ER: A Forgotten Hit

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Anthony Andrews was never that big of a star.

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I wonder if it's because Grey's Anatomy stole ER's thunder by the time it went off the air.

What happened to Eric LaSalle. I was sure they'd work him into Coming 2 America but it dosen't doesn't look like he appears in it.

I always had the feeling Anthony Edward's made his millions from his last few seasons on ER and was happy to leave acting behind, that's why Mark was killed off.

I recall a cute actor showing his bare bottom, something never shown on network tv, at that time.

Much like Grey's Anatomy, it overstayed its welcome by a long shot and I think it really hurt it. Perhaps had it ended around 2002 or 2003 it might've went out with more fanfare

R8 Yes, I was surprised it only went off the air in 2009. I thought it was much earlier!!

R5 He appeared in Logan a few years ago but that's been it. Looking on wikipedia he seems to be much more involved in TV shows behind the scenes now, I guess there's only so many roles for aging black actors and most of those will either go to Freeman or Jackson.

ER was a crappy melodrama.

St. Elsewhere was a better show on every level.

Puh-lease, OP.

THIS is the truly forgotton "E.R.". It also co-starred Clooney, was set in Chicago, and the title...well...obviously.

Elliot Gould was even still kind of cute at this point.

[quote]I always had the feeling Anthony Edward's made his millions

Oh, dear.

Eriq La Salle said he was too busy to do Coming to America 2 but he probably knew it was going to be a stinker.

I don't know if it's quite forgotten but I think it was more beloved in the early years with the original cast of Clooney, Edwards, La Salle, Stringfield, Wylie, and Margulies.

You never hear people discuss NYPD Blue, either.

Yeah, it outstayed it's welcome. Should have ended when Nurse Hathaway went off with Doug to live with the twins.

Hill Street Blues is a hardly mentioned anymore.

Epitomizes the mediocrity of even critically-acclaimed '90s TV.

Most drama shows don't have legs in syndication. When was the last time you saw The Sopranos or Mad Men reruns on TV?

There are a few: Murder She Wrote is still huge. The Law and Order franchise. Little House is currently run on four different stations. Blue Bloods seems to be having a nice syndication run. Charlie's Angels of course.

The tone of the show was much darker starting with Season 7. Up until then there was a good mix of sad and funny medicine cases. The actors playing the nurses/desk clerks were featured more prominently in Seasons 1-6 too….after that they barely had any lines. They even went to letterbox format to distinguish the show as a “serious” show.

I think the reason why shows like Murder She Wrote and Law and Order thrive in syndication is that the episodes pretty much resolve in an hour. You don't really need to see the previous episode (unless it's a two-parter). Even with Law and Order you can still jump in between seasons and focus on the case of the episode.

ER reruns aired for years on TNT and ION. Pop TV has been airing reruns for a few years now.

With SVU, you can expect in the later seasons precious child Noah to be kidnapped and Olivia demanding EVERYONE TO FIND MY SON!!!!!!!!!!

Sopranos as an HBO program would never have gone into standard syndication, it remains one of their plum intellectual properties.

You know what you don’t hear about anymore? Cop Rock. That was a great and underrated show. Not even a DVD set.

Maybe the fact that it holds up well means that people won't tune in for the nostalgia factor and to be reminded of an earlier time.

Anthony Edwards' wife is worth hundreds of millions, he never has to work again if he doesn't want to. I also wonder if his CSA didn't affect his desire to work in such a pervy, immoral industry.

Grey's Anatomy seems to be doing pretty well on streaming platforms. I imagine the early years when it was a trashy, fun soap will hold up better than the current social-issue-of-the-week format. Krista Vernoff is a notoriously bad showrunner.

Cop Rock had too much music to make syndication or DVD release viable. Same with Homefront, my favorite series of all time.

I will give this to ER, I still cringe and become the knife watcher at all work parties to this very day, especially around Valentine’s Day.

Anthony Edwards and his wife divorced a few years ago. Last year he started dating his Miracle Mile co-star Mare Winningham. Not sure if they're still together, though.

St. Elsewhere and The first decade of Grey’s Anatomy were better than shitty ER. That show was WAY too stiff.

R30 Really? Isn't Mare the mother of 5 kids?

