ER Turns 30

 

It's crazy that today is the 30th anniversary of my all-time favorite television series, ER. It's just hard to fathom about it because it was the series that hooked me to loving television. 

ER: 25 Years Later Still a Classic

It's hard to believe that it was on this date, September 19th that television not only had changed in the medical drama but in drama in general.

It's hard to believe that it was twenty-five years ago today that ER debuted as a two-hour movie pilot; soon would take off as one of the greatest television dramas of the '90s. It was written in 1974 as a feature film scripted by the late Michael Crichton on his experience during his medical student day. But it didn't see the light of day until Crichton and Steven Spielberg was putting it together. That was until Spielberg learned of Crichton's new project, Jurassic Park, that soon stopped the process of ER and worked putting Jurassic Park.

Later that someone from Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment thought that ER would be a great television series, but getting the show on television would be more of a challenge given the current television dramas at the time. The pilot of ER was passed by the major networks twice; until NBC gave them a shot. After getting the pilot made, NBC was not too pleased with what they saw. The stories being dropped without any proper ending, the graphics of blood and the procedures and let alone the medical jargon. They didn't think the audiences would ever understand.

Well, they were proven wrong. After not only did Warner Bros. tested the pilot and learned that it tested high for any pilot; NBC did their own testing and even tested higher than the previous testing. They placed the two-hour pilot on Monday night and later made their stamp on Thursday nights and became Must See TV with Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier, and Caroline in the City.

Crichton wanted to make a real medical drama that didn't dumb down to the audience and give too many uplifting moments. Life in the ER whether it was from a doctor's perspective or the patient's perspective is always dealing with life and death decisions that will always never go the way you had thought it would. It was real and authentic was what he wanted to bring and the audience responded quickly.

And not to mention the ensemble casting that, probably only to Friends, were highly popular and recognizable. From Anthony Edwards, George Clooney, Sherry Stringfield, Noah Wyle, Eriq La Salle. And Julianna Margulies, who by the way was supposed to have died in the pilot; but she tested so well that they wanted her back on the show because of not how great she was, but her chemistry between her character and Clooney's character was. It wasn't just all Ross and Rachael that stole everyone's hearts in the '90s; it was Carol and Doug as well.

After the pilot had aired, ER ran for 15 seasons on Thursday nights from 1994 to 2009. Before DVRs and streaming services; you had to watch shows live as they happen or even tape it on your VHS. My how things have changed since those days. In 2018, the show took a resurgence when Hulu got the rights to stream all 15 seasons of the series; which was about damn time; but I got my DVDs so I'm pretty good. Since ER debut there have been shows like House and Chicago Med that carry that gene.

I was five-years-old when ER premiered; I'd watched it with my grandmother and mother. I knew when I heard the opening intro to the series I knew ER was on. I might have had some nightmares, like when Dr. Greene got attacked in season three. ER was literally one of the reasons why I love television so much; from the character-driven stories and the connection to the characters; and not to mention the high action senses that come from time to time on the show. I highly recommend watching or rewatching the pilot episode; the medical terms might be outdated, but the stories hold up so good.

You can catch the complete series of ER on Hulu, iTunes, and Google Play. You can catch ER on Pop TV Wednesdays and Thursdays at 4/3c.

Always In my Television Heart: ER: 10 Years Later After Series Finale

It's one of those days I can't forget that changed my television world forever.

I remember it like yesterday, April 2, 2009, as the day it would change my life in the future television world forever. I've been through other series finales that made me cry, mad, and even laugh, but this one show meant more to me than anything else in the television universe. That specific date is the day that ER ended its 15-season run.

The morning of Thursday, April 2, 2009, was one gloomy day to start, as I had an early class downtown. It was cloudy with showers. I had stopped to pick up newspapers like the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune as I would think they would have put something in there for the series finale of ER. I've gone through each section and found several pages about the show and some with poster ads.

After my only class for that day, I headed back home while listening to the ER soundtrack on my MP3 player. As I get home, I go through the VHS tape of the Today Show when Noah Wyle was on to promote the series finale. I kept myself busy with the usual stuff from watching ESPN until 5 p.m. of the news that the Chicago Bears had made a trade for Jay Cutler (how great that turned out to be ten years later). My grandmother and I ordered Chinese food for dinner, and as time flew by, the world learned that Guiding Light was also ending.

