"ER" (1994)TV series 1994-????

Creator:

Michael Crichton

Seasons:

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

Release Date:

19 September 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Pediatrician | Violence | Operating Room | Gay Character | Medical Drama

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 113 wins & 257 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 28	10:00 AM	TNT	Greene With Envy	#6.3
Mon. July 28	11:00 AM	TNT	Sins of the Fathers	#6.4

Cast

Noah Wyle	...	Dr. John Carter / ... (249 episodes, 1994-2006)
Laura Innes	...	Dr. Kerry Weaver (245 episodes, 1995-2007)
Laura Cerón	...	Nurse Chuny Marquez / ... (211 episodes, 1995-2008)
Deezer D	...	Nurse Malik McGrath (189 episodes, 1994-2008)
Maura Tierney	...	Nurse Abby Lockhart / ... (187 episodes, 1999-2008)
Goran Visnjic	...	Dr. Luka Kovac (184 episodes, 1999-2008)
Yvette Freeman	...	Nurse Haleh Adams (181 episodes, 1994-2008)
Anthony Edwards	...	Dr. Mark Greene (179 episodes, 1994-2002)
Eriq La Salle	...	Dr. Peter Benton (169 episodes, 1994-2002)
Alex Kingston	...	Dr. Elizabeth Corday (158 episodes, 1997-2004)
Emily Wagner	...	Pickman / ... (158 episodes, 1994-2008)
Lynn A. Henderson	...	Olbes / ... (146 episodes, 1995-2008)
Sherry Stringfield	...	Dr. Susan Lewis (141 episodes, 1994-2005)
Mekhi Phifer	...	Dr. Gregory Pratt (135 episodes, 2002-2008)
Abraham Benrubi	...	Jerry Markovic (135 episodes, 1994-2006)
Julianna Margulies	...	Nurse Carol Hathaway (134 episodes, 1994-2000)
Paul McCrane	...	Dr. Robert Romano (125 episodes, 1997-2003)
Lily Mariye	...	Nurse Lily Jarvik (125 episodes, 1994-2008)
Ming-Na	...	Dr. Jing-Mei Chen / ... (118 episodes, 1995-2004)
Conni Marie Brazelton	...	Nurse Connie Oligario (114 episodes, 1994-2003)
Montae Russell	...	Zadro (114 episodes, 1995-2008)
Ellen Crawford	...	Nurse Lydia Wright (112 episodes, 1994-2003)
Troy Evans	...	Frank Martin / ... (110 episodes, 1994-2008)
George Clooney	...	Dr. Doug Ross (108 episodes, 1994-2000)
Parminder Nagra	...	Dr. Neela Rasgotra / ... (108 episodes, 2003-2008)
Linda Cardellini	...	Nurse Samantha Taggart / ... (105 episodes, 2003-2008)
Gloria Reuben	...	Jeanie Boulet (101 episodes, 1995-2008)

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

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

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:18 (one episode) | UK:15 (some episodes) | Netherlands:MG6 (some episodes) | Singapore:PG (season 3) (season 4) | Hungary:16 (some episodes) | Singapore:NC-16 (season 1) (season 5) (season 6) | Singapore:M18 (season 7) (season 8) | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating) | Netherlands:12 (some episodes) | 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:

The character played by Ming-Na was addressed only as Deborah Chen when she first appeared in the series in 1995. When she returned in 2000, she took to a more traditional name, Jing-Mei, which was also the name of the character Ming-Na played in The Joy Luck Club (1993).

Goofs:

Factual errors: The illuminated letters of Exit signs seen in the hospital are green in color. Both red and green colors are legal, but individual states enact the building code laws which specify what color sign can be used. Chicago requires that all exit signs be red in letter color. The interior hospital scenes are filmed in LA.

Quotes:

Carol Hathaway: Doug can you help me out here. "If a red quark is attracted to an anti-red quark, is it a gluon or a meson?"
Dr. Doug Ross: Thank you, Carol, for pointing out something else i know nothing about.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Sarah Michelle Gellar/Faith Hill (#28.2)" (2002)

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.