Kirpianuscus
It represents first step of a real brand. in same measure, after decades, it remains fresh , seductive and its drama works. and this is the real significant thing. in same measure, it is George Clooney first great enter in the perception of his public. and , not the last, "E.R." has the gift to reflect a world in its complex structure, proposing less heroes and models but ordinary lives in clash against problems, dilemmas and hopes.
so, a classic. almost legendary.
twk-88488
Without a doubt, ER was one of the finest shows ever shown on TV. The acting, writing, and directing were all absolutely superb. The early and mid years were the best, with the focus on hospital drama and medical solutions. Later years, when the show began to drift from this format (more focus on the lives and relationships of the characters and more "out of the ER" locations, the show lost some of the grittiness that made it so good before, but it was still the best on TV. Of all the shows I've admired over the years that are no longer being produced (ER, MASH, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, LA Law, CSI, Sopranos, & Southland), this is the one I miss the most. To all the folks who made ER such a great show, thank you for your participation and for making a lot of people like me so very happy for so many years!
hydebee-2
tonight is the last e.r. or should i say the last hurray for Dr. carter, YES THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF PROMOTING ON N.B.C. and yes it all surrounds Dr carter or does it, after watching the last E.R. i am sort of disappointed it had it high points and it had the unanswered questions , and the hope that Dr Ross will return it did not happen and today half the women in the USA that love clooney are in despair , to say i hate e.r. is not true i actually enjoyed several episodes thru the years , among them the rescue scene where Dr Ross saves the boy, Dr Greene last episode,and this years the recurring dream,and yes i am a big fan of Dr. morris, ,but the thing i hate this show is it wears thin , one of my least favorite character is Dr carter , he is a rich ,preppy type doctor who had so little in common with the people this show is usually about , .i also hate the fact the writers etc preach to us in every show they said on the recap they never did well they are wrong watch the old shows and see if they are not pushing an agenda ,it always came with a point if you really looked closely, while some like that i don't like Hollywood telling me what to think.what to feel!!probably the most obviously thing is as the years have past by the talent level has decreased the story lines have became stale,dry and not interesting .the days of George clooney and Anthony Edwards and Juliana margulies are well over , now we have the girl in bend it like beck-ham who tried but really is not that great a character or the girl out of broke back mountain and yes john stamos -do you call that star power? stamos should be playing drums for the beach boys not acting!!!well most of the folks i know who loved e.r. will tell you the truth it lost a lot in the past few years . conclusion THANKS TO N.B.C. for removing E.R. from life-support and letting it go peacefully , please no 2 hour movies later let it R.I.P. goodbye E.R.as for the very last episode all i talked with were let down felt empty as if they had watch 2 hours of almost good TV but then had it jerked away at the last seconds goodbye e.r.
Mark_Graisons_Moustache
The fall of "ER" is something so troubling it deserves serious study in an academic course by experts of television phenomena. It's actually a fairly easy distinction to make, the show can be very easily divided into two segments, the great television part (which lasts from Fall 1994 to Spring 2002) and the crappy television part (which lasts from Fall 2002 to Winter 2009). When "ER" first started, it was without a doubt the best drama of television, with the best cast on television. The first season cast of Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene, George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis, Noah Wyle as John Carter, Julianna Margulies as Nurse Carol Hathaway, and Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton, was irreplaceable. Each actor brought such a special character to the table, each was fully developed, and each was given equal weight in the story lines (although most would agree that Mark Greene is the closest to a main character the show ever had). During the 1994-1995 season, "ER" didn't have a single bad episode, and proved itself to be a force to be reckoned with. Just take a look at "Love's Labor Lost," still one of the most famous and heartbreaking episodes ever filmed. It's an absolutely astounding piece of TV, exciting from beginning to end, painfully sad by the time the credits roll, and acted to perfection by every single person involved. "ER" remained an incredibly show for years and years. Indeed, it seemed to do the impossible by managing to remain strong even as cast members began to disappear. Sherry Stringfield was the first one, leaving late in 1996, and she opened the door for all the next cast members to exit the hospital, Maria Bello in 1998, George Clooney in 1999, Gloria Reuben in 1999, Kellie Martin and Julianna Margulies in 2000. Still, the show kept on rolling. Taking a quick look through the episode list of these early seasons and you'll see some of the most classic episodes of television ever filmed, "Hell and High Water," "Fevers of Unknown Origin," "Take These Broken Wings," "Union Station," "The Long Way Around, "Ambush," "Family Practice," "The Good Fight," "Be Still My Heart," "All in the Family," "Mayday," the list goes on. Around 1999, major cast changes started to take place. We waved goodbye to Gloria Reuben and George Clooney and said hello to Paul McCrane (in a devilishly biting, often quite funny performance as Dr. Robert Romano), Michael Michele (as Benton love interest Dr. Cleo Finch), Goran Visnjic (as Dr. Luka Kovac," Erik Palladino (underused as Dr. David Malucci), Ming-Na, returning from a guest spot in Season 1, as Dr. Jing-Mei Chen, and finally Maura Tierney as Nurse Abby Lockhart. The show remained strong with these newcomers along with veterans Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle, and Eriq La Sall, and seasons 7 and 8 retained that strong quality we'd come to expect. But then, something changed.That something was the death of Dr. Mark Greene. To this day, "On The Beach" remains the most profoundly moving, poetic, sad, and beautiful episode of television I have ever seen. I don't think I have ever cried as much as when Dr. Green passed on, but it was done in such a beautiful fashion, it just felt right. And it should have been the final episode. The writer's had the perfect chance to end the series at Greene's funeral, with Hathaway and Ross lying flowers on his grave and saying goodbye, but no, they didn't do that. In fact, they didn't even make his death the season finale, they made it the penultimate episode of the season, preferring instead to cap off the eighth season with a lame 'crisis' episode involving the lockdown of the ER.Things did not get crappy immediately. In fact, Season 9 is alright, it's just no 1-8. But things quickly started going haywire, and the departure of Noah Wyle and Sherry Stringfield in 2005 was the final nail in the coffin. Without anyone to be the rock of the show, things started to get very stupid. When John Stamos came parading through the doors in 2006, I knew any chance of the series returning to its stature in the Clooney/Edwards years was long gone, and the 13th and 14th seasons have been some of the worst television ever aired, an embarrassing attempt to rip on the far inferior "Grey's Anatomy." One pines for the romantic tension and longing of George Clooney and Julianna Margulies while they watch the attempted 'chemistry' of John Stamos and Linda Cardellini, who do nothing but bone in abandoned operating rooms to the tune of same pop song. Meanwhile, the departure's in the beginning of the 15th season of Goran Visnjic, Mekhi Phifer, and Maura Tierney officially means that the oldest cast member is Parminder Nagra, cast member since season 9. That's right, NOBODY from the first eight seasons is currently on the show, and the magic that they brought with them vanished long ago. Since the year 2000, has there been a character as fully rounded and perfectly brought to life as Nurse Carol Hathaway? One might say Maura Tierney, but I doubt anybody would argue with my declaration that watching Abby Lockhart's life ravel completely out of control during the 2007-2008 season was not fun at all. If anything, it was a symbolic representation of what has happened to one of the best shows ever to air on television. Now it is nothing but a sad reminder of what once way, where untalented actors breathe zero life into boring characters. "ER" is finally ending in February of 2009, but take my advice and pretend it ended in 2002, when 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' accompanied Dr. Mark Greene while he drew his final breaths. Unfortunately, the writers didn't have the good sense to kill the show along with him."ER" 1994-2002 A+ "ER" 2002-2009 F