At 7 pm, the special retrospective of ER begins as well, as the waterworks started as the doors opened at County General. As you're going through the hospital doors and into the ER, you hear the voices of all the characters that had worked on the show, from Anthony Edwards' Dr. Greene in the pilot to Noah Wyle's stepping up during an outbreak in Season 4; to George Clooney's Dr. Ross talks about how he tries to help kids who suffer from pain to even William H. Macy's character telling Edward's character that "you set the tone."

The special was an hour-long celebration of the show's origins and how the show has changed network television in medical drama and drama. Two parts restarted the waterworks, reliving the events of Dr. Greene's last episode to even acknowledging the creator of the series, Michael Crichton, who had passed away in Nov. 2008.

The series finale was one that I believe was written for the fans but also paid tribute to the pilot. The two-hour pilot was like a documentary-style episode with bits and pieces of moments that took you back from the past 15 years of the show's history.

There were many moments of laughter, but moments that brought you to tears, from a husband losing his wife to a mother dying after giving birth to twins. Not to mention, a homosexual HIV patient learns that he's got terminal cancer and accepts it without fear as he feels he lived long enough.
I can't forget the significant moments of former cast members returning. Susan Lewis, Elizabeth Corday, Kerry Weaver, Peter Benton, and Rachael Greene, Dr. Greene's daughter, try to get in as medical students at County General, where her father worked.

As the finale ends, we get a moment when residents, doctors, nurses, and Rachael discuss their med-student experience. Sam got a call from EMTs about a mass casualty at a chemical plant explosion and was on the way. As everyone gets ready, all the doctors and nurses come out together, awaiting, and Carter gets prepared, too. As the ambulance rolls in, everyone takes each patient. Carter takes a burn victim. As he rolls them in, he turns to Rachael and asks, "Dr. Greene, are you coming?" and she comes along.

As the episode closes, the doctors and nurses check on other ambulances outside the hospital. As the camera moves back, we see for the first time the building that is County General Hospital with the theme music playing in the background.

"And In The End" was a series finale that was a remembrance of the 15 seasons of the show, with its powerful and emotional stories to the humorist side of the show too. Now, it only shows the strong character growth of the doctors and nurses, but the patients who come in and out may or may not live in the hospital. Still to this day, ten years later, I am still overwhelmed by rewatching the finale of ER.

Watching the series finale of ER was the first time I would lose a television show that I had watched since I was five years old. I'd always thought that ER could live forever, but I know that it will live forever, not only on DVD and digital but in my heart as well.  And on every April 2 since I do indeed rewatch the series finale, and not only do I still get emotional watching it. But I felt so lucky to have watched a show that ran for 15 seasons.

Good Girls trailer

Coming to NBC this February, a new drama crime series that follows three suburban women who are having a hard time trying to make ends meet. When they decide to pull off an unlikely heist by robbing a supermarket, only to discover that they're in the for more than they bargained. Their successful robbery attracts the attention of the store manager after he recognizes one of the women, but for a different reason altogether tied to the money.

Starring Christin Hendricks (Mad Men, ER), Retta (Parks and Recreation), Maw Whitman (Parenthood). Created and executive produced by Jenna Bans (Scandal, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives).

Here's a trailer:

You can catch the series premiere of Good Girls  Monday, February 26th on NBC.

My Top 10 Michael Critchon Books

Today is Michael Crichton's birthday. He would have been 73 years old. He brought a lot to not only books the the entire entertainment industry from movies to television.

 The man was a thriller genius and a mastermind at that too.
He created my all time favorite television medical drama, ER.

The show changed the face of television on how characters and stories are told and not to mention how to keep the medicine real. Helping shows from House to Royal Pains are shows that have that realistic touch that Crichton help brought. And he did became a doctor before becoming a best selling author.


Along with television, I do have a ton of favorite books that Crichton wrote. Here's my top 10:

1. Jurassic Park
2. Prey
3. The Andromeda Strain
4. The Lost World
5. Congo
6. Disclosure
7. A Case in Need
8. Next
9. Mirco
10. Airframe

I do recommend you to check out one of these books and red them. Once you start reading one of them, you won't want to put the book down. Hell, I still read them whenever I have a chance.

Happy Birthday Mr. Crichton. We still miss you!