying the marvelous Andrew, and Brian, the goober of a little brother that is just a flat out idiot with a good heart.
In the first season, Matthew and Brian have utterly horrendous girly haircuts that resemble mullets or perhaps something a pilgrim might have had at the first Thanksgiving. Pretty unfortunate if you ask me. But luckily, they got haircuts at the same time and looked just fine. I thought all was well on Dr. Quinn. Oh no. Colleen randomly switched actresses! She was this obnoxious, sort of urgly blonde haired little girl (who happens to be really hot now. I think she was a Bond girl) to a foxy redhead who ends up wooing the handsome Andrew, another town doctor. Apparently, from what I’ve learned on imdb.com, the first Colleen didn’t want to stay on. I’m not complaining about the swap though.

One thing about Matthew that I think is funny. He loves this immigrant girl (can’t remember where on earth she is from) named Ingrid. Ingrid is nice and great for Matthew and they decide to get married. Happy right? False. The writers of the show decided Ingrid needed to DIE. So she gets bitten by some wild animal and dies of rabies. RABIES? Really, Old Yeller?

The other residents of Colorado Springs are what make this show great. Horace, the awkward and weird looking telegraph operator who is in love with Myra, the woman working as a…lady of the night in Hank’s bar. Loren, the nasty old general store owner. Jake the…what does he do? He’s lame. Hank, the bar and brothel/hotel owner. Dorothy (or Theadorthy as we like to call her) the woman the runs the town newspaper and is Dr. Mike’s bestest friend. Robert E. and his wife, Grace (I think), the adorable black couple that make the townies bearable as well as being the owners of a café and horse stable. And the Reverend, who isn’t very reverend-ish because he pursues every unmarried woman in town.

I will finish with my favorite part of the show. Sully…he is my heartsong. His first name is Byron, which is definitely grounds to go by the last name. Only old English poets should go by the name Byron. Sully is a white man that is secretly an Indian. His best friend is named Cloud Dancing (But we call him Dancing Cloud because it rolls off the tongue a little easier) and whenever they see each other they say “Ah-ho!” in greeting. We of Wellington 33 have adopted this method as well. Just don’t yell it across the way or people might think you are pointing out a particularly trashy woman. Back to Sully: he owns the most beautiful dog (a Husky…I want it) and he carries a tomahawk to hurl at people that threaten Michaela. It’s drama all the time with Sully. The only downside to him is that his hair is sick. It’s all long and matted. I mean, he is a mountain man and all, but if you are going to be that beautiful, at least get a haircut, brother.