Hartington-based national TV show to air this week

HARTINGTON — After months of filming, editing and production work, area residents finally got to see the first airing Sunday of a new nationally syndicated Hartington-based TV show.

‘Heartland Docs, DVM,” will have its first national airing on the NatGeo Wild channel this Saturday night at 9 p.m. The series is slated to run in this time slot for at least the next six weeks.

The show features Hartington veterinarians Ben and Erin Schroeder as they go about their daily lives at the Cedar County Vet Clinic.

Several familiar sites around Hartington and Cedar County are featured in the TV show, which follows Ben and Erin as they trot across the region making house calls on their farm customers.

The March flooding, which washed out many roads, bridges, fields and pastures was also prominently featured in a couple of the shows.

NatGeo Wild officials and the head of the production company which created the show were also on hand at Sunday’s premeier.

Nancy Glass is the CEO of Glass Entertainment, the production company that decided to build a reality TV series around the Schroeder’s veterinarian practice.

Glass, a former weekend anchor for “Inside Edition,” said she knew right away Ben and Erin Schroeder possessed something special. Something national TV audiences should enjoy.

“You can just see right away, they are honest, caring people — their integrity and compassion just show through,” she said. “And they are great communicators.”

Glass founded the production company in 2003. Her company has produced over 2,000 hours of programming for various networks including: A&E, E!, TLC, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Travel, HGTV,CNN, and Oxygen.

Matt Carter, who has been in Hartington for much of the last year leading the production crew, addressed about 150 people packed into the ballroom Sunday at the Historic Hartington Hotel to view the screening.

Carter thanked Ben and Erin for “jumping into this crazy world of television with both feet and trusting us and allowing us to tell your story.”

Carter said he hopes he will be able to continue to work with them and tell their story for many years to come.

He also took a moment to thank all of the employees at the Historic Hartington Hotel and the Cedar County Veterinarian Services Clinic who had their work lives turned upside down as the production company moved into town.

“I know that we kind of drive you guys crazy. We make it harder for you guys to do your jobs every day and you feel like you are walking around under lights all day and you never know when a camera is going to pop up and surprise you, but you all handle it with grace,”

While the long work days can be a grind, working on the show can also be a lot of fun, he said.

“I think — no, I know — that you guys had as much fun as we have doing this,” he said.