Strong Medicine (Season 1)
| Strong Medicine (Season 1) | |
|---|---|
|
From left to right: Jenifer Lewis, Josh Coxx, Rosa Blasi, Janine Turner, Brennan Elliott and Philip Casnoff. | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Lifetime |
| Original release | July 23, 2000 – March 11, 2001 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of Strong Medicine debuted on Lifetime July 23, 2000 and concluded March 11, 2001 after 22 episodes.
The season introduces Dr. Luisa "Lu" Delgado, a single mother and a doctor who ran the South Philly Women's Clinic until she could no longer fund the inner-city practice. Lu treated lower income patients and is more than just a doctor to her patients, she is a friend. Dr. Dana Stowe is a Harvard graduate and one of the best female health specialists who treats high-income and very affluent patients. The two come together when Dr. Lydia Emerson wants to combine Lu's practice with Rittenhouse Hospital's women's practice to create the Rittenhouse Women's Health Center. Rittenhouse is administered by Dr. Robert "Bob" Jackson, the Rittenhouse Chief of Staff. Lu brings receptionist and her longtime friend Lana Hawkins and nurse/midwife Peter Riggs on board to help keep the practice running smoothly.
Season Overview
Whoopi Goldberg played Dr. Lydia Emerson is several of the series' early episodes. Goldberg was also the show's producer during its six year run.
The first season starts as Lu's free clinic is financially failing and she can't fund the practice anymore. Lu asks that Rittenhouse Hospital adopt her clinic, but Dana is not interested in taking on Lu's facility. The lack of a loan and assistance leaves Lu, Lana, and Peter without a practice and left to close Lu's facility. Dr. Lydia Emerson visits Lu's clinic and she goes to the hospital board to suggest that Lu's practice merge with Rittenhouse Hospital to create the Rittenhouse Women's Health Center and that Lu and Dana run it together. Lu's practice will still offer free health services and Dana can keep her wealthy clientele.
Throughout the first season Lu and Dana clash with each other continuously over the practice and patients. Lu’s patients are mostly low-income, down on their luck and Dana doesn’t approve compared to her highly well off roster of clients.
Lu tries to fit into the clinic and bring her own way of treating patients into the loop of prestigious Rittenhouse. Throughout the season she tries to do the best and whatever she can for her patients, whether she goes against her wishes or gets herself in trouble. Lu also does what she can to be a good mother to her teenage son she had at 16, Marc, who gets into trouble on occasion. She also is put to the test when Marc involved her in his friend’s situations, one that included a friend being an alcoholic – and Marc drinking as well. Marc’s father, Bill, gives Lu problems with Marc staying at his place with his wife and their twin daughters, causing frustration for Lu.
Throughout the season Dana is determined to find a treatment for breast cancer, focusing on her own study to find a cure. Dana discovers her mother has breast cancer and helps her through a mastectomy, while testing positive for the gene herself. She also tries to hide her secret relationship with her intern, Dr. Nick Biancavilla. Dana’s boss and friend, Dr. Robert "Bob" Jackson, puts his trust in Dana when his wife tells Dana she has Multiple Sclerosis. At the end of the season Dana rethinks her position at the hospital after she loses a baby during delivery.
Cast
Regular
|
Recurring
|
Episodes
See also: List of Strong Medicine episodes
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Robert Lieberman | Tammy Ader | July 23, 2000 | 101 |
| In the series premiere, Dr. Lu Delgado’s free women’s clinic is about to be shut down for low funding. Lu seeks the assistance from Rittenhouse Hospital and its women’s surgeon, Dr. Dana Stowe. Rittenhouse and Dana pass on funding Lu’s clinic, causing friction between Lu and Dana. Meanwhile, Dana tries to convince one of her patients that she has ovarian cancer and will not be able to have children and Lu deals with a child abuse situation involving two parents. In the end, Dr. Lydia Emerson makes a plan to merge Lu’s clinic with Rittenhouse Hospital. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Pre-existing Conditions" | Rick Rosenthal | Tammy Ader | July 30, 2000 | 102 |
| Lu and Dana have trouble sharing space at the newly merged practice. One of Lu’s patients’ needs to have a hysterectomy, but the woman believes she has already had one. Lu tracks down a Chinese doctor who lied to the woman, causing Lu to keep tabs on the questionable doctor. Meanwhile, Dana has to tell parents that their child born from a surrogate may be born with a defect that can cause mental disabilities. When the parents inform Dana they no longer want the baby, she tries to convince the surrogate mother to keep the baby. Also, Peter gets in between a patient and her boyfriend, while Lana has technical issues with the new computer system. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Misconceptions" | Rick Wallace | Kathryn Pratt | August 6, 2000 | 103 |
| Dana treats a patient of Lu’s who is HIV positive, but Dana is concerned when she learns the mother is no longer giving him medication at Lu’s consent. This causes a disagreement between her and Lu, especially when Dana involves Dr. Jackson in the situation. Meanwhile, Dana is being featured on a news piece and the interviewer wants her help conceiving with her husband, who doesn’t share his wife’s interest in parenthood. She later gets a surprise when it’s not her husband she wants a baby with – it’s his sister. Also, Lu’s son, Marc, wants to live with his father. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Second Look" | Michael Lange | R.J. Anderson | August 13, 2000 | 104 |
