In Sullivan, executives at CBS Productions believe they have found their own in-house producer who can deliver a steady supply of successful network programs, much in the way that Diane English (“Murphy Brown,” “Love and War”) and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (“Designing Women,” “Evening Shade,” “Hearts Afire”) have done for CBS. If someone dies and we’ve done our job properly, then you can care and weep and have a release just the same way you have a release with a belly laugh.” I think Hollywood has gotten bogged down, both in features and television, thinking that comedic or violent release is the only way to go. “I’ve contended all along that good drama, comedic or tragic, is about catharsis,” Sullivan explained. “It told us that if we can get people to come watch the show, they will really enjoy the experience.” “We subsequently tested four episodes, and each one tested as high, and a couple tested higher than the pilot,” Tortorici said. “You treat that with with some degree of suspicion. “When you get a high test you generally say, ‘OK, that’s nice.’ But it’s probably related mostly to the fact that you have a wonderful pilot with a great story, which does not indicate how good the series will be,” said Peter Tortorici, senior vice president of programming for CBS. After all, this was a standpat, family-appeal series reminiscent of “Little House on the Prairie.” At first, CBS executives had a hard time believing the numbers. The two-hour pilot for “Medicine Woman” tested higher in sample showings than any other series-drama, comedy or reality-in the history of CBS. I mean, thank God I’ve gotten older, and it’s taken some of the edge off of that.”
Because, unfortunately, I look like a Valley cheerleader. “If you see a picture of me on the set to this day, I go in baggy jeans and a big old overcoat and sunglasses and a cap that hides my blond hair. “I always had to fight against a certain image,” said Sullivan, who became an early champion for women’s rights when she was a UCLA fine arts student in the 1970s. She had been steadily building her TV resume for 15 years, writing numerous TV movies, including “The Tracy Thurman Story,” and co-creating “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill” with Barney Rosenzweig. But Sullivan fought for a chance to go at “Medicine Woman” alone.
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