ER Series Review

ER (1994-2009)

Season 1 - 25 episodes (1994-95)
Season 2 - 22 episodes (1995-96)
Season 3 - 22 episodes (1996-97)
Season 4 - 22 episodes (1997-98)
Season 5 - 22 episodes (1998-99)
Season 6 - 22 episodes (1999-2000)
Season 7 - 22 episodes (2000-01)
Season 8 - 22 episodes (2001-02)
Season 9 - 22 episodes (2002-03)
Season 10 - 22 episodes (2003-04)
Season 11 - 22 episodes (2004-05)
Season 12 - 22 episodes (2005-06)
Season 13 - 23 episodes (2006-07)
Season 14 - 19 episodes (2007-08)
Season 15 - 22 episodes (2008-09)
Rent ER on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: Michael Crichton
Starring: Anthony Edwards, George Clooney, Sherry Stringfield, Noah Wyle, Julianna Margulies, Eriq La Salle, Gloria Reuben, Laura Innes, Maria Bello, Alex Kingston, Kellie Martin, Paul McCrane, Goran Višnjić, Michael Michele, Erik Palladino, Ming-Na, Maura Tierney, Sharif Atkins, Mekhi Phifer, Parminder Nagra, Linda Cardellini, Shane West, Scott Grimes, John Stamos, David Lyons, Angela Bassett
Rated: TV-14
Watch the trailer

Plot
The doctors who work in the ER at the County General Hospital in Chicago grapple with ups and downs in their personal and professional lives while trying to give apt medical care to their patients.

Verdict
This is such  an engrossing show. Each episode features the ER staff attending to multiple patients which makes every episode frenetic. Between the ER cases we learn about the staff and their lives in and outside of the hospital. It's a long show which allows time to grow fond of characters, but that makes it difficult when actors move on. There's a fair amount of turnover. By the end of the series, the original cast is all but gone. The guest star list is enormous. It's always fun to wonder where you've seen that actor before or seeing someone prior to widespread fame. This tells the stories of patients in each episode and the main cast over each season. It's always moving and engaging. The peak of the show is the first five seasons with the first two seasons being the best. Season eight feels like the beginning of the show manufacturing interpersonal drama and relying too much on silly comedy. It's not bad, but that and the original cast departing over the seasons made me long for the earlier seasons, though I never once contemplated cutting my watch short.
Watch It.

Review
It's fifteen seasons composed of 331 episodes. Few shows, especially current shows manage so many seasons and episodes. Having watched The Pitt, which is the spiritual sequel to ER, I had to check this out. Despite the daunting number of episodes, I finally gave the pilot a try and was hooked.

The first two seasons are excellent. It's a step down after that but still solid. The show becomes different once Clooney leaves. It relies too much on cheap, manufactured drama and silliness. Season eight marks the start of easy plot lines and a show less focused on the ER and more on personal and ever alternating relationships. Season ten has an arc that is easily one of the worst as the show continues to stretch credibility.

Season one has a lot of episodes but what a great season and show. We examine the quick pacing of the ER through doctors, residents, students, and nurses. With plenty of difficult cases, the staff share some laughs in between which reinforces this is their workplace and gives the characters some depth. This series does a great job of differentiating characters while telling small and large stories. All of them have hopes and foibles, and they face plenty of personal issues; Doug's (George Clooney) girlfriends and longing for Carol (Julianna Margulies), Mark's (Anthony Edwards) wife wanting to leave and his hope to be promoted from chief resident to attending. Benton's (Eriq La Salle) mother and his arrogance, Carter (Noah Wyle) discovering what it's like to be a doctor day in day out, Carol almost getting married, Susan's (Sherry Stringfield) sister, and so much else. The story structure is aided as each episode has a goal and an endpoint and the show builds the fabric of the characters' lives between that. The first season is such a great watch. Though we're in the ER with a lot of jargon, it's easy enough to understand it through context. Something so foreign and frantic as the ER to the viewer is just a typical day for the staff. Being the ER, the stakes are almost always life and death. This show had me hooked with story lines that are peak drama but never manufactured as that's the nature of this place.

S1: Noah Wyle, Eriq La Salle play John Carter, Dr. Peter Benton

In season two new attending Weaver (Laura Innes) is in charge; enacting her will and ruffling feathers though she isn't wrong. Carter is no longer the youngest doctor on the floor, and he's becoming proficient. Doug (George Clooney) is the loose cannon. He'll go to any length for a patient even if he has to break protocol. He's in pediatrics and his grant is ending which puts his future in question. In episode seven he saves a kid outside of the hospital. I wondered if that would be his sign to stay in the ER. We also meet Doug's absentee father which provides insight into Doug. Meanwhile Mark is dealing with a divorce. He buys a motorcycle and grows a goatee. 