It was all about the procedures. You didn't connect with the characters so it didn't touch people's hearts therefore they don't remember it as fondly as other shows that did.

R33 Exactly.

Remember Chicago Hope, the serious person’s ER?

Law & Order, up until S10, was a much better series.

ER took itself way too seriously for what it was. I enjoyed Maura Tierney's character, though.

Who can forget the classic theme song, which consisted of the same two notes played again and again?

Wish I'd written that.

Julianna “Cunt” Margulies should’ve died in the pilot as originally planned. What a hateful bitch.

I had the biggest crush on Noah Wyle. I used to dream about him shoving his big Jewish cock down my throat

Julianna Marguelies once came to the desk at a health club I worked at demanding something be done because a man took her picture while she was on the treadmill.

This was pre-cell phones with cameras. She must be driven completely insane now that it happens everywhere.

I wouldn’t say it’s forgotten, I think they still air reruns and people remember it. After a while they all sort of fade away except a rare few, it’s mainly sitcoms like the Golden Girls that live on. I loved ER, especially the Clooney years. It was 100x better than that cheesy Grey’s Anatomy. St. Elsewhere was before my time so I never saw that one. On a side note, I saw the actress who played Neela in a very small role (literally she played a friend in a scene with barely a line) and she looked terrible. She appeared to have gained a lot of weight. Her career went nowhere after the show ended.

FYI, I just looked up Paraminda Nagra and this article came up. A lot of shade and pretty mean spirited.

Yeah, Parminder got bigger. But she's 45. She's worked a long time. She probably made a lot of $$ from ER. She was in almost 130 episodes, so she probably gets good royalties. Maybe she invested well, too. She's also done a lot of television work so it's not like she's destitute. She was never going to have the same career s Kiera Knightley but she did well for herself.

Not everyone can be George Clooney. If you take all of the cast members over the years you'd find a few that made it short term, a few are still around, a few are barely seen and then are the few that pop up from time to time but work regularly.

Gloria Reuben may not have become a huge star but she has worked non-stop since her time on the series ended, most notably recently on "Mr. Robot" for a few seasons. Kellie Martin appears here and there but mostly produces things. We all know what happened to Ming Na who not only has never stopped working but still lands high profile TV projects, most recently joining the Star Wars (TV) franchise on their latest spin off after finishing up a years long stint on Agents of SHIELD. Mekhi Phifer is on "Truth Be Told" on Apple TV + with Octavia Spencer.

Sherry Stringfield on the other hand seems to have taken a break from acting. Parminder Nagra just seems like she does enough to keep her SAG insurance.

I'd be hanging out with my kid and my dogs too if I'd been in a successful series and had the money to not work full-time. Not everyone is insanely ambitious.

[quote]Not everyone is insanely ambitious.

It doesn't seem like she had the easiest time of it in the past but I think that's obvious. As someone else said, she was never going to have Kiera's career, especially at that time in history. It was clear her guest spot on Blackish was for fun. I'm sure she'll do another series when she wants to if she likes it.

I’ve been looking for Chicago Hope. Can’t find anything. I’m not saying it was good, but it’s strange that it’s never aired and there’s no DVD.

It aired here on Canadian TV for awhile last year. Not sure if it's still on, though.

I miss Scrubs

David E Kelley has something against releasing his shows for DVD/streaming/syndication

Parminder Nagra is unattractive and untalented. But sure! Let’s give her big roles.

Parminder had a pretty face when she was younger but the weight gain is making her look like a corner shop owner.

R53 It was better then, yes, but still not great.

She was already a lot older than Keira when they hit it big with BILB, and now she’s Methusalah by Hollywood standards.

Eriq LaSalle now directs episodes of Dick Wolf's Chicago P.D.

Alex Kingston always seemed so glamorous with lots of potential, but she seemed to go nowhere after ER. Wasn’t she married to someone quite prominent?

it's no St Elsewhere, OP. Did everything later, and with so much drama.

