The fall of "ER" is something so troubling it deserves serious study in an academic course by experts of television phenomena. It's actually a fairly easy distinction to make, the show can be very easily divided into two segments, the great television part (which lasts from Fall 1994 to Spring 2002) and the crappy television part (which lasts from Fall 2002 to Winter 2009).
When "ER" first started, it was without a doubt the best drama of television, with the best cast on television. The first season cast of Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene, George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis, Noah Wyle as John Carter, Julianna Margulies as Nurse Carol Hathaway, and Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton, was irreplaceable. Each actor brought such a special character to the table, each was fully developed, and each was given equal weight in the story lines (although most would agree that Mark Greene is the closest to a main character the show ever had).
During the 1994-1995 season, "ER" didn't have a single bad episode, and proved itself to be a force to be reckoned with. Just take a look at "Love's Labor Lost," still one of the most famous and heartbreaking episodes ever filmed. It's an absolutely astounding piece of TV, exciting from beginning to end, painfully sad by the time the credits roll, and acted to perfection by every single person involved. "ER" remained an incredibly show for years and years. Indeed, it seemed to do the impossible by managing to remain strong even as cast members began to disappear. Sherry Stringfield was the first one, leaving late in 1996, and she opened the door for all the next cast members to exit the hospital, Maria Bello in 1998, George Clooney in 1999, Gloria Reuben in 1999, Kellie Martin and Julianna Margulies in 2000. Still, the show kept on rolling. Taking a quick look through the episode list of these early seasons and you'll see some of the most classic episodes of television ever filmed, "Hell and High Water," "Fevers of Unknown Origin," "Take These Broken Wings," "Union Station," "The Long Way Around, "Ambush," "Family Practice," "The Good Fight," "Be Still My Heart," "All in the Family," "Mayday," the list goes on.
Around 1999, major cast changes started to take place. We waved goodbye to Gloria Reuben and George Clooney and said hello to Paul McCrane (in a devilishly biting, often quite funny performance as Dr. Robert Romano), Michael Michele (as Benton love interest Dr. Cleo Finch), Goran Visnjic (as Dr. Luka Kovac," Erik Palladino (underused as Dr. David Malucci), Ming-Na, returning from a guest spot in Season 1, as Dr. Jing-Mei Chen, and finally Maura Tierney as Nurse Abby Lockhart. The show remained strong with these newcomers along with veterans Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle, and Eriq La Sall, and seasons 7 and 8 retained that strong quality we'd come to expect. But then, something changed.
That something was the death of Dr. Mark Greene. To this day, "On The Beach" remains the most profoundly moving, poetic, sad, and beautiful episode of television I have ever seen. I don't think I have ever cried as much as when Dr. Green passed on, but it was done in such a beautiful fashion, it just felt right. And it should have been the final episode. The writer's had the perfect chance to end the series at Greene's funeral, with Hathaway and Ross lying flowers on his grave and saying goodbye, but no, they didn't do that. In fact, they didn't even make his death the season finale, they made it the penultimate episode of the season, preferring instead to cap off the eighth season with a lame 'crisis' episode involving the lockdown of the ER.
Things did not get crappy immediately. In fact, Season 9 is alright, it's just no 1-8. But things quickly started going haywire, and the departure of Noah Wyle and Sherry Stringfield in 2005 was the final nail in the coffin. Without anyone to be the rock of the show, things started to get very stupid. When John Stamos came parading through the doors in 2006, I knew any chance of the series returning to its stature in the Clooney/Edwards years was long gone, and the 13th and 14th seasons have been some of the worst television ever aired, an embarrassing attempt to rip on the far inferior "Grey's Anatomy." One pines for the romantic tension and longing of George Clooney and Julianna Margulies while they watch the attempted 'chemistry' of John Stamos and Linda Cardellini, who do nothing but bone in abandoned operating rooms to the tune of same pop song. Meanwhile, the departure's in the beginning of the 15th season of Goran Visnjic, Mekhi Phifer, and Maura Tierney officially means that the oldest cast member is Parminder Nagra, cast member since season 9. That's right, NOBODY from the first eight seasons is currently on the show, and the magic that they brought with them vanished long ago. Since the year 2000, has there been a character as fully rounded and perfectly brought to life as Nurse Carol Hathaway? One might say Maura Tierney, but I doubt anybody would argue with my declaration that watching Abby Lockhart's life ravel completely out of control during the 2007-2008 season was not fun at all. If anything, it was a symbolic representation of what has happened to one of the best shows ever to air on television. Now it is nothing but a sad reminder of what once way, where untalented actors breathe zero life into boring characters. "ER" is finally ending in February of 2009, but take my advice and pretend it ended in 2002, when 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' accompanied Dr. Mark Greene while he drew his final breaths. Unfortunately, the writers didn't have the good sense to kill the show along with him.
"ER" 1994-2002 A+ "ER" 2002-2009 F
