Heartbeat (2016 TV series)

This article is about the 2016 NBC series. For the 1988 ABC series, see HeartBeat (1988 TV series).

Heartbeat
Genre	Medical drama Comedy drama
Based on	Heart Matters by Kathy Magliato
Developed by	Jill Gordon
Starring	Melissa George Dave Annable Don Hany Shelley Conn Joshua Leonard Maya Erskine D. L. Hughley Jamie Kennedy JLouis Mills
Composer	Jon Ehrlich & Jason Derlatka
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10
Production
Executive producers	Jill Gordon Amy Brenneman Brad Silberling Robert Duncan McNeill
Producers	Susie Schelling Yolonda Lawrence
Running time	43 minutes
Production companies	P.D. Oliver Inc Molly Bloom Productions Reveal Universal Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	March 22 (2016-03-22) – May 25, 2016 (2016-05-25)

Heartbeat (formerly Heartbreaker during production) ^[1] is an American medical comedy-drama television series based on the real life of Dr. Kathy Magliato, as described in her book Heart Matters. It stars Melissa George as Alex Panttiere, a world-renowned heart-transplant surgeon at the fictional St. Matthew's Hospital in Los Angeles, who struggles to balance her personal and professional life. ^{[2] [3] [4]} The series premiered on March 22, 2016, on NBC. ^[5] On May 13, 2016, NBC canceled the series after one season. ^[6]

Plot

Alex Panttiere is a cardio-thoracic surgeon, and a very good one. She has just been appointed to a senior role at a major hospital. While this brings more responsibility, it does not dull her rebelliousness or unconventional methods.

Cast

Main

• Melissa George as Dr. Alexandra Panttiere, the new Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of St. Matthew's hospital, a cutting-edge research hospital. She has a very idiosyncratic personality, and is constantly dealing with demons from her past history at the hospital. ^[7]
• Dave Annable as Dr. Pierce Harrison, Alex's boyfriend and fellow surgeon. ^[7]
• Don Hany as Dr. Jesse Shane, chief of surgery at St. Matthews, and Alex's former mentor from when she interned at the hospital. ^[7]
• Shelley Conn as Dr. Millicent Silvano, hospital administrator. She is a stickler for procedure and the rules, much to Alex's chagrin. ^[7]
• Joshua Leonard as Max Elliot, Alex's gay ex-husband ^[7]
• Maya Erskine as Nurse Ji-Sung ^[7]
• D. L. Hughley as Dr. Myron Hackett, hospital psychiatrist ^[7]
• Jamie Kennedy as Dr. Casey Callahan, a surgeon in the hospital. ^[7]
• JLouis Mills as Dr. Forester, the resident anesthesiologist who is blind in one eye. ^[7]

Recurring

• Caitlyn Larimore as Lynn
• Greyson Foster as Gabrielle Elliot
• Rudy Martinez as Marty
• Adlu Fahrezy as Rudi

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	US viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Robert Duncan McNeill	Story by : Jill Gordon Teleplay by : Jill Gordon	March 22, 2016 (2016-03-22)	6.30 [8]
We are thrown into the life of successful heart surgeon and CIO of St. Matthew's Hospital, Dr. Alexandra Panttiere (Melissa George), as she struggles dealing with her intertwining professional and personal lives. Alex must find a heart for a patient when the one originally given to her was taken by another patient. When the patient's boyfriend kills himself in order to give his heart to her, Alex goes up against the hospital administrators to perform an unapproved heart transplant.
2	"Twins"	Allison Liddi-Brown	Jill Gordon	March 23, 2016 (2016-03-23)	5.16 [9]
Alex uses "lights and sirens" to get to the hospital faster, to the angst of Dr. Patel. Shane hands over to Alex the treatment of twins (Justina Machado), joined at the back and side and sharing one lung, one of whom has cancer. Alex must figure out how to operate on one of them without hurting or killing the other or both.
3	"Backwards"	Reginald Hudlin	Jill Gordon	March 30, 2016 (2016-03-30)	4.75 [10]
When a patient (Nick Thurston) comes into the ER talking backwards, the doctors want to perform a cutting edge stem cell injection into his brain to repair the damage that was caused by an injury sustained in a car accident. When an earthquake strikes during the surgery and breaks the tank holding the blood that was removed, the surgical team races against the clock to bring the patient back to life. Meanwhile, Alex and Harrison's relationship takes a twist, and Millicent makes them sit in therapy with Dr. Hackett.
4	"100,000 Heartbeats"	Helen Shaver	Mark B. Perry	April 6, 2016 (2016-04-06)	3.90 [11]
The hospital wants to try an experimental cancer treatment that was tested in Mumbai, India with 90% success, with the risk being immediate death to the patient. However, when Harrison is frank with the subjects regarding the risks, they all back out, much to Alex's angst. She posts an ad on Craigslist to find more candidates, causing a ruckus in the hospital as they need to decide which patients to accept and whom to turn down. Meanwhile, Alex and Harrison's relationship continues to struggle, and Max's Boyfriend asks him to marry him, resulting in an awkward situation for him and Alex.
5	"The Land of Normal"	Allison Liddi-Brown	Jennifer Cecil	April 20, 2016 (2016-04-20)	3.96 [12]
Alex tries to learn to use a new robot in order to operate on a patient who cannot have open heart surgery. Millicent begins to sleep with the artist who is doing a sculpture in the hospital. Alex deals with her socially awkward son.
6	"The Inverse"	Liz Friedlander	Lynn Sternberger	April 27, 2016 (2016-04-27)	4.49 [13]
When a patient with backwards organs, that Alex and Millicent almost lost their jobs on saving 10 years previously, dies from complications, forces them to work with Dr. Shane to overcome the many obstacles present to re-transplant the heart into another reluctant patient. Meanwhile, Harrison must deal with Alex's son's head lice.
7	"Permanent Glitter"	Allison Liddi-Brown	Mike Lyons	May 4, 2016 (2016-05-04)	4.15 [14]
When a transgender woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, Alex and Ji-Sung fight to save her life and her identity. Meanwhile, a beautiful consultant from another hospital forces Jesse to confront his feelings for Alex.
8	"Match Game"	Ed Ornelas	Cindy Appel	May 11, 2016 (2016-05-11)	4.34 [15]
When Alex's father needs a new kidney, a surprising donor is revealed; family secrets put a father and daughter's relationship in jeopardy.
9	"Sanctuary"	Sarah Pia Anderson	Cindy Appel & Mike Lyons	May 18, 2016 (2016-05-18)	3.86 [16]
Dr. Alex Panttiere makes her best effort to bring the dying wish of a young heart patient to fruition.
10	"What Happens in Vegas...Happens"	Allison Liddi-Brown	Story by : Yolonda Lawrence & Lynn Sternberger Teleplay by : Jill Gordon & Yolonda Lawrence	May 25, 2016 (2016-05-25)	4.26 [17]
Alex struggles to save the lives of Jesse, Pierce and Ji-Sung after a deadly sickness throws the hospital into lockdown; Millicent is left picking up the pieces after Alex defies CDC orders.

