TV Show of the Week #28: ER

Elmo

ER, 15 Seasons, 331 Episodes, September 19, 1994 – April 2, 2009

The mid-1990s began a new era in US TV Drama. The 1980s had provided purely entertaining shows with little substance i.e. Hart to Hart, Murder She Wrote, The A-team, McGuyver etc etc. There were some exceptions to the rule and ER carries this exception into the 1990s. Those exceptions included the high realistic Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and even Cagney and Lacey. The 1980s also provide some quality drama/comedies or skits on the crude soap operas of the day like Remington Steele and Moonlighting.

ER won out of over the other Medical drama Chicago Hope. But the creator of that show David E.Kelley also brought ground breaking TV drama to network TV with The Practice (a courtroom series) and his comic spin off Ally McBeal.

During the 1990s TV dramas would imitate the highly sophisticated and edge dramas. The X-files, Millennium, The Practice, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, Boston Public and a host of other TV dramas trying to be as groundbreaking as possible. Comedy also had a golden era with Fraiser and Friends also breaking ground for a genre (sit-com) that was initially seeing its death in the early 1990s.

So why is ER so ground breaking? Well it is often cinema for the small screen, its actors and its writing.

ER isn't just about the doctors, it revolves around the life of Chicago General, its doctors, nurses and its patients. The patient are pivotal to the storylines in ER. They are characters who have just as much backgrounds as the main doctors and nurses in the series, they explain why they are in the ER, they have their own fears, their own dreams and their own lives.

The Medical Staff have their own stories. Jennie the nurse that suffers from AIDS who eventually adopts a child also suffering from the disease. Dr. Greene who dies from a brain tumor. Carrie Weaver who is outed in the hallway by her lover, her death and adoption of their child, the proud father Dr. Benton who has to think about a Cochlear implant for his deaf son, Abby and her bi-polar mother. These stories intertwine with the patients stories.



Some patients where reoccurring like a young homeless Kurstan Dunst and lonely old man played by Bob Newhart.

ER also had their cliffhangers like Dr. Carter and Lucy getting stabbed.

ER unlike like the newer medical dramas (that shall remain nameless) had comedy not because it was forced but because doctors, nurses and patients all have that dark humour during their treatment, but also because it is life and life has natural humour.

1990s network TV drama changed TV drama. Unfortunately that era has ended and we are slowly returning to the female soap opera driven drama and the male action hero driven drama of the 1980s.

Lets hope US network TV drama can do it again soon.

Mr E

Nice one, Elmo. Stickied.

ER has never been one of those "must watch" shows for me, but any time I have sit down to watch it, I really liked it.

JP Liz

One of the best medical dramas ever and it has also produced some of the sexiest docs on tv

leahyl

One of the best, if not THE best, drama ever on tv! Can't believe it's over - the end of an era! It'll be missed by many - might not have been as popular over the last 3 seasons or so but i always watched it and it never failed to entertain!!

Land Of Idiots

This was a brilliant show! After 15 years I still enjoyed watching it and never missed an episode. It will be missed!

afatbollix

i want to start watching it from the beginning again.. any one seen it as a cheepish boxset?

all i can find are strange websites ive never heard of.. and dont trust..

any help would be great

lt_cmdr_worf

You can get them for 14 euro a season in HMV. Seasons 1 to 14 are out.

anotherlostie

I gave up on it a long time ago, but for the first years it was must see TV. Carter and Lucy Knight getting stabbed is the one storyline that I hold as a favourite (although Romano getting killed via a second copter accident was up there too!), and I also liked that Dr. Weaver's disability was never a source of storylines, which was a novelty at the time.

bnt

I didn't see every episode of every series, but I remember appreciating the journey that Abby took in her career - from junior nurse through medical student to respected doctor, over the course of a decade. I was surprised to learn that Maura Tierney had a background in comedy, particularly NewsRadio and one of Dick Van Dyke's later shows. She became the "everywoman" of E.R., you might say.