Sala de urgencias

I started watching ER on Thursdays in 1995 after my basketball practices. Already at its second season, I had heard a lot of good from the show, but never bothered to see what it was all about. I was exhausted, relaxing on the couch after a good workout and a cooling shower, flipping channels, something I rarely ever do, when my attention was grabbed by the intensity of the scene that was been played out before me. Something to do with Eriq Lasalle's character (Dr. Benton) and his mom or sister, I vaguely remember. Then the emergency room complications, the tension. Blood. Hospital. This must be that doctors show, ER, I thought. Let me see what this fuss is all about, I said to myself, intended to watch at least the end of that show… But it was already too late!! I was already hooked. The next week, I found myself driving back faster from my basketball practice to make sure to catch the show again.

Seven years later, I'm still watching (or taping) it every week. Why? Because it's the best drama show on TV, hands down, no contest. I thought at first I was biased because I studied physiology and am pretty versed in the technical jargon and medical realities they face on the show. I have a great interest in medicine and even considered a career in that path at one point in my life. However, the more I watched the show, the more I realized that it's not about the physical traumas, but about the human traumas. The admittedly romanticized, but no less relevant, reality of a profession that deals with life and death day after day, night after night. This is what makes it compelling. This is what makes it of greater scope and deeper emotions.

An ER doctor never gets enough sleep, never gets to go home. Is facing critical situations one after the other. Must make life-altering decisions daily. And yes, also has to cope with his personal life. Relationships, achievements and short-comings.

The setting aside, ER is a show that can boast about serious talent in the writing, directing, acting, casting, cinematography, editing, sound and even the pretty realistic make-up-F/X departments. And I'm talking about top-notch rendition, year after year. Just look at the list of Emmy and Golden Globe nominations over the years. What should also be kept in mind is the genuine appreciation by the public, as demonstrated for example by the People's Choice Award for Favorite Television Dramatic Series for eight years straight.

Created by writing mogul Michael Crichton, this show has passed a host of extremely talented actors that went on to 'bigger and better things', while still keeping the quality and the excitement of interesting and captivating stories told by equally apt newcomers. The style of the show is unique. The humour is witty and often sarcastic (see the purposely unlikable, sharp-tongued Paul Crane's Dr. Robert Romano). The tension is handled impeccably. The death of main characters truly riveting, sad and heartfelt (no question some of the best shows). The personal stories of the nurses and doctors and their work interactions with each other is worthy of a soap opera, but handled with a honest hard look at the twists and turn of life and personal interplay. The directing is smart, thorough. The long continuous takes (with great cinematography work) enables us to feel right in the action and switch from a tense situation to the other. What can you ask more of a TV show?

I enjoy ER and give my hats off to everyone involved with the show. Back in 1994, they re-invented the TV drama genre, upping the level of writing, acting and directing. This challenged the competition at the time and started giving us altogether better drama shows (for the most part). In its ninth season, ER is still the best; it hasn't lost any steam yet. Yes, there has been a lot of changes (actors-characters), but the essence (writers, directors, producers) of what makes the show great is still there and still strong.

When it comes down to it, the daily stress and life-affecting decisions at County General Hospital coupled with the hectic work environment is a place I want to vicariously live in every week. Because, with all the pain and hardness, we understand that these doctors like to help people, but they also love the RUSH.

ER in its present, 2003 form is a schizophrenic mess. For every one intelligent, caring episode comes four or five exercises in downbeat, melodramatic soap opera which sap all the energy out of the show's still-present technical mastery. This four-disc set is a welcome flashback to the show's humble beginnings, when it wasn't supposed to be the most heart-pounding show on television, and succeeded on will, not on hype.

