MovieChat Forums > Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993) Discussion > Dr. Quinn Medicine (3 seasons) Virgin

Dr. Quinn Medicine (3 seasons) Virgin

posted 8 years ago by theemaster
15 replies | jump to latest

I'm starting to think the worst thing about dr. quinn is the purposely tv elongated relationship of dr. quinn's.. like I can't imagine you could put this on tv today and get away with it and it's not VERY realistic to real life/people.. how many seasons will dr. quinn stay a @#$@#%^@@ hug me or kiss me but keep me a 35+ year old virgin till I'm married?

it's probably really the most unrealistic thing about this show.. just get sully to chop some wood, or throw his ax and all's well in the world.. 

I'm just ending season 2 and their pulling all the David crap.. and now I finally looked up quinn gets married at the end of season 3.. so here's to a whole hell of a lot more.. chopping wood and kissing scenes.. and little pissy break-ups here or there 

In season 2 this david crap is mostly cheap and david's not a good actor/lacks chemistry.. but they did a really good job for the boston episodes and then pulled the cheap spatting stuff..  (so excuse me if I go through it for the first time.. some of these season 2 episodes like the magic one or boston were brilliant.. but then there's fluff to go along with it)

[–] furienna 8 years ago

But you have to consider that Michaela came from a wealthy upper middle class family in the 19th century. And she of course also had a strict mother, who did her best to keep all her five daughters as repsectable as possible. The father seems to have been more liberal-minded, and Michaela was the daddy's girl of the family. But he also happened to pass away many years before his wife did (Mrs Quinn was still alive when the show ended), so she could continue to push her influence on her daughters after her husband's influence had ended. And we also have to consider that Michaela was a feminist, who had to fight very hard to become a woman doctor. So even though she had suitors, was engaged to David and eventually got married to Sully, she was still also really careful to not make a man the top priority in her life... So yeah, it would have been realistic for her to be a 35-year-old virgin. She did after all live in a more conservative era than ours, when especially the upper classes looked down on sex outside marriage. So there is no way that Michaela would "live in sin"...

But you have a point that it was weird that it took Michaela and Sully three years to get married. Especially as there were several other couples on the show (Robert E/Grace, Horace/Myra, Colleen/Andrew and Jake/Teresa), who got married much quicker than that. Then again, when I consider that my own parents were engaged for over three years before they eventually did get married, I guess I have nothing to say about it. And if we look at other TV shows, Fran and Maxwell on "The Nanny", which was on the air at the exact same time as "Dr Quinn" and had a modern-day setting, needed a whopping five years to get their wedding. Maybe we can also imagine that Michaela was careful to not lose her independence, and that Sully had still not quite gotten over his first wife's death. And yeah, Michaela had also believed that her fiancé was dead and had maybe not quite gotten over that blow either...

Intelligence and purity.

[–] theemaster 8 years ago

But you have to consider that Michaela came from a wealthy upper middle class family in the 19th century. And she of course also had a strict mother, who did her best to keep all her five daughters as repsectable as possible. The father seems to have been more liberal-minded, and Michaela was the daddy's girl of the family.

I can't help but see it as a tv milking charade.. but I do get the opposite once their married.. what do you do with your characters?

1 thing that is realistic is how mathew was ready to get married by the end of season 1.. see people back then.. got to the raising a family/f@#^ing or all that right away cause they really had low life expectancy anyway.. so quinn's 35 year old virgin stuff is really just necessarily elongating the relationship cause it's a tv show..

[–] furienna 8 years ago

Yet again, Michaela had been raised in the upper middle class. And in that social class back in the 19th century, there would be many "maiden aunts", who (as far as anyone knew) lived their lives and finally died as virgins. Matthew had a very different background from what Michaela had, so he would have seen things a bit differently. And as you could tell from that episode, many characters still thought that getting married at 17 was too young. Matthew also did agree to wait (even though it unfortunately meant that Ingrid would have to die before they did get married)...

Intelligence and purity.

[–] tvmoviefan49 8 years ago

"But you have a point that it was weird that it took Michaela and Sully three years to get married." Not weird at all. Just as it was commonplace back then for a woman to remain a virgin until she got married, it was also commonplace for couples, especially those from the upper class. to have long engagements. They felt that it would take a long period of time for a couple to really get to know each other well.

[–] wendycscott9 8 years ago

Also, we have to remember, this was a TV show. They actually started out thinking that Sully and Michaela would never get married, but the fans started clamoring for it, and eventually they realized stringing them along like that wasn't really fair. But considering all that, I thought the way these seasons came together was really quite ingenious. You had Sully and Michaela falling in like by the end of the first season although they had that chemistry from the start, they got engaged by the end of the second season, and married by the end of the third, a baby by the end of the fourth, Sully's horrendous cliffhanger at the end of the fifth, and lots of loose ends tied up by the end of the sixth. Considering this wasn't really planned all that far in advance, I thought it was quite serendipitous how it all worked out what with Jane's pregnancy and everything. It seemed like they had this big arc for the storyline, but I know they'd meet with each actor at the beginning of every season and ask them what they thought their characters should be doing in the next year, and their ideas were often used, which could have changed a lot of the plots over time from any original plans. At any rate, for me it worked, and it sure worked for the audience at the time since they had the highest ratings of all the shows in that timeslot. It may have been frustrating how long it took Sully and Michaela to get together, but there were some wonderfully satisfying things that happened along the way. I think it was one of the best romances I've ever seen on TV.