Alex Kingston was married to Ralph Fiennes. He dumped her for Francesca Annis

The reason, OP, is that it happened right before the Golden Age of scripted drama which was a cable phenomenon. Those shows had shorter seasons, were more literate which allowed a richness which invites reviewing, and usually retained their cast throughout the run of the show. It’s perfect for the binging streaming age. ER was an action-heavy show which went through cast members like tissue paper. Additionally ER was a standard network medical drama while the new Golden Age dramas had very high concept subject matter (New Jersey mobsters, funeral home family, Meth labs, etc)

R57, you wrote, "Alex Kingston always seemed so glamorous with lots of potential, but she seemed to go nowhere after ER. Wasn’t she married to someone quite prominent?"

I think her career post-ER has been just fine... she has worked consistently and for all of the Doctor Who fans in the world (and there are many), she is forever, the character River Song. You may not be a fan of DW, but believe me, she is really well-known.

And several years ago, she played Lady Macbeth over in England with Kenneth Branagh... honestly, that is nothing to sneeze at either.

Her personal life seems to have been a mess over the years, but as an actress she works and is well-respected. Sounds good to me.

Countless big stars used to do some guests stints/cameos as ER patients on this show earlier in their careers. Almost every episode has some big name there, some of them are very good. I never forget Octavia Spencer's guest appearance.

Also, wasn't DL fave Kyle Richards one of the nurses on the show?

R61 To clrify, River Song was a beloved Doctor Who character, til brillo pad hair wanker Moffat got her back and destroyed her. Amy is her Mother, she is some kind of time lord as she was conceived in the tardis, oh just destroyed her.

I loathe Sherry Stringfield with the heat of ten billion suns.

Moira Tierney makes my skin crawl and I never got why they made her the centerpiece of so many episodes.

Gloria Rueben elevated every scene she was in to a level it inherently didn’t deserve. Love her.

How did Neela get so much dick? They had her romantically paired with Sharif Atkins, Shane West, David Lyons, and John Stamos. In what world??

Girl, no.

R64 Why the hate for poor Sherry?

I loved ER growing up. It was must-see TV during the mid to late 90’s. George Clooney was never my type but I had the hots for young Noah Wyle who reminded me of my first love.

Shane West and John Stamos should have been paired as the hot couple! I don’t recall much LGBTQ representation in the series?

I just remember Weaver being the only gay in the hospital and she faced quite a bit of homophobia, mostly from short and angry Dr. Romano.

[quote] Perhaps had it ended around 2002 or 2003 it might've went out with more fanfare

Oh, dear.

The whole point of popular culture, television especially, is that it’s disposable.

ER still had one of the best/most traumatic episodes on tv: Love’s Labour Lost.

R73, totally, I remember it took me a year to recover after watching it.

Romano was an interesting character. It's a shame that they completely jumped the shark with that helicopter ending for him. That was the turning point episode that made me to stop watching the show.

Does anyone want to discuss the shockingly underrated Picket Fences?

R75 Pickett Fences and Northern Exposure picked up the interests in weird small towns that Twin Peaks had cultivated, but in a more family friendly format.

R65, yeah I remember that being ridiculous. Every male character was in love with Neela. Yeah, right. The early years were definitely the gold years of the show.

R75 and The X Files and Millenium carried on the supernatural love that Twin Peaks also played with, especially in its all over the place Season 2.

Its like Twin Peaks spawned some big shows - with two clear branches.

I loved it. Missed the early cast but Goran and Maura grew on me and I developed a lockdown lust for Stamos in this during a Covid rewatch.

The writing took a downward turn in Season 5 - the season they introduced Kellie Martin’s character. Carter in a mentor role turned him into an unsympathetic character. And Noah wasn’t able to fill Anthony Edwards’ shoes as the lead when they killed off Greene.

Not saying that as a hater…I loved Noah Wyle during the first four seasons. As the novice/underdog he played both the dramatic and comedic scenes perfectly.

Noah wasn't cast as lead as he didn't have it in him and it was a mistake positioning him into the lead role, they should've cast a new lead at the beginning of season 8 so there could be bit of crossover between Edwards and this made up new person and then the new person could've taken over from season 9 onwards, I think Noah would've thrown a tantrum about it, as it sounds like he had a pretty big ego during his ER days, but showbiz is ruthless and there is very little room for loyalty.

R63, I quickly drifted away from DW when Matt Smith was introduced as the new Doctor. I love David Tenant as the Doctor and think the episode The Library where River is introduced is a favorite.