S2: George Clooney, Anthony Edwards play Dr. Doug Ross, Dr. Mark Greene

Benton begins working with a cardiovascular surgeon who may be gaming the numbers for his study. Benton doesn't reveal the misdeeds to protect his own career and relationship with the doctor, but instead he reveals a mistake Doug made to a patient despite being told by Mark and the hospital not to. This is Benton assuaging his conscience by outing Doug. It's easy when it's not his career. He gets to feel noble while protecting himself. This is the crux of Benton. He's always right no matter how he has to twist to fit the narrative. Later in the season he makes his own mistake but of course won't admit it and blames someone else.

I like the second season more than the first. We now have a basis for the characters as we've already seen them develop. The ER is always difficult and this season has plenty of engaging scenarios; Carter becomes a resident, Benton wrestles with moral questions, Mark divorces his wife, Doug's father reappears, and Carol faces boyfriend issues. The second season moves beyond the ER with some episodes, where the first season stayed in the hospital. I'd guess season two got a larger budget.

Season three picks up right after season two. Carter is officially a doctor. Jeannie (Gloria Reuben) is positive with HIV though Benton is not. She wrestles with whether she should inform the hospital because she could get fired. While County General is glad they avoided a closure, it means more patients for an already overworked staff. It also brings a new chief of staff, Anspaugh with his own ideas on how to run the ER.

S3: Gloria Reuben, Anthony Edwards play Dr. Mark Green, Jeanie Boulet

Benton wants to train under a pediatrician, but the problem is Benton's complete lack of bedside manner. This season is a contrast between Benton and Carter. Carter is empathetic and Benton isn't. Benton is also arrogant and controlling. That's punctuated by an intern that voices his disapproval of Benton's attitude. Carter doesn't back up the intern, and later feels guilty about it.

Susan's leaving pushes Mark to tell her how he feels, but it's too late. They've had chemistry since the first season.

During the season Carol considers medical school, Mark is attacked by a patient's brother, and Benton gets a woman pregnant. 

The first episode of season four has a documentary crew filming. Everyone is nervous and acting differently. The handheld camera adds poor cinematography and unnecessary drama. It's not a great start to the season.

Benton becomes even more insufferable after he has a kid. The ridiculous thing is that he doesn't want to be a father. That takes his worry to a new level, and of course he takes out his frustrations on everyone else. Despite that, Carter still seeks Benton's approval and respect. Carter just can't let it go. Carter is playing poor to appeal to Anna Del Amico (Maria Bello), and you just know that's going to blow up at some point. It's not malicious, he doesn't want to scare her away.

S4: Alex Kingston, Eriq La Salle, Noah Wyle, Maria Bello play
Elizabeth Corday, Peter Benton, John Carter, Anna Del Amico

Mark's attack last season has made him cold and detached. His cynicism grows, and sadly he's become unlikable. While I understand his torment, it's unfortunate and I knew he would bottom out eventually. All of this while Weaver tries to fix the budget and overruns. She's not making friends with such an unenviable task. It's a continual fight between care and budget. She considers a management company but relents when she realizes they often just shut hospitals down. Who didn't see that coming? Maybe it was less predictable in the 90s.

Weaver fires Jeannie citing seniority and that it's not personal, but then hires a new nurse and gives herself a raise which prompts Jeannie to fight back. When Weaver protests the action, Jeannie tells her it's nothing personal. Weaver also doesn't like Doug, though it's more so his salary. Later in the season when Doug oversteps, that's Weaver's chance to oust him permanently. Everyone else in the hospital admires what Doug did.

In episode ten Benton has the healing touch. I miss the magical realism episodes shows in the 80s and 90s did. In another episode Benton is thrown under the bus by Morgenstern. It's nice to see him experience what he's done to others. Carter gets an episode where he has to manage the entire ER. Carol sabotages her relationship with Doug.

I like the first two seasons more than three and four. I didn't like Mark's spiral though it followed a logical progression. It just felt like forced drama when it then concluded so easily. It remains an excellent show; always busy, always a new story. While I don't like seeing main characters leave, I do appreciate the realism it imparts.

In season five Carter has his own medical student, Weaver is still upset with Doug, Carter is actually poor, and Weaver wants to be head attending but faces a hurdle. Weaver assumed she'd be a lock for the position, but the hospital is doing a nationwide search.

