"E.R." was a very good show and I watched it for years. While I realized it was not an accurate depiction of real E.R. life (I have friends who work and have worked in this setting), it was exciting and soap opera-like without being boring or clichéd....at least for a while. And there's the problem...the show simply went on way, way, way too long. Because it was on 15 seasons, old familiar characters came and went many times and by the end of the show no one familiar remained and the plots seemed old, tired and often dumb. Good examples are what they did with the nasty Dr. Romano--first having him lose his arm in a freak helicopter accident and later having him killed in a helicopter accident! What were they thinking?! Clearly these were examples of the show jumping the shark. So my advice is watch the re-runs if you want...but also be willing to do something the series couldn't do...pull the plug when it's obvious the patient is terminal!
I'd give the show a 9 for the first 8 or 10 seasons and a progressively lower score from there. By the end, the show barely merited a 3.
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