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My only problem with Maura was her character always seem to get shit on, one miserable storyline after another, even her pregnancy couldn't be smooth, giving birth after a shooting and then having a hysterectomy. I get that she was pretty much the lead after Noah left but some lightness would've been nice.

Linda Cardelline was good on it. I could see men wanting to fuck her, but Neela?

I loved Picket Fences, r75

It was great TV - for the time, certainly - up until it jumped the shark with Romano and the helicopter as R74 mentioned. That plus the revolving cast of mediocre actors finally killed it for me, though I did continue watching by fast forwarding through every scene excepting those with Maura Tierney.

LOVE Maura Tierney as an actor and even loved her hang-dog character on ER. The reality is that eventually she was the only character worth watching, and was, in fact, the moral center of the show. I read a great article analyzing and explaining that and I'm sorry I can't find the link to share it.

I recall ER having serialized storylines mixed with self contained, one episode plots

I don't think that the serialized elements hurt the show in syndication or people's memories

The very soapy and serialized 90s dramas Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place are in reruns and streaming and are still remembered and mentioned by people

Picket Fences was awesome!

I loved ER until they killed off Dr. Green. I rarely watched it after that.

Just like with L&O, after the actor who played Lenny Briscoe died, that was it for me. It never was that good again.

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I loved that they continued to have seasonal episodes for a long time. I rewatch the Christmas ones.

[quote]Countless big stars used to do some guests stints/cameos as ER patients on this show earlier in their careers. Almost every episode has some big name there, some of them are very good. I never forget Octavia Spencer's guest appearance.

I remember that appearance. I did a rewatch of episodes on Hulu a couple of years ago. Jessica Chastain was in an episode where she played a young woman who been sexually abused by her father and he suffered a brain injury and was comatose or something and she was basically doing anything to keep him alive so he could get what he deserved. It was a sad episode.

Doug and Carol are one of my all time favorite tv couples.

Let me guess, R94. They taught you to live, laugh, love?

Parminder's Pussy got so many men.

[quote] Anthony Andrews

Oh dear

[quote] Moira Tierney

Oh DEAR

R94 What about Ted and Alice?

R91 You do realize that “Must See TV” was a tag line not an admonishment that you had to watch all the shows?

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Julie FUCKING Bowen was on a few episodes and she was allegedly so goddamn hot all the men wanted to fuck her.

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I WAS on ER for a few episodes!

But I'm really a comedian! *sticks out tongue, crosses eyes*

'Cause I'm so WACKY! *does a quick Charleston*

It's just so NATURAL for me!

[quote]ER still had one of the best/most traumatic episodes on tv: Love’s Labour Lost.

R73, I totally agree. I was on a business trip in my hotel room, glued to the TV watching that even though I was recording it back home. Once it started I was hooked.

I haven't watched the whole video yet, but ER did a virtual reunion last month.

I never watched ER, but I remember thinking the promos made it seem like the most obnoxious show on earth.

I was in college when it started and worked nights in a coffee shop with other creative types. My co-workers and I called it "Urrr," because that's what the title looked like in the unpunctuated opening credits and ads (the latter exploited the '90s trend of typewriter typeface sans capitalization).

We thought we were too cool for Must-See TV. But my co-worker was the first woman I knew to get the Rachel hairstyle (in October, one month after Friends debuted), and by January, I had a George Clooney Caesar cut.

[quote] I recall a cute actor showing his bare bottom, something never shown on network tv, at that time.

Wasn't that Chicago Hope, for which they were fined a million by the North Korea-like FCC?

I watched it for a time. It was just a medical soap opera. The writing was frequently very bad. Like having Robert "Rocket" Romano (played by Paul McCrane, an interesting actor) get his arm cut off in a helicopter accident and THEN get squashed by one. Now what are the chances of THAT happening? Romano was supposed to be a "bad" character, but I liked him a lot better than a lot of the "good" ones.

Of course all the doctors and nurses and interns were sleeping with each other. It got so they were running out of ideas for pairings. Elizabeth and Mark? That was weird. Luca and Abby? That was even weirder. Both sets of actors had absolutely NO chemistry with each other. Especially plain Maura Tierney and the model handsome Goran Višnjić. Those two were supposedly having hot sex but I never got the impression they even really liked each other.

r7, NYPD Blue had debuted the season before and had done rear nudity; ER was just one of the shows that followed the trend to show how serious and edgy it was (at the time).

