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.
shareI’ve never forgotten it. When ever people say “so & so” should be on Netflix or Hulu I always mention ER. I was a fan from the first episode. I did quit watching the series when it aired due to changes but I can’t remember what season. When talking about older favorite tv shows I always hear ER mentioned.
shareYes, it's forgotten -- like all the serial dramas before it.
shareThe show has definitely become forgotten. I remember when this show and its cast was all anyone talked about for years. Now it's as if it never existed. I think it's because it doesn't hold up anymore. None of the characters were all that memorable or anything enough to be iconic.
shareReminds me of a funny incident. There's this radio trivia show and the subject of ER came up. One of the hosts swore it had been cancelled years ago. This is when it was in its 15th season or whatever. When assured that it was still on she was totally flabbergasted. Turned out that after Clooney left she simply stopped watching and out of sight, out of mind, assumed it was gone.
sharehttps://notporn.com/why-er-is-the-forgotten-greatest-show-in-television-history-fb4a27e3ae4c
Now that the golden era of television threatens to reign over us all for the next 75 years, it’s pretty common to get into street fights over the question: “Which show deserves the crown for greatest television program of all time?”share
Is it Breaking Bad? Or The Wire? Sopranos? Seinfeld? Alf?
All of those are fine choices (except for the one I threw in as a joke (Breaking Bad)), however the show that I posit is actually most deserving of the title is one that is almost never even mentioned during the conversation.
ER.
Despite being the beating heart of the television zeitgeist while it was airing (ER was in the top 10 most watched shows in each of its first 10 seasons), it somehow overnight become prestige television’s forgotten step-child. It’s like the entire American viewing population overnight got amnesia, which is weird because that’s more of a General Hospital plotline.
More people talk about OZ today than they do about ER.
Which is crazy for a number of reasons:
ER launched George Clooney.
ER was nominated for 124 Emmys. The most for any drama ever.
ER once crossed-over with fellow hit show Third Watch in a must see television event.
But none of those reasons are the reason that I, a person who has never actually watched a full episode of ER, genuinely believe it is the greatest television program to ever grace our airways. No, my reason for advocating on its behalf are much simpler and can be summed up in one 3 minute clip:
https://youtu.be/VFcBVAwYXes
ER is the only prestige TV show in the history of the visual medium to kill off one of its main character via sentient helicopter.
(At least I think he was a main character. Again, I haven’t seen it, but ER’s wikipedia page makes him sound pretty important.)
I was a fan of ER and stuck with it until the end. It did get soapy at times. The early seasons were excellent, probably because they were written (or produced?) by Michael Crichton. I hated the later episodes over-reaching for shock scenes like when the schizophrenic patient kills Lucy, the doc losing his arm in a helicopter blade, Abby falling drunk into a grave at a funeral. All too over the top.
As far as the actors, Maura Tierney recently played a great role on Showtime’s The Affair series. Her character on that was salty like Abby from ER. I am surprised Noah Wyle’s career didn’t take off after ER. He probably should have left the show about the time Clooney did, when ER was still getting lots of buzz.
It was my favorite show back in the day...at least until about the 7-10 season. But I still think it was probably heads above most network shows even then. And it makes things like Grays Anatomy look hammy and sophomoric in comparison.
I think if it got on Netflix or some other streaming site we'd be hearing about it again.
But the thing is it's serialized which made it a better show but harder to follow in syndication even if it aired.
Not sure why it hasn't though. But streaming would be it's best bet and I have wondered about why it hasn't been offered..
Noah Wylie did have Falling Skies and The Librarian afterward and Shane West did Nikita...but the best may have been The Affair with Maura Tierney. And The Good Wife with J Margulies was a hit even if I didn't watch it.. That's excluding it making George Clooney a star.
Everyone was dying on this show. The only way they knew how to get rid of someone was to kill them off.
Sometimes I think we would have been better off watching Chicago Hope.
Unfortunately great tv shows suffer from the dying appeal of their final seasons. ER was a hot show and popular for years, but it stayed on a few seasons too long, popular characters left or their storylines got weird. GOT’s reputation is going down the same road. Shows that go out while they are still hot (Friends, MASH, Seinfeld, Sopranos) leave more lasting impressions.
shareI agree with you, it would be better if shows would quit while they are ahead. I think this is where the divide between the interests of the audience and the creators comes into play. I imagine the writers, directors, producers, actors, crew, like having steady work. They are probably making pretty good money and want to keep doing that. The audience wants an incredible work of art, which includes a strong ending.
shareIMO it's not a show you can just plop down and start watching halfway through a season. There are a lot of cast changes, long storylines, and side characters that happen over the course of 15 years. 15 years! Whoa. It's like a soap opera where you can't just hop in halfway into season 6 without knowing what's going on in seasons 1,2,3... I tried to do it on Hulu a while ago and just faded out. It was too much of a commitment, especially when you already know the outcomes of all the characters.
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