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China Beach is an ABC network drama series created by William Broyles Jr. & John Sacret Young, starring Dana Delany.
The show aired from April 27, 1988 to July 22, 1991, lasting for four seasons & 62 episodes.
Plot[]
The series took place at an evacuation hospital/USO center during the Vietnam War and Nurse Colleen McMurphy is the principal character of the show, who is pining for her true love, a married doctor while dealing with the patients and other personnel at the base in the South China Sea.
Cast[]
- Dana Delany as Nurse Colleen McMurphy
- Nan Woods as Cherry White (seasons 1–2)
- Michael Boatman as Private Samuel Beckett
- Marg Helgenberger as K.C. Kolowski
- Robert Picardo as Dr. Dick Richard
- Tim Ryan as Captain Bartholomew "Natch" Austen, (regular in season 1; recurring in season 2)
- Concetta Tomei as Major Lila Garreau
- Brian Wimmer as Corporal Boonwell "Boonie" Lanier
- Jeff Kober as Sergeant Evan "Dodger" Winslow
- Chloe Webb as Laurette Barber (season 1)
- Megan Gallagher as Wayloo Marie Holmes (season 2)
- Nancy Giles as Private Frankie Bunsen (seasons 2–4)
- Ned Vaughn as Jeff Hyers (season 3; guest appearances in seasons 2 and 4)
- Troy Evans as Master Sergeant Bob Pepper (seasons 3–4)
- Ricki Lake as Holly Pelegrino (season 3)
Reception[]
"China Beach" was a critically lauded, but poorly rated series.
ABC stuck with the show for four seasons, but the final season was put on hiatus in the fall of 1990 and did not air its finale until July 22, 1991.
As a result of the scheduling, Dana Delany was eligible for (and ultimately won) a "Best Actress Emmy Award" in the fall of 1992, a year after the series broadcast its final episode and over a year and a half after many of the scenes were filmed.