China Beach

Da Nang beach
Series Complete Collection Set cover
Created by	William Broyles, Jr. John Sacret Young
Starring	Dana Delany Nan Woods Michael Boatman Marg Helgenberger Robert Picardo Tim Ryan Concetta Tomei Brian Wimmer Jeff Kober Chloe Webb Megan Gallagher Nancy Giles Ned Vaughn Troy Evans Ricki Lake
Theme music composer	Holland-Dozier-Holland
Opening theme	"Reflections" Performed by The Supremes
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	62 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Sacret Young
Producer(s)	Geno Escarrega Mimi Leder John Wells Fred Gerber Carol Flint John Lugar Lydia Woodward
Running time	48 minutes
Production company(s)	Sacret, Inc. Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	April 27, 1988 – July 22, 1991

China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, nicknamed "China Beach" in English by American and Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War. The ABC TV drama aired for four seasons, from 1988 to 1991.

Created by William Broyles, Jr. and John Sacret Young, the series looks at the Vietnam War from unique perspectives: those of the women, military personnel, and civilians, who were present during the conflict. John Wells took over most of the series beginning with the second season, and many of the show's cast members appeared later on the Wells-produced series, ER.

Set in a Vietnam locale nicknamed "Bac My An Beach," at the 510th Evacuation Hospital and R&R (the "Five-and-Dime" Rest & Recreation) facility, the series' cast of characters includes US Army doctors and nurses, officers, soldiers, Red Cross volunteers, and civilian personnel (American, French, and Vietnamese). The series also features the experiences of the characters when they return to the U.S., either on leave or at the end of their tours of duty. The show does not shy away from showing the brutality of war; it provides a very gritty view of the experience there.

The show is based on the book Home Before Morning (1983) written by former U.S. Army Nurse Lynda Van Devanter. The show's character Nurse Colleen McMurphy roughly follows Van Devanter's experiences as a nurse in Vietnam. The book takes the reader from Van Devanter's wish to serve her country, through the adventure she thought her deployment to Vietnam would be, her culture shock upon returning to "the States," and her struggles with PTSD. The TV show was cancelled before it could fully address McMurphy's PTSD issues. Van Devanter died in 2002.

Over four seasons from 1988 to 1991, the series aired 62 episodes.

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 fall 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. The title sequence theme song was "Reflections" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (although several episodes instead used "We Gotta Get out of This Place" by Eric Burdon with Katrina & The Waves).