| Lu deals with a former drug addict patient who she thinks is using again, but she discovers she has Lupus and tries to keep the woman on the straight and narrow. Meanwhile, a former beauty pageant queen and friend of Dana’s ask that she perform extensive plastic surgery on her, but Dana refuses to perform the procedure. After her friend lands in the ER, Dana rethinks her decision until the husband convinces Dana and his wife that he likes her the way she is. Also, Marc goes to Peter with adolescent issues as he tries to figure out why a transvestite is having menopausal side effects. And, two young teenagers vandalize the clinic, so Lu and Lana come up with a way for them to make amends. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Performance Anxiety" | Martha Mitchell | Jeremy R. Littman | August 20, 2000 | 105 |
| When a girls basketball player falls during a game Lu discovers the girl is taking steroids. This leads her to test the entire team, causing uproar among the players and their coach. Meanwhile, a Jane Doe is rushed to the ER and has Dana’s information in her purse. The patient goes into a coma, leaving Dana without any family contact for her patient. Dana also questions her relationship with Nick. Lana meanwhile suspects a reverend of inappropriate acts. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Drug Interactions" | Sarah Pia Anderson | Allison Robbins | August 27, 2000 | 106 |
| Dana suspects abuse when Bob’s wife, Susan, comes to the hospital with bruises. She questions Bob only to learn that she has Multiple Sclerosis. Meanwhile, one of Lu’s drug addict patients gets on board with a woman who runs an orphanage for children of addicts - who pays the addicts to get their tubes tied. Later, Marc gets into trouble after Lu buys him an expensive game as a gift. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Do No Harm" | Steve DeJarnatt | Richard Alexander | September 3, 2000 | 107 |
| While a council woman is getting checked at the clinic a gang member comes in and shoots, wounding both the council woman and one of Lu’s patients, who is also a gang member. The council woman needs a liver transplant as an effect of the shooting and Lu’s patient, Trini, is a match. Trini and her mother, Marisol, refuse the transplant at first, but to teach Trini a lesson, Marisol gives the council woman part of her own liver. Meanwhile, Peter treats a woman who may have PTSD from the war when she lived in Cambodia. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Miracle Cure" | Jerry London | Carla Kettner | September 10, 2000 | 108 |
| One of Lu’s old friends, Meredith, shows up at the clinic because she is worried about her daughter. Lu discovers the girl has Tay-sachs, but the parents are in denial of helping her. A trip to Meredith’s mother has the mother revealing to Lu that Meredith was adopted. Meredith and her husband disagree about bringing any more children into the world since they are carriers of the disease. Meanwhile, Dana’s pilot patient has a brain disorder, causing her to no longer be able to fly planes. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Dependency" | Steve Robman | Allison Robbins | October 8, 2000 | 109 |
| Dana tries to help the wife of a powerful real estate developer when she finds out the husband is abusive. Meanwhile, a construction worker has his eyes set on Lu, but she begins to get defensive due to her past history. Also, a foster guardian brings one of her children to Lu thinking he has ADHD, but Lu soon discovers the guardian is the one taking the boy’s medication. | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "BRCA1" | Joe Napolitano | Tammy Ader & Richard Alexander | October 15, 2000 | 110 |
| Dana’s decreased progress in breast cancer research has her in a frustrated state, especially with the arrival of her parents during an important speech about her study. Meanwhile, Lu tries to get one of her patients time off work after the woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. Later, Dana’s mother discloses that she herself has breast cancer. | ||||||
| 11 | 11 | "BRCA2" | Steve DeJarnatt | Richard Alexander | October 15, 2000 | 111 |
| Dana takes a leave from the clinic to be with her mother during her mastectomy, leaving Lu in charge of her patients. Dana tries to get her father to come to Philadelphia to be with her mother during the procedure. Lu’s talk at a preparatory school doesn’t go well after one of the students comes to Lu for the morning after pill, and later for rape. Meanwhile, Peter takes an alternative approach to helping one of Dana’s patients who has Hodgkins, and Peter and the patient end up in jail because of it. Dana and Lu get tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. | ||||||
| 12 | 12 | "Brainchild" | Scott Paulin | TBA | October 29, 2000 | 112 |
| Marc suspects one of his friends is an alcoholic and brings it to Lu’s attention after he brings the girl into the clinic. The mother won’t accept this, especially after the girl tells Lu that Marc has been drinking too. Meanwhile, one of Dana’s patients with Parkinson’s wants to try an experimental procedure involving aborted fetal cells. And, Peter falls for a patient he helps who has severe migraine attacks. | ||||||
| 13 | 13 | "Second Opinion" | Martha Mitchell | Jeremy R. Littman | December 3, 2000 | 113 |
