ER: The Five Years After The End

  

 On this day, it was five years ago that I said goodbye to what I call the “Citizen Kane” of TV medical dramas. That would be the longest running medical drama “ER.”

Yes sir, I can’t believe that it has been five years since we saw the last trauma coming to County General. Also just to put it out there that on this same day that Jay Cutler was traded to the Chicago Bears for Kyle Orton. So yeah, it was a big day for the folks of Chicago.

“ER” was the show that changed the landscape of not only medical drama but television drama itself. It started as a feature film by the late, great author Michael Crichton.  It took 20 years to make it as a television series and become the crown jewel of Must See TV on Thursday nights and gave way to other medical shows like “House.”

I put together a list of my top ten favorite ER episodes of all time. Well, maybe not all time, I love every episode of the show and I would watch it again over and over and over again. But for this list, I would list the episodes that I think make the show what it is.

10. Homecoming, Season Seven: When a high school homecoming football game goes too far, the battle doesn't stop there. When one player gets taken down and is sent to the ER, we see a pattern that others players from the same game came too. I love this episode because it has it action and that not only that the doctors and nurses have to deal with this but they have a union strike with the janitors on their hands.

9. Hell in High Water Season Two: It’s the classic boy fell in the well and needs to be rescued. But this is the George Clooney episode that made him the star that he is today. I really don’t have to say more than that.

8. And in the End, Series Finale: the finale episode takes place as it did for the pilot of the series. It has heart, laughs and will bring a tear to your eye. And for the first time in it's show's history that we get to see what the entire outside hospital looks like after 15 years.

 7. The Healers, Season Two: When two paramedics are called to a fire and only they are the ones there with a couple of kids still there, they risk their lives to a save them. This episode centers two paramedics who risked their lives to save a couple of children, even if it suffers second to third degree burns. It becomes an emotional story of two buddies facing life and death.

 6. Take These Broken Wings, Season Two: I consider this season two episode the one I would rewatch it over again. Dr. Lewis has gone through some tough personal times when she lost her niece, Little Suzie, because Lewis’s sister decided to move to Arizona after months of leaving her with Lewis. I would demand a recount and give the Emmy Award to Sherry Stringfield for her performance.

5. Be Still My Heart/All In The Family Season Six: These might be two separate episodes but it’s really a two part episode. When Lucy tries to treat a patient who she thinks has mental disorder it’s too late for both her and Dr. Carter as they are both attacked. It becomes a huge, emotional roller-coaster for their colleagues to help save them hoping they will make it out alive.

4. Blizzard, Season One: In season one, this episode is so perfect to watch that it has everything a movie has. It’s nearly Christmas and with a huge blizzard hitting Chicago and the ER is empty, soon a massive trauma of a huge accident on the highway becomes a chaotic event.

3. On the Beach, Season Eight: In this episode we see the last few days of what will be Dr. Mark Greene’s life. We see him writing down some goals and the one thing that he truly wants to do is fix his daughter and they take a trip to Hawaii. This turns out to be an emotional episode from the beginning to the end. 

2. Love’s Labor Lost, Season One: This is where the writing of this story hits its mark. This is about what would happen to a doctor, Greene, on the worst day of his life. This episode won a lot of awards including best writing in a drama series and directing. This showed its true meaning of what ER was and that Anthony Edwards should have won Best Actor at the Emmys that year in 1995.

1. 24 Hours, Season One: This is the episode that started it all. The day in the life of ER with doctors and nurses of what they go through. Yeah, it might by 1994 but this was something that no other television series has done before. And even Carol wasn’t supposed to live in this episode but thanks to the help of Steve Spielberg that all made it better in the end. I always wonder, if this wasn’t a television series, what would it be if this was a film? Also before this aired, Jurassic Park was made and I would have to say it probably gave it the boost to help make it a blockbuster series.

"ER" has been part of my life ever since I was just a little kid. This TV series was the first show that I got to watch with my mother and grandmother, who were big fans, and showed me what family time is about in a certain way. And since it's been gone for five years it’s still being missed by fans and I like other shows from Friends to Cheers. Like those shows ER is and will always be a national treasure of TV medical drama.