Corday (Alex Kingston) was on sponsor from England and became an intern to stay. Now she's entry level and getting picked on by Romano (Paul McCrane). He's always been a nuisance, very retaliatory and antagonistic. When Romano's sexual harassment is reported, Corday denies the claims. We've seen her harassed more than anyone. Corday is protecting her job at the detriment to her self respect. Romano is angling for interim head just so he can squash the rumors and investigations into his conduct, which are all true.

S5: Alex Kingston, Paul McCrane, Eriq La Salle play Elizabeth Corday, Robert "Rocket" Romano, Peter Benton

I didn't get the drama between Carter and his intern Lucy (Kellie Martin). He knows what it's like to be a student and should be more sympathetic. I wondered if it was sexual tension.

The new chief is obsessed with Mark. It's all manufactured drama. That plot line kept stretching credibility. The resolution is almost laughable.

Doug's heart is always in the right place. He'd do anything for a patient, but that frequently involves him breaking rules. This time he's bringing everyone down with him. This season has been the rise and fall of Doug. That and the search for a new chief and Weaver's ambitions.

I couldn't believe I'd already watched five seasons. It's a great show that kept me engrossed - from the cases to the people. It doesn't feel like five seasons despite more than one hundred episodes. This has larger arcs, but the cases keep the episodes moving and prevent episodes from feeling like filler. There's a goal for each episode, patients get treatment. While some recover and others don't, we get a resolution every episode.

The destination episodes are rarely fun. That and there's always so much romance in the show. It's like a roulette wheel of who will get paired. I suppose when you spend twelve hours a day with someone it happens. Doug also departs. I know Clooney wanted to leave so they had to write him off, but his charisma was magnetic. I didn't like that he ditched Carol. It seemed out of character.

The show's focus on drama starts after Clooney leaves. With Doug the drama was based on treatment, but there's less of that when he leaves, instead relying on interpersonal drama. 

Season six introduces new doctors Cleo (Michael Michele) and Luka (Goran Višnjić). Romano seems poised to become chief of staff. Weaver, Mark, nor the ER want that. Mark argues against Romano in the meeting and Weaver hangs him out to dry and supports Romano. She claims she's prudent, but it's more Weaver ensuring her future as head attending. She's ambitious, and we've seen her sacrifice others to meet her goals. Romano only wanted to be chief to serve himself. He's a poor choice. How does he get that far with all the allegations that seemingly disappeared this season?

I like this show, but it's manufacturing a lot of drama. Benton's girlfriend pulls the Reese might not be your son bit, and it feels quite late to do that. It's fake drama. Alan Alda has a guest appearance, a doctor that's forgetting things. I saw where that was going the first time he was forgetful.

This season likes drama. Two doctors are attacked in the ER. It's shocking, almost for the sake of it. Mark's father is in poor health and eventually passes. Carol is falling for Luca but eventually visits Doug. The final episode is devastating with a school shooting and an explanation for Carter's erratic behavior.

Carter returns in the first episode of season seven, having quite the journey during the off season. Romano fires Benton then ensures he can't get a job in Chicago so he moves to Philadelphia. Benton sees no issue preventing his wife from moving to take a long distance job earlier, and now he's mad that she won't accommodate his move to Philadelphia.

I wondered if episode seven was during sweeps week. Mark has a brain tumor, Abby (Maura Tierney) is in an explosion, and Corday is pregnant. This show relies on drama and ridiculousness, but it doesn't have the charisma of Clooney, instead relying on over the top plot lines. Characters don't get a story line that develop them. They're just props for whatever big arc occurs. I'd rather see cases in the ER than all of the personal drama. Romano exists just to create drama. He has the depth of a cartoon.  This season is more about personal issues than what occurs in the hospital. So many plot lines this season don't involve their job.

Episode ten is a neat episode from the point of view of a patient in the ER. 

The show still delivers hospital drama, but season eight focuses a lot more on relationships outside of the hospital. I want this show to return to the hospital. This season marks the midpoint of the series. It introduces drama quickly as Benton becomes a full time dad. Is he up to the task? Mark and Corday try to balance a baby and work with Mark putting most of the work on Corday. Then there is the Luca, Carter, Abby triangle. Luca is meaner this season. Is he jealous of Carter and taking it out on Abby?

Every now and then Romano has a moment where he seems human, but he also seems to delight in being the villain. He's devoted to his work; sacrificing his personal life as a virtue. I wish the show delved into the moments of him being human more. It's too easy to always make him the heel, and it's a missed opportunity. Susan Lewis returns, last seen in season three. Weaver is on the warpath. She gets an intern in trouble and ensures she gets none of the blame herself. It's becoming the norm for her. Weaver is going to state she has no blood on her hands when she chose to ignore her pager. There's always a doctor taking out personal issues on patients and this season it's Weaver.