| A young girl comes to the hospital with injuries related to a circumcision that was brought on by a cultural ritual from her family. Meanwhile, one of Lu’s patients is diagnosed with fibromyalgia and is let go from her job as well as denied disability coverage. Lu also prepares herself to get intimate with Jack. And, Lana and Peter treat a stray dog. | ||||||
| 14 | 14 | "Side Effects" | John Perrin Flynn | Jeremy R. Littman | December 10, 2000 | 114 |
| Dana finds herself in the middle of a mother and father to be when one insists on performing surgery to correct a possible defect in their unborn son. Meanwhile, Lu treats a schizophrenic woman she finds on the street. The woman gets help, but when her meds are switched at Bob’s signature she stops taking them due to the side effects and ends up killing another woman at the shelter she stays at. The situation puts Lu in a lose-lose corner. Also, Dana suspects Lana knows about her relationship with Nick. | ||||||
| 15 | 15 | "Blessed Events" | Mike Fash | Jeremy R. Littman | December 17, 2000 | 115 |
| A young engaged couple discovers that the bride to be is pregnant – but the girl is a virgin. Dana tries to figure out how the girl could conceive. Meanwhile, Bob fires a kitchen worker after she appears to be drunk, but Lu isn’t convinced she is drunk and tests her to find she has Lou Gehrig’s disease. Marc meanwhile develops a crush on a runaway teen who comes to the clinic for the Christmas dinner. | ||||||
| 16 | 16 | "Fix" | Steve DeJarnatt | Richard Alexander | January 7, 2001 | 116 |
| A deaf family refuses to have cochlear implants when the experiment is only viable on the mother and daughter, not the husband. Lu tries to convince the father to let his family be able to hear, but he puts Lu on the spot claiming she wants them to be someone they’re not. Lu also introduces Jack to Marc, but it leads Jack to rethink his relationship with Lu. Meanwhile, one of Dana’s patients comes to her wanting help stop using needles without the standard rehab cure. Also, Lana’s numbers hit on the lottery and she wants to split it with Peter but he won’t have it. | ||||||
| 17 | 17 | "Maternity" | Carl Weathers | Carla Kettner | January 14, 2001 | 117 |
| A mother suffers depression after the birth of her baby and comes to Dana for help. Dana tries to help her husband after the woman runs away from her family. Meanwhile, Dana meets Nick’s mother for the first time, but it ends up putting Dana on thin ice. Lu helps a woman whose toxic building triggers early menopause, which also motivates Lu to help the residents of the building to leave – much to their dismay. | ||||||
| 18 | 18 | "Complications" | Joe Napolitano | Richard Alexander | January 21, 2001 | 118 |
| A 12-year-old girl is diagnosed with gonorrhea and tells Lu her teacher is responsible. After the teacher is arrested, Marc informs Lu that the teacher could never be responsible for that causing Lu to question the patient’s honesty. Meanwhile, Dana has two pregnant women whose babies have the same father – but neither woman knows. And, Lu recommends that Lana get treated for utero complications, which could include a possible hysterectomy. | ||||||
| 19 | 19 | "Childcare" | Michael Lange | Jeremy R. Littman | February 18, 2001 | 119 |
| A mother brings her young daughter with autism to the clinic to see Lu. The mother becomes convinced that the medication Lu prescribed to help find the girl’s diagnosis is a cure for her not speaking. Lu tries to convince the mother otherwise. Meanwhile, Dana is caught between a mother and her son-in-law when it comes to the man’s wife being taken off life support. In the middle of the battle Dana and Bob take a flight for a conference and Dana must deliver a baby in flight. Also, Peter tries to help a patient learn how to dance like her husband. | ||||||
| 20 | 20 | "Drugstore Cowgirl" | Jerry London | Carla Kettner | February 25, 2001 | 120 |
| Dana treats a dying priest who is transgender. The priest contracted a disease while on a mission trip and Dana is unsure how to proceed when the church wants to move the priest to the church’s hospital. Meanwhile, a local pharmacy won’t carry certain high-priced drugs that Lu’s patients need so Lu convinces the pharmacist to stock them and advertises the store in return. Later the pharmacy is robbed and the pharmacist is killed. | ||||||
| 21 | 21 | "Wednesday Night Fever" | Steve DeJarnatt | Jeremy R. Littman | March 4, 2001 | 121 |
| During a Wednesday night all hours shift Lu treats a woman whose baby is cut out of her and kidnapped, a taxi driver who has been raped, and Bob’s wife’s deteriorating MS condition. In between she also has to deal with Bill and his family problems concerning Marc. Meanwhile, Lana goes on a date with a man she met online and it ends up with him in the ER. Peter meanwhile helps a college patient with back problems. | ||||||
| 22 | 22 | "Motrality" | John Perrin Flynn | Richard Alexander | March 11, 2001 | 122 |
| In the first season finale, Lu tries to the treat the mother who goes on a hungry strike until her son is no longer on the line to be executed for murder. Peter and Lana help a woman who has a phobia against bald men. Meanwhile, Dana rethinks staying at Rittenhouse after a woman loses her baby when she believed she should’ve had a C-section and Dana talks her out of it leaving Dana feeling responsible. Nick becomes homeless and Bob discovers his relationship with Dana when Nick moves in with Dana. | ||||||
DVD Release
The show's first season was released on DVD January 10, 2006. To date it is the only season of the series to be released on DVD.
References
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.