A “very politically correct, wholesome family show”: Jane Seymour’s white, heterosexual femininity in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

Abstract

In January 1993, the US television station CBS premiered a new TV drama about Michaela Quinn—a Boston doctor who moved alone to the Colorado frontier to establish her medical practice. Seymour’s biography played a critical role in the initial promotion of the show. The character of Dr. Quinn, as Seymour played her, was a feminist in the Hillary Rodham Clinton vein, and the show’s drama primarily revolved around Quinn’s gender deviance and issues arising from white patriarchy. Given this progressive, feminist bent, it’s surprising that the show resonated with conservative audiences and, in U.S. syndication, found a home on evangelical Christian networks such as PAX-TV and INSP. Combining media analysis, cultural analysis, and biographical research, this article analyzes how Jane Seymour’s star image and biography enabled Dr. Quinn to interrogate and challenge gender roles while also working to bolster the show’s position as “family values” TV. Ultimately, this analysis reveals the powerful role a star’s biography can play in disseminating ideas to diverse, sometimes potentially resistant, audiences.