Chicago Hope

When Chicago Hope first came on the air in 1994, the cast was superb, it starred Adam Arkin, Mandy Patinkin and Hector Elizondo, what a shame that Mandy Patinkin Left. I really thought he made the show work out well and gave it humor and excitement. I hope he returns.

ER was satisfactory but Chicago Hope was superior with mature cast of characters played by a stellar cast of actors and actresses. I loved the relationship between Mandy Patinkin and Adam Arkin. It appeared to be doing fine until Peter MacNichol who played the lawyer Alan Birch left the show and joined Ally MacBeal. Roxanne Hart played a nurse who was married to Arkin's character. Hector Elizondo appeared to be the heart and soul of the show. Christine Lahti later joined the show but the show lost it when cast members like McNichol and Patinkin who chose to leave for other opportunities and spend more time with his family. When ER and Chicago Hope first came on, I have to say that Chicago Hope had a greater edge than it's sister show also set in Chicago but ER seemed more elementary and spent more time dealing with personal relationships. I think Chicago Hope tried to do both very well and it would have had the original cast stayed on board.

I wanted to like this more than I did, my rating reflects my feelings. I've worked in hospitals all my working life, from age 13 as a volunteer until my retirement from being a nurse at 63. This is a well written hospital drama, about the various people who are involved in healthcare, from the physicians to the patients to even the visitors at times. The actors do a terrific job with their roles, but the flaw lies in the writing. In order to make it interesting to the viewing audience, they, well, take artistic license with how things are actually done. Doctors being shown, routinely doing things that are actually done by other healthcare workers in real life is one of the big errors. While this has almost always been done in fictional hospital dramas, that still doesn't make it right. There is plenty of drama in real life healthcare and the interpersonal dynamics between all the workers, patients, relatives, and friends and all the other people that come and go in an average hospital day, that I have seen over my career. There's certainly no reason to invent false behavior to make it more interesting. FWIW, I have yet to see a hospital show that DOESN'T go overboard falsifying what actually happens, in trying to attract a larger audience. Still, just like war movies aren't like real war, police dramas aren't like real police work, and cowboy shows aren't like how it was like in the old west, this show is entertaining. Just don't think it's like what happens in real life, or that being a doctor, nurse, technician, or any role in this show reflects what it is like in real life. For the show, 8/10 stars, for the realism, 3/10. Overall, 5/10.

Chicago hope is one of the best medical dramas, and television shows in general, I have ever seen. The cast is amazing and includes some of Hollywood's top names. The show follows the lives of numerous doctors through their daily work and personal routines. The show tends to be very dramatic, but it has comedic elements. Each character has their own way of dealing with personal loss and trauma, which is a very common element in Chicago Hope. The characters are all different, with diverse personalities and temperaments. Though there is some jargon, it is mostly explained clearly and easy to follow. I find myself relating to some of the characters and their problems. The episodes are very touching and realistic. The on screen chemistry between the characters is incredible. A glimpse into the everyday life of a typical inner city hospital physician. Two thumbs way up!

I don't really care for the genre of "doctor" TV shows, but to give Chicago Hope credit, it does have more appeal than the majority of them. I was once a faithful viewer in its first season, after seeing the characters played by Mandy Patinkin and Hector Elizondo on a brilliant "cross over" episode of Picket Fences. Back then, Chicago Hope was admirable for its "quirky" plots and great character development, but over the years it has adapted more of the "formula" doctor show(6 thousand subplots and little chance to "bond" with the characters)and I have moved on. I still catch an occasional rerun on the show, and while it would not convert me back to being a regular viewer.

I do enjoy the characters of Adam Arkin and Hector Elizondo and the others aren't bad, except Christine Lahti's "feminist" character gets tiresome, and tends to overuse and ugly word that is a part of the male anatomy. Nevertheless, even an episode consisting of her, Jayne Brook and Stacy Edwards going to the mountains that I thought I would loathe did not turn out to be too bad, considering. Mark Harmon and Peter Berg's characters bring a slight amount of life, but as I said, it's still not enough to make me watch the show regularly and I hope it does not steal viewers away from Frasier, as it prepares to face against it in the 1999-2000 season. It's not THAT great.