0/5

Farewell ER

It was the #1 drama for its first seven seasons, drawing audiences of 50m Americans. But after 15 years, the emergency room has closed its doors.

er9American media is paying its respects to ER which drew to a close this week after fifteen years with a 2hr finale.

The show was the #1 US drama for its first seven seasons, and at times attracted audiences of 50 million. These days, Dancing with the Stars and American Idol don’t draw that many—combined. This week the show drew a curious 16.2m viewers, up from its recent averages of around 10m.

There are numerous achievements by the drama including its swift storytelling, a live to air episode, a rich visual tapestry, lifelike authenticity, steadicam shooting and making George Clooney a star.

er1

er2

er3

er4

er6

er5

er7

er8

NJ.com recalls: The ER pilot began quietly, as we watched chief resident Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) trying to catch a quick nap in an empty exam room. It would be the last calm moment viewers experienced for quite a while, as Greene was pulled out of bed and put in charge of a mass casualty involving a building collapse. The camera swooped and soared through the trauma rooms, and the show cut frantically from patient to patient, doctor to doctor. Drums pounded. Blood spurted. Technical jargon was shouted at top volume. Viewers ate it up.

The LA Times remembers: The nurses and doctors performed heroically (surprisingly few patients have been lost over the years), but from the outset they all bore their own stigmata. Many of these were physical. There was AIDS, Alzheimer’s, a rape, a double amputation, death in a helicopter crash, an emergency hysterectomy, a deadly aneurysm, a knife attack that seriously hurt one doctor and killed another, and Dr. Greene’s (Anthony Edwards) fatal brain tumor. In short, the patients had nothing on the people who attended them.

The Mercury details more of the DNA that comprised its shining history:

1 THE BREATHLESS PACE: With all its frenzy and chaos, ER gave the medical genre a shot of adrenaline. “I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking it was like watching an exciting action movie,” says Kevin Porep of Lafayette. “It always kept your attention,” adds Oakley’s Allison Moody. “You didn’t want the commercials to come.”

2 THEY TALKED THE TALK: Atropine? Pulmonary edema? Triage? At times, it was as if the docs were speaking a foreign language. But soon we were down with the lingo. “Once in a while it had me looking up some terms to see if they actually existed,” says Kim Chamberlain of El Sobrante. “… I liked that I felt I was learning a little something.”

3 GEORGE CLOONEY’S BEDSIDE MANNER: Sorry, Patrick Dempsey. Clooney was the original Dr. McDreamy. “I had a huge crush on him,” says Dana Tarantino of Clayton. “Not only was he so handsome, smooth and charming, he was roguish. He’d go out of his way to do what was right for the patient — even if it broke the rules.” Concord’s Patricia Sandvig was just as smitten: “Watching him (in his recent return) was like being a giddy 15-year-old again, making eyes at David Cassidy. My husband couldn’t stand it, but too bad.”

4 GORAN VISNIJIC’S ACCENT: After Clooney departed, someone had to fill the hunk-a-licious void. In stepped a dreamy-eyed Croatian actor who played brooding Luka Kovac. When he spoke, women melted — including Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney). Says Pleasanton-based fan Joann Huston,”I never got tired of looking at him. He’s a handsome hunk of man.”

5 INFUSIONS OF NEW BLOOD: Visnijic represented just one of many successful “replacement parts” on ER, which continually found ways to survive major cast defections by plugging in compelling characters. “It kind of mimicked a regular workplace, with people moving on and new people coming in,” says Sandvig. “And there was something interesting going on every week, no matter who was there or not there.”

6 THE TEAR-JERK MOMENTS: Mixing heart with its heroics, ER was a show that forced you to keep the Kleenex handy. Perhaps saddest of all: The demise of Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards). Afflicted with an inoperable brain tumor, he flees to Hawaii to live out his final days with his teen daughter. Recalls Boschetti, “I don’t consider myself to be an emotional person, but I cried my eyes out over that one.”

7 SHOCK VALUE: Oh, but ER could be just as terrifying as it was touching. To wit: The episode in which Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) and med student Lucy Knight (Kellie Martin) are attacked by a delusional knife-wielding patient. “It shocked the hell out of me,” says Oakley’s Gene Crawford. “The severity and brutality of those scenes were such that you could almost feel the blade piecing your own skin.”

You can read 8 more hallmarks of ER here.

Source: Time, LATimes, Mercury News, Chicago Tribune, NJ.com,

9 Responses

  1. I just watched the final episodes and the ending was great and very fitting. Life goes on….
    This show will be sorely missed by many and I wished they were replacing it with something similar instead of Southland, which seems like just another cop/legal show. I will check it out though.

  2. it’s still my favourite show – nothing else quite compares to it’s mix of drama, realism and fantastic writing and acting. It is beyond me why Nine thinks that rubbish like 20 to 1 and repeats of very average sitcoms should take precedence over new eps of a series that delivered outstanding ratings for it over the years. Please have some respect for your viewers and start airing season 14!!!

  3. Channel 9 must just be leaving the likes of this and Survivor deliberately off their main channel so that they can be main attractions on SD2 when it arrives in August. I mean, August isnt that far away, and if it treats them well with like primetime 7.30/8.30/9.30 slots as it probably would, a secure and safe spot on the secondary channel has gotta be a good thing for fans, away from the stronger scrutiny of the main channel. Just imagine if they still had Pushing Daisies, Sarah Connor Cronicles and Chuck in the bank, that would b 5 big hits on the secondary channel of which id watch at least 3. Could have made it very attractive..but no…only for the foxtel people now…..still they also have a few comedies like Old Christine and The Big Bangers so it should b a reasonably decent lineup.

  4. Nine played catch up with the show during the recent summer recess
    (by screening double eps for a few weeks) and got to the end of season 13, but with season 14 having 10 episodes and the final season 15 having 21 episodes and 2 farewell clip eps to air after the final episode that’s just aired in the US, that’s 30 episodes Nine will have to screen first. They’re better off airing them
    at 10.30 pm or 11 pm Mondays, as the Boston Legal show (whose final season only has 13 eps) will finish up soon on Seven, in terms of new episodes.

  5. I love ER. I’ve had some free time this week and thought I’d continue with my ER DVDs so this is rather timely. I’m currently watching season 7 with Mark being diagnosed with the brain tumor.

    It’s one of the best dramas, that really has it all. Grey Anatomy pales in comparison.

  6. I haven’t watched it in years, but in it’s first few seasons it was beyond quality tv. Some particular moments that stood out for me were the Jeanie has Aids storyline and the episode when Dr Greene was trying and eventually failing to help a woman through a difficult labour (i think i watched that whole ep with mouth agape).

  7. So sad to see this show end but it was time – the ending was fantastic!

    Now I just wish Nine would air the episodes it has – maybe on its seond channel when it launches?

Leave a Reply