The central characters in the first season are Chief Resident Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), ER Residents Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) and pediatrician Doug Ross (George Clooney), Head Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Marguiles), Surgical Resident Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq la Salle) and his protégé, third-year med student John Carter (Noah Wyle, the only actor to remain on the show through the entire run). They brought a fresh edge to the oft-repeated world of medical drama, helped greatly by the first television show, in my estimation, to ever put actual intelligence into the presentation. On ER, the cameras move, the people move, the consistent hustle and bustle of an actual environment is palpable, and not simply a setpiece. It's interesting to note that although the show was never broadcast in widescreen until 2001, in the middle of it's seventh season, these first episodes are all presented in the wider format. At first it might seem like hubris, but most of them fit the frame very well, with shots composed and staged for the wider picture - it's not `cinematic' just for its own sake.

Standout episodes from the season include the exposition-heavy `Pilot' which still found time for drama; `Blizzard' which was a tour-de-force of film, editing, and cutting edge medical realism; `Hit & Run' & `Sleepless in Chicago' which dealt with the heavy burden of juggling personal & professional medical care, as well as Carter's development as a doctor; and `Love's Labor Lost', an absolute masterpiece from every angle: drama, directing, scripting, staging, scoring, every cosmic tumbler clicked into place for this episode centered around Greene's tragic triumph in the case of a pregnancy gone bad.

The show took a few (deserved) knocks for being shamelessly convenient in its storylines and ignoring the realities of daily hospital structure in favor of sensationalism. This is exaggerated a little, but still a valid point; rarely an episode goes by without something in the line of an unexpected pregnancy, a suicide attempt, a violent skirmish between doctor and patient, or (in one outrageous case) a 12-year old gang member brining his Glock into a trauma room to try and finish another 12-year old off. Still, the show displayed remarkable resilience in almost always rising to become greater than the sum of its parts. Naturally, that ability has waned and virtually disappeared, but these episodes are no less enjoyable as a result of that.

I have seen every single episode from 1994 to present. I can't say much to it personally that can do it justice so I'm simply going to leave it at that I have learned much from this show, it has a lot of feeling and a lot of heart, and I have grown with it. If I'm labeled as a die-hard fan, then so be it. I'm a guy and I love E.R. Hey, I'm square with that... ; ) And to those who say it's too long because characters leave... welcome to real life. People go places, they die, they have their troubles, they go out with 4 different people (sometimes incredibly in the same workplace). They don't call it drama for nuttin' :D

The best medical drama ever to be aired! It's fast paced, emotional, and suspenseful. The cast is unbeatable. Composed of some of the best actors and actresses Hollywood has ever seen including George Clooney. The show is extremely realistic down to the smallest detail, yet easy enough to understand. There is a lot of drama, but also some comic relief. The characters are all unique and different, but they work well together on stage. The plots and sub-plots are very diversified, but they all tie in somehow. The writing and coordination is incredible. I would recommend this show to everyone, it sure is a change from the warm fuzzies of television!

Some TV shows have a structure such that you can tell almost from the beginning how long the show has to live. As much as I loved "Scrubs", that show was built around a few core characters, and once their stories were played out, that was pretty much be the end of that show. "Cheers" basically had a double length of life due to the fact it was actually two shows instead of one - the first 5 seasons with Diane and the last 6 seasons with Rebecca as the female lead. "ER" is different. It has a large cast of constantly revolving characters, and the story lines will always be there as long as there is controversy in medicine to merge with the personal drama. Early in ER's history, things were different. George Clooney's character, Doug Ross, was really the star of the show, although they did spread the stories around so that there was quite a bit of focus on the other characters too. This was a successful formula, but once Clooney became a star and a heartthrob he quickly tired of television and longed for the big screen. Thus, starting in season four, he is absent more and more as he goes off to make action films and the show began to look like it was going to suffer from "Welcome Back Kotter" syndrome, where John Travolta's success on the silver screen killed that show. After Clooney actually did formally exit stage left, the show changed the formula to its current one of spreading the action around with nobody in particular having the spotlight. I guess my point with all of this is, this is how ER managed to go on a total of 15 seasons, with even one extremely unlikeable character being written in as interesting, even if that one character in particular came to an end worthy of Wiley Coyote.

Highly recommended.