Hi all!

I was reading the MASH thread and the discussion about the introduction of new characters reminded me that this Thursday is the very last episode of E.R. (in the U.S. anyway). They built their continuing survival on the frequent rotation of characters through the doors of County General.

I was wondering if people were still watching it (I am). Are you sad to see it go, or is it past time? When was the best period of E.R. and who do you think were the best characters? Who did you miss most when they left, if anyone? What plot arcs were your favorite and which were really awful?

I, for one, am going to miss it. I think they did the exits of old characters and the entrance of new characters pretty well (although the helicopter exit of Dr. Romano was a bit over the top, IMHO, and Pratt was the most unexpected death to me). I didn't watch it in the beginning and so missed most of the Dr Ross years (although I've seen some episodes in reruns). I am not a fan of Neela's romantic exploits (is there anyone she didn't do?) and am happy to see the end of that.

Was there ever a show where it wasn't dark and rainy outside?

Anyway, I'm going to break out the popcorn and Kleenex on Thursday - anybody else?

Y

I love ER! I've watched since the(short lived)rivalry with Chicago Hope!
I will be rooted to my usual Thursday TV spot, to catch the last one. After this week, I can go back to watching Private Practice, I guess...

I'll be watching it Friday since it's on too late to watch while it airs... I didn't get into the show until maybe 4 or 5 years ago (about the time Corday left), but have been watching the re-runs on TNT in the mornings...

It's gonna be sad.

I watched the first six years faithfully every week, but then for some reason never watched it again. It's not that I didn't like the show because I loved it. I'd like to watch the last episode, though, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know any of the characters.

Another thing to thank the brilliant Michael Creighton for. Like Clara Sue I watched faithfully for many years. Then it became a bit more hit or miss but have to say whenever I watched the show it was always relevent. Most storylines on every other hospital based shows have already been done by the ER crew.

Unlike many "final" episodes of popular television series, I thought the final episode was very well done.
Did anyone else think it strange that the interns who have been there all season (Daria and Andrew Wade, Ryan Sanchez, etc) were strangely absent and one of the main storylines followed Dr. Julia Wise, who we have never even seen before?

I have watched the show from the beginning and can only think of a couple episodes that did not affect me deeply or really make me think when they ended. I know that working in a hospital all my life and pulling many Trauma Unit and shifts in a real E.R. gave me a different prespective on the show. I know what it feels like to lose a patient or pull off a near 'miracle'. It was such a brilliant piece of television history and I am not one to say that about many shows. I thought last night's was very well done and surprisingly, I was more teary in the hour long show beforehand. Including Mark Greene's daughter Rachel coming back as a prospective med student was an insightful piece to the plot too.

The final show's main plot was based on the real-life death of Executive Producer John Wells niece Shelby Lyn Allen who died of alcohol poisoning at the age of 17.
ER Finale

They delivered for the finale. I enjoyed the pre-show too. The only character I can think of who wasn't represented was Kelley Martin. I'm sure there were others, but for some reason that one came to mind.

I liked the way the used the "Carter Center" to bring in some of the old faces in a believable way. I agree bringing in Rachel Green struck a great nostalgic note.

A couple of shows really changed the landscape for TV. One was Hill Street Blues and then ER. Big sprawling casts with multiple story lines going in all directions. Excellent examples of network TV which I find myself watching less of.

I loved it! I thought it was very well done, and I too was more 'teary' during the first hour.
Did the alcohol girl die in the end? I don't remember that...Still don't know what the heck is going on with John, and his wife! Guess we never will, now.

I think the new program "SouthLand" that's slated to take ER's time period, will be very good! At least I have high hopes for it.

I finally got to watch it tonight and I really thought they did a good job. I had tears in my eyes when I heard that music at the end, while they were all scrambling around to triage the newest disaster. Glad they brought back the intro - and with all the old stars, too.

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Did the alcohol girl die in the end? I don't remember that...Still don't know what the heck is going on with John, and his wife! Guess we never will, now.

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We never got a final answer to alcohol girl - she might or might not have brain damage and the last we saw, they were moving her. They just didn't know yet.

I think that's one of the things I loved about this ending. Things keep going on - the story lines were still open-ended, just like they would be in real life. Many shows, when they end, have the characters going on to other things, but this one brought back people who were already doing other things and that's the kind of realism that ER had. The realism in ER, to me, was not in the medical stuff. It was always that these people, who were making life and death decisions, at the same time were going on and having lives with their own complications and their own "little tragedies" (I liked that phrase) and little triumphs. So having some running story lines makes sense from that perspective IMHO.

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Did anyone else think it strange that the interns who have been there all season (Daria and Andrew Wade, Ryan Sanchez, etc) were strangely absent and one of the main storylines followed Dr. Julia Wise, who we have never even seen before?

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This is purely speculation: I think I remember that the first season focused on Carter – the new intern – learning to deal with patients who die, happy and sad things happening at the same time and the difficulty of accepting that you can’t save everyone. In this Dr. Wise, we have another Carter learning the ropes and trying to come to terms the same way. I thought it was a nice little circle – again, with the theme of life and the ER just going on. I think that was also why it was cool to see Rachel Green coming to the ER and to see Dr. Pratt’s brother following in his footsteps.

I wish I had seen the retrospective – it sounds like I missed a good one. Maybe it’ll be on the DVD

Y

"ER"? That show is ending? So sad! I've never seen it, but I know enough to know that it's been running forever. I hate it when such long running shows end. Now, the day "General Hospital" ends, that will be HUGE news...