ER: The Series Finale

It's gone. The long-standing series about the Emergency Room at Chicago County Hospital is now gone to the big re-run and syndication network in the sky. The series kicked off and rejuvenated the acting careers of many of the TV and movie stars of the past, with the most notable being George Clooney who appeared in 109 episodes as Dr. Doug Ross. Noah Wyle has the honor of having appeared in the most episodes in the shows 15 year run (1994-2009) having started with the show as fresh faced intern, Dr. John Carter with 254 appearances, while Laura Innes' Dr. Kerry Weaver appeared in 250 episodes in total.

The show was must-watch TV for years garnering HUGE audiences, but as the cast members left, one by one, the series began to falter and lose steam, but still managed to entertain as new cast members joined and older ones left. Recently, in the episode "Old Times" George Clooney and Julianne Margolis reprised their roles as Dr. Ross and Nurse Carol Hathaway. Both left the show in 2000, but it was intriguing to find out what had become of the couple after leaving County. Eriq La Salle showed up in the same episode as Dr. Peter Benton. Dr. Benton also was in the finale at Dr. John Carter's opening of the new unit named in honor of his son, Joshua Carter, who had died. The last episode contains both births and death, loss and a regained purpose for an original castmember. The final scene shows multiple ambulances arriving following an industrial accident which provides shades of past seasons, of doctors playing basketball outside of the ER and waiting for the traumas of the day to show up so they can try to help the injured.

What I remember most of the early years, was the romance of Dr. Ross and Nurse Hathaway, as well as the attempts of Chief Resident, Dr. Mark Greene (played by the great Anthony Edwards) as he tried to hook up with Sherry Springfield's character, Dr. Susan Lewis. They just seemed perfect for each other, but both never seemed able to get together. Then the story arc of the last days of Dr. Greene's father who died from lung cancer (loved the scene of him and his father on the boat with no dialogue, only music).

Sadly, Dr. Greene also ended up passing away. His daughter, Rachel, who we saw in several early and middle episodes returns to the ER as a 22-year old med student. Here's a link to ER - The Complete First Season, just one of the many great seasons. If you haven't watched the series from start to finish, here's your chance. This was an above average medical series for years, with great storylines and character development. The show was nominated 123 times for Emmys (the show won at least one Emmy award every year for 9 of it's first 10 years), and also won the Peoples Choice Award as Favorite Television Dramatic Series 1995-2002.

So far, seasons one to eleven have been released on DVD, and here's the latest available ER: The Complete Eleventh Season. The final four seasons are still TBA" (to be announced).