"ER" (1994) TV series 1994-2009

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Creator:

Michael Crichton

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | unknown

Release Date:

19 September 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The work and lives of a group of emergency room doctors in Chicago.

Plot Keywords:

Medical | Emergency Room | Doctor | Hospital | Medical Drama

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 118 wins & 261 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Nov. 11	11:00 AM	TNT	A Thousand Cranes	#9.16
Thur. Nov. 12	11:00 AM	TNT	The Advocate	#9.17

Cast

Noah Wyle	...	Dr. John Carter / ... (255 episodes, 1994-2009)
Laura Innes	...	Dr. Kerry Weaver / ... (251 episodes, 1995-2009)
Laura Cerón	...	Nurse Chuny Marquez (219 episodes, 1995-2009)
Maura Tierney	...	Nurse Abby Lockhart / ... (190 episodes, 1999-2009)
Deezer D	...	Nurse Malik McGrath (188 episodes, 1994-2009)
Goran Visnjic	...	Dr. Luka Kovac / ... (186 episodes, 1999-2009)
Yvette Freeman	...	Nurse Haleh Adams (185 episodes, 1994-2009)
Anthony Edwards	...	Dr. Mark Greene / ... (182 episodes, 1994-2009)
Eriq La Salle	...	Dr. Peter Benton / ... (173 episodes, 1994-2009)
Emily Wagner	...	Doris Pickman (167 episodes, 1994-2009)
Alex Kingston	...	Dr. Elizabeth Corday / ... (161 episodes, 1997-2009)
Lynn A. Henderson	...	Pamela Olbes (148 episodes, 1995-2009)
Sherry Stringfield	...	Dr. Susan Lewis / ... (143 episodes, 1994-2009)
Abraham Benrubi	...	Jerry Markovic (141 episodes, 1994-2009)
Mekhi Phifer	...	Dr. Gregory Pratt / ... (136 episodes, 2002-2009)
Julianna Margulies	...	Nurse Carol Hathaway / ... (136 episodes, 1994-2009)
Parminder Nagra	...	Dr. Neela Rasgotra / ... (130 episodes, 2003-2009)
Troy Evans	...	Frank Martin / ... (129 episodes, 1994-2009)
Linda Cardellini	...	Nurse Samantha Taggart / ... (127 episodes, 2003-2009)
Lily Mariye	...	Nurse Lily Jarvik (127 episodes, 1994-2009)
Paul McCrane	...	Dr. Robert Romano / ... (126 episodes, 1997-2009)
Ming-Na	...	Dr. Jing-Mei Chen / ... (118 episodes, 1995-2004)
Montae Russell	...	Dwight Zadro (117 episodes, 1995-2009)
Scott Grimes	...	Dr. Archie Morris / ... (113 episodes, 2003-2009)
Ellen Crawford	...	Nurse Lydia Wright (113 episodes, 1994-2009)
Conni Marie Brazelton	...	Nurse Connie Oligario (113 episodes, 1994-2003)
George Clooney	...	Dr. Doug Ross (109 episodes, 1994-2009)

Also Known As:

E.R. (USA) (alternative spelling)
Emergency Room (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

44 min | 60 min (including commercials) | Netherlands:55 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 (some episodes) | UK:18 (one episode) | Singapore:PG (season 3) (season 4) | Netherlands:12 (some episodes) | Netherlands:MG6 (some episodes) | Singapore:NC-16 (season 1) (season 5) (season 6) (season 9) REPLACE WITH: (season 1) (season 5) (season 6) (season 9) | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Hungary:16 (some episodes) | Singapore:M18 (season 7) (season 8) (season 10) (season 11) | Singapore:NC-16 (season 9) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG (some episodes) | Brazil:14 | Norway:15 | USA:TV-14

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Constant c Productions

Trivia:

Matthew Watkins, the child who plays Reese Benton, Peter's deaf son, is hearing impaired in real life

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Doctors and nurses frequently wear their stethoscopes backwards - with the binaural pointed toward the back of the head rather than the face - while listening to heart or lung sounds. In reality, this would not allow the listener to hear ANYTHING, as sound would be transmitted into the skin at the back of the outer ear rather than down the ear canal.

Quotes:

[On a rapist in trauma]
Malik: Let the bastard die.
Dr. Mark Greene: He's a patient like any other. He gets our best effort.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Boy Meets World: A Long Walk to Pittsburgh: Part 1 (#4.16)" (1997)

Wanna See What Made this Show Great? Buy the 1st Season DVD

ER in its present, 2003 form is a schizophrenic mess. For every one intelligent, caring episode comes four or five exercises in downbeat, melodramatic soap opera which sap all the energy out of the show's still-present technical mastery. This four-disc set is a welcome flashback to the show's humble beginnings, when it wasn't supposed to be the most heart-pounding show on television, and succeeded on will, not on hype.

The central characters in the first season are Chief Resident Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), ER Residents Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) and pediatrician Doug Ross (George Clooney), Head Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Marguiles), Surgical Resident Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq la Salle) and his protégé, third-year med student John Carter (Noah Wyle, the only actor to remain on the show through the entire run). They brought a fresh edge to the oft-repeated world of medical drama, helped greatly by the first television show, in my estimation, to ever put actual intelligence into the presentation. On ER, the cameras move, the people move, the consistent hustle and bustle of an actual environment is palpable, and not simply a setpiece. It's interesting to note that although the show was never broadcast in widescreen until 2001, in the middle of it's seventh season, these first episodes are all presented in the wider format. At first it might seem like hubris, but most of them fit the frame very well, with shots composed and staged for the wider picture - it's not `cinematic' just for its own sake.

Standout episodes from the season include the exposition-heavy `Pilot' which still found time for drama; `Blizzard' which was a tour-de-force of film, editing, and cutting edge medical realism; `Hit & Run' & `Sleepless in Chicago' which dealt with the heavy burden of juggling personal & professional medical care, as well as Carter's development as a doctor; and `Love's Labor Lost', an absolute masterpiece from every angle: drama, directing, scripting, staging, scoring, every cosmic tumbler clicked into place for this episode centered around Greene's tragic triumph in the case of a pregnancy gone bad.

The show took a few (deserved) knocks for being shamelessly convenient in its storylines and ignoring the realities of daily hospital structure in favor of sensationalism. This is exaggerated a little, but still a valid point; rarely an episode goes by without something in the line of an unexpected pregnancy, a suicide attempt, a violent skirmish between doctor and patient, or (in one outrageous case) a 12-year old gang member brining his Glock into a trauma room to try and finish another 12-year old off. Still, the show displayed remarkable resilience in almost always rising to become greater than the sum of its parts. Naturally, that ability has waned and virtually disappeared, but these episodes are no less enjoyable as a result of that.