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

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