It was pretty big back in the day but it's never really brought up any more. And apart from a few notable exceptions (Clooney and Margulies) most of the cast haven't really done much since. It was most likely a case of it going on for too long (ER arguably, really went down in quality in 2001-2002), and there were too many medical show ripoffs.
share"Most of the cast haven't really done much?" Really?
Several of them (Noah Wyle, Goran Visjic, Laura Innes, Mekhi Pfeiffer, etc.) have had large, regular roles on several regular tv series. Alex Kingston has appeared in many shows on both sides of the pond. Yvette Freeman has been busy with soaps since she left the show. Linda Cardellini seems to be doing mostly voice work.
While many of the more minor characters seem to have faded from the scene, the only major cast member who seems to have done *relatively* little since leaving the show is Tony Edwards. And ... who knows ... maybe he invested his earnings wisely and retired for a few years to enjoy private life without feeling the need for a 7 a.m. make-up call. (His credit lists here show little work between 2002 and 2013 -- but he's been busier lately.)
We also don't know what they've been doing outside screen work. The stage is a popular choice for many actors -- and doesn't show up on their IMBD listings. But yeah -- show biz is a tough, competitive business. Appearing in one or two hits doesn't mean you are guaranteed regular work for life.
A lot of former ER alum have begun directing TV. A lot of actors in TV seem to head that route after a while. The cast of Star Trek: Voyager is the same, a good few of them.
Monday's are a Bi+ch
It can be very hard for actors who appeared in an iconic series to get other high profile screen roles. It's the typecasting curse, where audiences only ever see them as that character. This is why actors often seem to disappear after leaving a popular show.
shareIts sad but true look at Jaleel White (Urkel) or Alfonso Ribero (Carlton) both are great actors but people still see them as the characters they played on the sitcoms.
shareYou and I have very different ideas about what “great acting in a sitcom” is. It’s a lot like saying, “great drive through food.”
shareUnfortunately it's usually out of sight out of mind once a show leaves the air. Case in point "Downton Abbey" was wildly popular but since the last episode back in March, no one talks about it anymore.
sharethis is true very few shows continue to be popular or are talked about a lot after they are done.
shareThis is an interesting thought. I do think that ER isn't really around in public consciousness as much as it should be given its massive popularity at the time. I would agree with you that the biggest culprit was that the show went out with a whimper instead of a bang. Its poor seasons dragged on way too long and people were pretty done with it by the time the show ended.
shareI think it has more to do with the proliferation of cable shows that became very popular after ER, also shows from Netflix, Amazon, etc...there are just so many shows now for people to pay attention to. They don't watch the older shows as much as they did before. ER will always be one of the greatest drama series ever made. Even if you think the later seasons are less good (I don't, even if they aren't the greatest they are still damn good)
Glad I'm not the only one who likes the later seasons! I think it was amazingly consistent, given how long it continued.
shareI will always miss watchingough there has been a few good replacements recently like Chicago PD & Chicago Fire which if combined is like watching ER but in two separate great new series I did try following Margulies But her Goodwife series was too boring for me to continue watching beyond the first few episodes and Alex Kingsley I loved her new character she did when joining the cast of the Doctor Who series Nole Wiley's character in the librarian was excellent after the ER series but it was a stretch for his role in falling Skies series after the first season I was lost and eventually lost interest in watching it but I did enjoy seeing him in another series
share@mackjay2 You may be onto something:
http://www.avclub.com/article/tca-roundup-2015-or-2016-will-represent-peak-tv-am-223558
You hear it more and more, especially from members of the Television Critics Association: There’s so much new TV out there, it’s impossible for any one person to keep track of it all—let alone watch it.Free-to-air, plus cable, plus Netflix and other streaming apps... how long can any show last in our collective memory when there's all this new content? share
I remember it. Not much.
--
It's not "Sci-Fi", it's "SF"!
"Calvinism is a very liberal religious ethos." - Truekiwijoker
I can't speak for anyone else, but as an RN having worked in an e.r. now for 40 years, all I can say is that the show gradually stopped being about the day to day happenings in the place, to a drama focusing on the love lives of the staff with much less about the e.r. experience. Early shows depicted what a genuine e.r. is like; later, it became what a TV hospital was like. You want the best? 2 episodes stand out; the blizzard auto accident and the woman who died in childbirth. I lived through both of those experiences, and can tell you it was spot on. There were more, but if you want to 'see behind the scenes', those are it. Real e.r. documentaries on the learning channel and such are always 'cleaned up' in some way for the public.
share"The woman who died in childbirth?" You're talking about "Love's Labors Lost?" That was 'spot on?' Like .. realistic? Really?
How was it realistic for a woman with eclampsia to be induced in the ER by an ER doctor? For there to not be a single OB in the entire hospital all night? For there to not have been a single OB in the entire Chicago area who could have managed her labor, or done a c-section?
I can never forget this show and I don't know why anyone else would forget this show. It was truly popular in the 90s and had up to 15 seasons. I did watch ER up until about 4 seasons and then I was grossed out by all the hospital stuff.
shareThe show started nose-diving gradually after Season 8, in which Anthony Edwards and Eriq LaSalle left. Up through then, the drama was about the ER and the lives of patients. After that, it started focusing more on relationships. And Seasons 12-15 seemed to be more about the romantic drama than the medicine. Don't get me started on Abby and Carter, and then Abby and Luka. Ugh.
Memphis Raines: I'm a little tired, a little wired, and I think I deserve a little appreciation!
It was always somewhat about relationships in the beginning it was carol and Doug, or mark and Elizabeth, Elizabeth and peter, carter and Anna, carter and Lucy, carter and Tracey, Kerry and that doctor from the management company, Kerry and the psychiatrist. I do think the quality was better earlier but the show never really changed that much IMO it was always about the doctors lives in and out of the er.
shareIt's because you can't find it online. It's not on Netflix or Hulu or any streaming sites, I think. The shows that have made a comeback in terms of being relevant in pop culture (i.e. Friends, Gilmore Girls, etc) have done so because of streaming sites which make them available to new audiences. I feel like that could happen for ER if it ever gets released on Netflix.
shareER doesn't appear to be shown on TV in syndication either. I find this quite surprising, because ER was one of the most popular shows on TV. It was one of the most highly anticipated and buzzed-about shows of 1994. It was considered daring and innovative. And in each of its first 9 seasons, it finished in the top 5 in the ratings for the year. Often it was number 1 or 2. So ER would seem to be a great candidate for syndication. House and Grey's Anatomy have been in syndication for a while.
shareER doesn't appear to be shown on TV in syndication either.
You get the feeling that Code Black is supposed to be E.R. in Los Angeles.
It's more like store-brand diet cola to Coca Cola to me but still, I get a little bit of a buzz.
Classic shows are never forgotten, people may not talk about them much but they're always fondly remembered. Sitcoms tend to be remembered longer because reruns are aired more often even many years after their original run, but dramas are an hour long so they're not aired as often unless it's late at night.