Season 1 - Episode Guide

O. J. Simpson plays a character he is familiar with, an All-American football player and No. 1 draft choice of the pros with a potential million dollar bonus. But he's sick. Nose bleeds and dizziness Indicate something serious, but he refuses to admit it. It's a dramatic and meaty role and with the help of Cicely Tyson, as his wife, O. J. does well.

Young doctor Joe Gannon (Chad Everett) believes a child patient is the victim of a beating and has a run-in with the kid's father, Robert Lansing. In this series Gannon plays the fighter teeing off at those who interfere before the climactic scenes in surgery.

A wounded college senior who has been under the influence of drugs staggers through the hospital's emergency entrance. There is lots going on in this case history about a college student with a bullet in his neck. Not only is there a drug angle and possible facial paralysis, but father rejection and a job offer from a friendly patient too.

Guest star Barbara Rush portrays Nora Caldwell, a famed author's wife, who learns that her first pregnancy may be endangered by her heart condition.

Lily Wu, an injured Vietnamese girl, is brought to the United States for treatment, then resists it.

Tim Considine stars as a college student whose admission to the hospital for treatment of an internal ailment results in the discovery that he is a drug addict.

The teenage daughter of a university professor suffers a kidney injury in an auto accident. Thousands of miles separates 19-year-old Jenny Webb from those she needs most. Jenny has a hermorrhaging kidney and a baby on the way, but her father feels only outrage, and her boy friend does not dig marriage.

Dr. Roger Farrell takes over as hospital chief of surgery and immediately overrules Joe Gannon's opinion concerning one of his patients.

Sorenson, a student (Michael Burns) makes an apparently unprovoked attack on a psychology professor. When the boy's behavior continues to be a problem, Dr. Gannon(Chad Everett) suspects the student has a physical problem which is manifesting itself in an emotional upset. Lloyd Bochner also is featured as the professor.

Big name guest stars Walter Pidgeon and Viveca Lindfors add a touch of glamor to the hospital atmosphere. Pidgeon plays an ambassador with a bad ticker that requires surgery, but his son (Linden Chiles) opposes any such move. Doc Gannon first tries the reasoning approach with the son, and then brings in outside help in the person of Viveca Lindfors, a great and good friend of the ambassador's.

A two-hankie show. In for a thyroid examination, a rich widow meets a cute Mexican kid whose mother was killed in a crosswalk accident. The widow is running away from involvement, but Doc Gannon brings the two together hoping for a happy ending.

Doc Gannon hasn't had time for nurses this season, but in this episode he extends a helping hand to a student, with a feeling for her trouble. Belinda Montgomery plays a bumbling, well meaning nurse in need of a second chance.

A behlnd-the-scenes look at interns competing for valuable residency posts. Doc Gannon plays mother hen, and is upset when a talented young woman doctor makes a mistake on a routine case. The lady, it seems, has an intern on her mind, and that isn't good. Patricia Quinn is the woman medic and she is easy to take, mistakes and all.

Gannon gets a mysterious turndown when he asks the mother of a girl needing a kidney transplant to become her daughter's donor. He then discusses the case with the girl's father and begins to unfold tne reasons for the mother's strange attitude.

Dr. Paul Lochner faces one of the most difficult assignments of his career when he must tell his daughter Jennifer that she has a serious arterial condition that may require surgery and possibly delay her planned wedding. Co-star James Daly's daughter Tyne Daly is the guest star.

Fans see another side of hero Doc Gannon in this episode when he puts up a runaway kid in his apartment. Gannon displays sympathy listening to the youngster's complaints, while hunting for an answer to the blackouts suffered by the kid.

Dr. Gannon has a dilemma seldom experienced on "Medical Center." A girl's blindness is brought to his attention after she had been in a motorcycle accident. While treating her injuries he becomes more and more interested in her blindness, which he diagnoses as stemming from a mental rather than physical cause. He can cure her, but he must bring back the shattering event that caused the blindness, and the girl's parents are fearful of the results.

Martin Sheen guest stars as a young minister whose heart condition flares up to jeopardize his chances of maintaining a foundation for parolees.

Marj Bowen is a veteran nurse who faces surgery and the fact that her job, to which she was dedicated, will no longer be possible for her to carry out. Head nurse Marge Bowen dispenses hope as well as pills, especially to a young singer who fears a throat operation.

Medical Center doesn't stray too far from its basic premise for a love story. The girl in Dr. Gannon's life is played by Shelby Grant. She is a tour director the doctor meets while on a Mexican vacation.

Doctor Gannon begins to treat his boyhood football idol and is startled to discover that ailing Ollie Wayne (Forrest Tucker) does not really seem to care whether or not he is cured. Gannon (Chad Everett) delves into the patient's personal life to find reasons for his peculiar behavior.

Dr. Gannon locks horns with a co- worker when he insists on more tests on a purported cancer cure before using it on a 19-year old patient.

Gannon squares off against angry father Carl Betz. Gannon has a Tartar in Betz who brings Joe before the medical board. With his forceful manner, Betz adds a flash of life to the show and manages to capture sympathy along the way.

One of Doctor Gannon's associates whose son is a strong candidate for the Olympic diving team finds it difficult to believe that the young athlete has a muscular disease that could end chances for the International championships.

This one is an interesting drama about a young resident doctor, a talented black who is denied a research grant. The resident suspects Doc Gannon lacks confidence in him and pressures our hero for the chance to perform a gallstone operation. Gannon gives in and then doubts his decision in the climatic surgery scenes.

This series does its best with good guest performers, and in this episode, it's Sharon Farrell's turn to spark the hour. She plays a teaching assistant who wants sterilization, which requires a bit of digging into her background by our own Doc Gannon.