—
"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war, ma'am, a waste of good men." (Poldark)

[–] titus25 8 years ago

They actually started out thinking that Sully and Michaela would never get married

Hi Wendyscott - where did you learn that originally the show had no intention of having M&S marry? The chemistry between them was oozing from their very first meeting in Loren's store in the pilot, so I'm surprised to read that getting them together wasn't the ultimate endgame from the start.

Just curious, what was the show's initial plan for the two characters? Just courting? Or dare I say not even that? Sacrilege!

[–] wendycscott9 8 years ago

As I recall, I heard it from Beth Sullivan. She said at first, they just intended them to be friends or possibly more, but as you say, their chemistry was so good, the fans started demanding more, and they eventually heeded their demands and had them marry. There are many people who thought the show was better before they married although I have met folks who thought it was better after. Everyone has an opinion. LOL I also heard it from Joe Lando. He said something about how they could only string along the fans so long before they raised such a hue and cry they had to resolve their relationship. As it was, it took three years to finally get them hitched.

—
"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war, ma'am, a waste of good men." (Poldark)

[–] titus25 8 years ago

Thanks. Interesting. I have to say, in retrospect it's inconceivable to me that they wouldn't get together. So thank you to the fans who raised a ruckus! :)

[–] wendycscott9 8 years ago

Well, as you say, it was inconceivable to them, too. I actually didn't discover DQMW until after it had been cancelled, so I didn't have anything to do with getting them married or anything else. But I'm happy they raised a ruckus, too.

—
"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war, ma'am, a waste of good men." (Poldark)

[–] furienna 8 years ago

Not weird at all. Just as it was commonplace back then for a woman to remain a virgin until she got married, it was also commonplace for couples, especially those from the upper class. to have long engagements. They felt that it would take a long period of time for a couple to really get to know each other well.

Yeah, I guess. Michaela's engagement to David seems to have been a rather long one too.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] Isableue11 8 years ago

I think all the waiting period is on behalf of Sully. I don't feel that Michaela would have been bothered if he had been more impatient. You see it in "Portrait", and in the pre-nuptial episode. For her, the fact that he has kissed her in public, for her birthday, it's as if they were engaged.
But he is a widower, and was not ready. What I understand very well, and true to Sully's character.

English is not my language, so be gentle

[–] wendycscott9 8 years ago

First, this is TV, not real life, and the love story between Michaela and Sully was one of the things that kept people coming back week after week. They actually had no plans for them to get married at first, but eventually gave in to the demands of the fans who said enough is enough. Second, we can't use today's standards as some sort of yardstick as to how people behaved 150 years ago. It was quite different, depending on which class you were. And Michaela was definitely upper class, not middle class as some have stated. They were rich and had a huge and beautiful house in the best part of Boston. For her to marry someone like Sully would have taken a very long time to happen given her background. Fourth, I actually liked "Return Engagement" even though Michaela was kind of annoying at times. Who knew her fiancé would turn out not to be dead after all? OMG! And they did neat things like have David look at his locket with her picture in it, and it was the one from Somewhere in Time! Also, the ending of that episode was just stunningly romantic with how fabulous he looked splitting that wood LOL and her asking him to marry her, after which he turns away and we can't tell what he's thinking. When he spun her around and they kissed as the camera backed up and away, I just thought that was the best.

BTW, if you don't have the DQ episode guide and you're going through the DVDs or watching on Amazon, you might want one. The shows were often aired out of order, and it really helps when they're in the right order. I'd be happy to send it to you if you send me a private message with your email address.

[–] furienna 8 years ago

Michaela was definitely upper class, not middle class as some have stated.

Well, I said upper middle class. Then again, I guess I saw this from a European perspective. Here in Europe, strict lines would be drawn between the different classes, more so than in the US. The upper class would be the aristocrats and maybe the very richest percentage of the "commoners". And a successful doctor and his family would be upper middle class. Things might have been a bit different over in the US though, of course, as there was no titled aristocracy over there.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] wendycscott9 8 years ago

Exactly, which is not to say we don't have class differences, but they aren't as well drawn here. But a doctor would have been quite well-to-do back in those days. Without a titled upper class, the well-paid professions take their place: doctors, lawyers, and (these days) actors, etc. From what we saw on the show, Michaela's family was quite well off, and her family acted like the haut ton or the fashionable elite. This was one reason why her mother was so upset with her going out West and living in a "shack" as she put it. I would have called it a cabin myself and a cozy one at that. 😏 And don't forget she accused Michaela of associating with "savages" like Sully. ("Savages don't knock, Mother.") LOL

[–] Popcorngal (4347) 4 years ago

I found this out a few months ago, during the run of the show, Joe and Jane were briefly in a relationship.