History Series / DrQuinnMedicineWoman

* CircusEpisode: A traveling circus comes to town and entices the townspeople to participate.

** Ethan Cooper, Charlotte's husband, heard about a GoldRush and got the wild idea to sell the family farm and drag them all to Pikes Peak to strike it rich. When that didn't pan out, he basically ran out on his whole family and found himself a new girlfriend. When he finally comes back after Charlotte's death, Brian and Colleen, who were so young that they didn't remember the rotten thing he did, only good things- and the fact that Charlotte coddled them from that knowledge kept them from learning his true nature until a lot later. But Matthew, who is old enough to see the bigger picture, ''clearly'' remembers how he walked on everybody and is seething with anger at his dad. Matthew also tried to hide the truth about Ethan so as not to upset his younger siblings.
** Jake's father Lucius was a raging alcoholic responsible for neglecting Jake's younger brother and sister to the point he forgot to get a doctor when they were desperately ill, resulting in their deaths. He became so guilty over what he did that he tried to escape the cold reality by finding gold. He also developed GoldFever like Ethan and left the rest of his family behind, causing his wife Eleanor to become an alcoholic herself who regularly beat Jake with a belt hanging on a ten-penny nail. When Lucius finally wanders back into Jake's life, senile and weakening, Jake takes it as some kind of sick joke that his pop is avoiding the of taking responsibility for what he did. Turns out Lucius really does love Jake and finally found the gold he was looking for.

%%* TheBarber: Jake

%%* TheBarber: Jake

** Dr. Michaela Quinn shows up in the small town she's been hired to be the doctor of, and everyone is expecting a male doctor named Michael. Horace the Western Union Man admits he left the "a" off her signature sent over the wire, to save the town a couple cents of fees, because no one would care what "Dr. Michael A. Quinn"'s middle initial was.

* LoopholeAbuse: Mike uses this a few times whenever she wants to see a significant telegram (usually regarding the military). Horace tells her that he can't show it to her or tell her what was in it, as he took an oath to keep all communications private. Mike responds by telling him that he doesn't look well and that perhaps he should go out and get some air. He leaves, knowing full well that she's going to look at the notepad where he wrote the message.

''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'' is a [[TheWestern western]] TV show starring Creator/JaneSeymourActress as Dr. Michaela "[[TomboyishName Mike]]" Quinn, who takes a post as a doctor in a frontier town. As a woman doctor in a post-Civil War time, she often faces prejudice against women being licensed M.D.s. This was part of the reason she moved away from her hometown of Boston in the first place.

* TearUpTheContract:: Myr is engaged to Horace, but is bound by contract to work at Hank's saloon. Inspired by women taking part in local elections, she decides to leave at once and rips her contract with Hank in half when he refuses to let her go.

* BlackGalOnWhiteGuyDrama: Jake basically falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Theresa, but is reluctant to court her as she's newly widowed and Mexican. Hank of all people basically tells him to stop being an idiot, "It doesn't matter if she's Mexican, it just matters how you feel", but there are still some clashes - her disapproving family nearly puts a halt to things.