I only caught Chicago Hope during reruns, and only saw a few episodes before it mysteriously disappeared off air. I am catching up on hulu, but they only have season 1. I read on here that Geiger leaves. What happened?
Jumping the Shark Productions
Alan Birch adopted a baby girl. In the middle of Season 2, Alan was shot and before he died he asked Jeffrey to take care of her. He left the hospital because he wanted to devote all his attention to Alicia.
That episode, "Leave of Absence" is the best single episode David E Kelley has ever written. I'm not just talking about CH, but also Picket Fences, Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Legal, Boston Public, and even L.A. Law.
"She flattened a Dear John with a John Deere." - Douglas Wambaugh
Dude, that sounds like an awesome episode. Hulu needs to hurry up and get Season 2 up on their site.
Thanks for letting me know.
Jumping the Shark Productions
It was an awesome episode. Probably the est written episode and best acted in the entire series. I choke up every single time the morgue parade wheels Alan Birch's body through the halls.
The episode started with Geiger being named the #1 Cardio-Thoracic surgeon in the nation. Kate Austin is disappointed that she wasn't even ranked and starts looking through the magazine. Geiger says, "Don't bother, the list only goes to a hundred."
Austin: "I'm not even ranked? How can that be?"
Geiger: "Don't take it personally, Kate. It's probably some feminist backlash thing. They probably figure someone who looks the way you look couldn't possibly be a good surgeon. Though, to me I don't get it. You're not that much to look at."
"She flattened a Dear John with a John Deere." - Douglas Wambaugh
You actually touched on something that hit me as I rewatch Season 1. When Billy Kronk first comes into Hope, he asks Dr. Waters about Geiger. But he's not sure of his name and clearly hasn't heard of him. He's a surgeon at a Chicago-area hospital, and he would have heard of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, and would know he's a cardio-thoracic at Chicago Hope.
shareAs I recall, Geiger disappeared because Mandy Patinking left in a huff over something or other. This is what he's been prone to do, and has done several times. Too bad; he was the spine of CH - along with H Alizondo as Watters.
shareI don't think he left in a huff, or anything like that. As I recall, he left the show because David E. Kelley was become less and less involved with the writing and the day-to-day interaction with the show. This happened with Harry Hamlin when DEK left L.A. Law.
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"She flattened a Dear John with a John Deere." - Douglas Wambaugh
and it was clearly stated the MP couldn't handle being so far away from his family. If memory serves taping was either out west or in Canada and his family was in NY. He asked to be written out. It obviously wasn't an issue because he returned sporadically and then came back for the last season.
obama '08
That is how I remember it - MP wanted to be closer to his family in New York.
share