In season one, Rick Rossovich, who played Carol's love interest that season, showed his butt getting out of bed during a scene with her. Rossovich was a beautiful man who wasn't shy about taking his clothes off (baby gay me thought he was dreamy, of course). The ER scene is in the last two caps here:

William H. Macy, who played Dr. Morganstern in his pre-stardom days, also showed his butt (I don't remember the context, but he was injured/required surgery--and was possibly drugged up--but was laying on his stomach on a hospital bed and the back of his gown was open, showing his ass).

Was there ever any female nudity on ER? I don't remember any, despite all the sex the female characters seemed to be getting. But I seem to recall a couple of scenes where one of them is in the shower stall and you can see they're naked but you can't really SEE anything.

Alex Kingston is a good actress. They didn’t give her anything to do after Mark died.

I didn’t think Alex had any chemistry with Anthony Edwards. She had great chemistry with Eric Lasalle. Elizabeth Corday and Mark were a boring couple.

Corday was such an interesting character in the beginning but they turned her into a shrieking harpie.

Wasn't it La Salle who pulled the plug on that relationship since he didn't want his character dating a white woman?

Did Mandy Patinkin have it written into his contract that he could do his annoying singing every few episodes?

Maura and Goran were fucking offscreen, I didnt find their relationship implausible

Romano was a major asshole but there were a couple of times when he showed genuine compassion. One was when Corday found out Mark’s tumor had come back, she was crying in a library and Romano saw her.

The writers were pretty good at giving out even the most dislikable characters a little heart, such as when Romano signed in ASL to Benton's son to take care of his father.

I hate myself for this, but even though I disliked his character immensely, I thought Romano was crazy hot.

And I don't know what it looks like nowadays, but William H. Macy's bare ass on a gurney in the elevator was a thing of beauty.

OP, have you not gotten to the cheesy exit Dr. Crane made? A long drawn out piece of shit for storyline.

By that point, ER had jumped the shark. The scripts devolved into pee stains on the floor at urinals.

Which one was Dr. Crane, R120?

R121, Frasier :)))

I think he meant Green.

Has anyone ever ranked all the actors from ER?

R123, Only leads or all actors?

So storylines drag ass, like the one with Red Buttons and the one with Kirsten Dunst.

It also tended to drag ass when they pulled in family member subplots like when it became The Sally Field Programme.

He wanted to bury alive Sam Taggart’s asshole kid in the desert.

R123

Your wish is the Internet's command. This is one article of many that purport to do the same thing.

"Maura and Goran were fucking offscreen, I didnt find their relationship implausible."

Where did you hear that? The National Enquirer? Anyway, even if it was true it didn't change the fact that they had NO chemistry on ER. None at all. And here's something else; WHY were men on the always falling in love with Abby? She wasn't very good looking and always had this hangdog look on her face. Not a "babe", for sure.

Maura Tierney gets a lot of straight men going! At least the ones I know.

Maura had a girl next door vibe when she first joined, I think that's where her popularity with guys stemmed from.

as one of my straight friends said Maura is the type of girl you marry as opposed to the type of girl you would cheat on your girlfriend with.

[quote]The writers were pretty good at giving out even the most dislikable characters a little heart, such as when Romano signed in ASL to Benton's son to take care of his father.

I remember that scene and I thought it was quite touching. At the time, I was expecting some kind of reveal later on that Romano had deaf parents or siblings and that explained why he knew ASL.

That article in the Atlantic said that the death of Romano (crushed by a helicopter getting his arm sliced off by one) was the signaling of the series having jumped the shark. It certainly was! It was mind bogglingly bad writing.

As for appeal of Maura Tierney...I will never be able to fathom it. Abby was not good looking, didn't have an interesting personality and has a crazy family. What guy would be lusting after THAT?

Abby was a squirter and really into anal.

Abby was obsessed with double penetration. Her favorite configuration was Carter in her ass, because he was smaller, and Luca in her pussy.

The guys were bi-curious and totally into it.