Benton and his ego. He refuses to let Reese's stepfather Roger see him. Benton claims he's the father, but neither of them are biologically the father, and Benton hasn't been around much. Roger was more present as Benton always worked. Benton could be equitable, but he has to be petty. He pushes Roger out because he can, and that's on top of also relying on Roger to pick up Reese.

This season is the beginning of the end for Mark. I like the show didn't wait until the season finale, but it does feel like the end of an era. We lost Benton this season. Now Carter is the longest tenured actor and character. Episode 21 is tough. Mark checks off the items on his bucket list. 

Season five began the descent into more personal drama and less focus on the hospital and patients. The show really embraces the high drama during this season. It's less about treatment and more about romantic entanglements.

Season nine not only starts with smallpox, but Romano gets injured. I in no way expected that. If the show is going to injure him, why not do it after he's been a jerk when we're rooting against him to then generate sympathy? This does it after he has a likable moment which makes it all the more polarizing. This just seems like a soap opera. I feel bad for him which is obviously the point.

This show is full of self centered doctors. Paul (Don Cheadle) is a counter. He has Parkinson's but still wants to be a doctor in a late career change.

Doctors sleeping during shifts was more of a focus in early seasons, less so now. I suppose you can only address that so many times. I get that doctors need sleep, but the issue is that they're on call for so long. That has to impinge their thinking. Doctors' hours were developed by a doctor that was on coke and thus didn't need sleep as much as a typical person.

This season seems to be more graphic. I don't recall previous seasons showing so much. There's also a lot of discrimination this season with how doctors treat the homeless and people they think are criminals. Luca is self destructive this season. Why is unclear. Does the show want drama? Is he punishing himself as he longs for Abby? Weaver is hateful this season. When she gives special treatment to an alderman, it seems all the more egregious because we already don't like her.

Pratt (Mekhi Pfifer) is a new doctor that takes care of his brother, but the amount of time he leaves work for that task is wild. These doctors do whatever they want, leaving when they want. Granted, they put in a lot of overtime.

Romano and Weaver switch positions. Romano takes out all of his frustrations with his demotion on the ER, offending and firing in equal measure. How does this guy have a job? He intentionally offends everyone. He should have been fired with cause long ago. Otherwise everyone would have quit. I just don't believe it. This season is more creative with the premise of episodes. Episode ten unfolds backwards, another episode juxtaposes night and day shift.. I don't know if it's been so many seasons and the show wants to be more creative or if it just is vying for attention. The end of the season has Carter in Africa, showing us the stark difference in medical care.

Season ten continues the dramatic arcs. Is this still a medical drama? It's spending a lot of time in the Congo. Glenn Howerton is a resident for a while and Linda Cardellini plays new nurse Sam. Romano has it out for everyone. I wonder how he's still employed. On top of that, the staff does whatever they want. They leave work at will and ignore protocol as they deem necessary.

The low point for this series is episode ten. Romano has another accident involving a helicopter again. Two helicopter accidents. What should be a dramatic moment comes across as comedic. Even if it were a reckoning for the character, it still feels ridiculous. It's a conclusion to a terrible character that had so much potential that was never realized. Instead the show was content to have Romano play a bad guy when extra drama was required. On top of that the hospital dedicates the LGBT research wing to Romano, silly as the guy was homophobic. That does both the character and the LGBT community a disservice.

S10: Sharif Atkins, Parminder Nagra, Laura Innes play
Michael Gallant, Neela Rasgotra, Kerry Weaver

Frank, the crotchety old bigot has a heart attack, and surprise he's actually nice and cares. It's just too easy of a twist. Why would somebody 'nice' frequently make racist remarks to coworkers? He gets better and demeans minorities again. Weaver also has quite the arc.

It's difficult. I'm sure the show wants to expand on the premise, especially since the original characters are gone, but it's not the same show.  The original cast is gone save for Carter. The show has moved outside the ER to spend a lot of time on characters' personal lives. 

Season eleven has new doctors, personalities, and dramas. It feels like so little happens in the ER. When it does, it's always something ridiculous. It's rarely just treating patients. It's not just because I miss the old character, it's the nature of the narratives. Neela (Parminder Nagra) works at a gas station briefly before getting her job back as a doctor. It stretches credibility. Then Morris (Scott Grimes) becomes chief resident. That feels like a joke at the viewers' expense. He's the least qualified. It took me much longer to get through this season. It's clear the show veers towards the dramatic in an attempt to be enticing, but that loses what I liked about this show and seeing how the ER functioned. It's lost what made it popular. Carter leaves at the end of the season, marking the last of the original cast.