Production

NBC picked up the pilot to series under the name Heartbreaker in May 2015. ^[2] The series was moved to a midseason release due to George's real-life pregnancy. ^[18] In December 2015, NBC changed the title from Heartbreaker to Heartbeat. ^[1] The pilot was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the remainder of the season filmed at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

Reception

Heartbeat has received negative reviews among critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 17% approval rating. The site's critical consensus reads: "Heartbeat is a Frankensteined drama made up of hospital genre cliches and unlikable characters, though the cases-of-the-week are sporadically interesting." ^[19] On Metacritic, the series holds a score of 37 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". ^[20]

Ratings

Viewership and ratings per episode of Heartbeat

No.	Title	Air date	Rating/share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	DVR (18–49)	DVR viewers (millions)	Total (18–49)	Total viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	March 22, 2016	1.4/5	6.30 [8]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2	"Twins"	March 23, 2016	0.9/4	5.16 [9]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
3	"Backwards"	March 30, 2016	0.9/3	4.75 [10]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
4	"100,000 Heartbeats"	April 6, 2016	0.7/3	3.90 [11]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
5	"The Land of Normal"	April 20, 2016	0.7/3	3.96 [12]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
6	"The Inverse"	April 27, 2016	0.8/3	4.49 [13]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
7	"Permanent Glitter"	May 4, 2016	0.8/3	4.15 [14]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
8	"Match Game"	May 11, 2016	0.7/3	4.34 [15]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
9	"Sanctuary"	May 18, 2016	0.7/3	3.86 [16]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
10	"What Happens in Vegas...Happens"	May 25, 2016	0.7/3	4.26 [17]	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

References

1. "Heartbreaker - NBC Changes Title". SpoilerTV. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
2. Andreeva, Nellie (May 1, 2015). "NBC Picks Up Dramas 'Blindspot', 'Chicago Med' & 'Heartbreaker' To Series". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved January 7, 2016.
3. Wagmeister, Elizabeth (May 1, 2015). "NBC Orders 'Chicago Med' Spinoff, Greg Berlanti Thriller & Medical Soap 'Heartbreaker'". Variety. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
4. Hibberd, James (May 1, 2015). "NBC greenlights 3 shows for next season, including Chicago Fire spinoff". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
5. Porter, Rick (January 22, 2016). "NBC spring 2016 premiere dates: 'Carmichael Show' and 'Crowded' form Sunday comedy block". TV By the Numbers. Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
6. Porter, Rick (May 13, 2016). "'Game of Silence,' 'Telenovela,' 'Crowded,' 'Undateable' and 'Heartbeat' canceled at NBC". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
7. "About Heartbreaker & Cast Bios". NBC.com. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
8. Porter, Rick (March 23, 2016). "Tuesday final ratings: 'The Voice' adjusts up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 26, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
9. Porter, Rick (March 24, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Survivor', 'Goldbergs', 'Criminal Minds' and 'Chicago P.D.' all adjust up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 26, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
10. Porter, Rick (March 31, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Empire' adjusts up, 'Survivor,' and 'Beyond Borders' adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
11. Porter, Rick (April 7, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Empire' and 'Modern Family' adjust up, 'Nashville' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
12. Porter, Rick (April 21, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Empire' adjusts up, 'Heartbeat' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
13. Porter, Rick (April 28, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'The Middle' and 'Empire' adjust up, 'Nashville' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
14. Porter, Rick (May 5, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Chicago PD' and 'Heartbeat' adjust up, 'Nashville' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
15. Porter, Rick (May 12, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Empire' and 'The Goldbergs' adjust up, 'Black-ish' and 'Nashville' adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
16. Porter, Rick (May 19, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'Empire,' 'Goldbergs,' 'SVU' adjust up; 'Arrow,' 'Supernatural' adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 20, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
17. Porter, Rick (May 26, 2016). "Wednesday final ratings: 'SVU' finale adjusts up, 'Supernatural' finale adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 28, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
18. Andreeva, Nellie (June 5, 2015). "NBC's 'Heartbreaker' Pushed Over Star Pregnancy, 'Chicago Med' To Start In Fall". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
19. "Heartbeat: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved March 20, 2016.
20. "Heartbeat (2016) - Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved March 20, 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Heartbeat at IMDb