Season twelve picks up where eleven ended with Sam's son running away. I just don't care. I want to see medical cases. Eve (Kristen Johnston) is hired as the head nurse solely to create drama. She fires long time nurse Haleh (Yvette Freeman), and then doesn't even stay long.

There's a ridiculous story line where we wonder if Clemente (John Leguizamo) shot his girlfriend and himself or was actually attacked by someone else. He didn't do it, but it's such a ridiculous arc to get to that realization. If that wasn't enough Morris discovers he has a bunch of kids. The plot lines of this show are dipping and fast. The show has never been this silly. Every scene with Morris is some kind of gag. It was ridiculous enough when he became chief resident, but we get these scenes of his awkwardness and social obliviousness. Then he might leave for a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep. He buys a car before the job which all but ensues he won't get the job.

The end of the season keeps ramping from Clemente's plight to Sam's ex-husband staging an escape. This show is cashing in on cheap thrills. 

Sam is a hostage in season thirteen. Her ex-husband didn't seem like a criminal until they swapped actors. Now he's in jail to add drama. Gates (John Stamos) is the new hotshot intern, previously an EMT. He's good, but he has an attitude. He feels like a replacement for Doug. New head surgeon Crenshaw seems like Romano's replacement. He delights in being mean to everyone.

Luca has a court case due to a malpractice suit with an upset patient. We know Luca did the best he could, but the patient doesn't feel that way. The patient's memory of the event paints the staff as cold and disinterested. We know it's not true, but we also understand how he feels. I didn't mind this arc until the show took it to a much more intense level.

Sam kills someone, and I thought the show would do more with that. I don't think it's ever revisited. Does she have no emotions about that event? She has a rich boss that takes care of the legal side. Another thing, how often have we seen doctors raid the medical supply? No wonder hospitals are so expensive. 

Season fourteen introduces yet another new chief, Kevin Moretti (Stanley Tucci). He thinks he knows more than everyone else and can also do better. Seems like every other chief, but this one also likes to talk about the history of medicine. Luca is fridged to create an unstable environment for Abby. She succumbs to addiction and no one notices until she's made a string of poor decisions. Somebody would and should have noticed.

We're provided unnecessary comic relief with a nineteen year old intern that's socially inept. 

Pratt thinks he should have been promoted to chief. He considers leaving, but of course someone comes in, takes photos, and talks about the family that is the ER. That's all it takes for him to second guess his decision to leave.

Gates seems determined to have a fling with every doctor and nurse in the ER. 

With season fifteen being the final, I expected a lot of cameos from previous characters, and I wasn't disappointed. It was nice seeing them again on the show. Banfield (Angela Bassett) is the latest chief. She's tough and unyielding Abby departs, which leaves Neela and Sam as the longest tenured characters other than nurses. Abby got one of the most heartfelt send offs. Most people just disappear or were killed.

We see Corday, Carter, Carol, Doug, and Benton. Most of that centers around Carter and his medical diagnosis. It feels like an episode designed to pull in viewers, and if I had drifted from the show it would have brought me back. It's a great episode that easily could have been the finale.

This provides a fun retrospective as part of the final episode. It interviews the cast through the years. Part of the reason this show works is that it's episodic. Not every story needs to be serialized in just a handful of episodes. I don't know why streaming doesn't aim to building a long term audience by following the episodic formula and building a backlog of episodes. Streaming companies cancel a show if it doesn't set a ratings record. That's unfortunate. Will a show like this ever exist again? Even when I took a break from watching the show, it was easy enough to return without needing a primer on the the story arcs.

Most of the cast comes back for the opening of Carter's clinic. The final episode is also the first time we see the outside of the hospital. 

I really enjoyed this show, even the down years. It's difficult to rate this many seasons. It took me many months to get through this series. While I could review previous episodes, I'm just going to rely on overall feeling. Season two would be my favorite, then 1, 3, 4, 5. The first five seasons are the peak of the show. Fifteen ranks higher, as a nice send off for the show. Six through fourteen felt like a slow decline. I don't care enough to nitpick where those seasons fall in a ranking. They would only move one spot up and down if at all. This had five great seasons and ten seasons that were still enough to keep me watching. I would have kept watching past fifteen, and that's quite the acknowledgement.