I’ve seen ER at least half a dozen times. Nothing comes close to it IMO. I watch it every few years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She is now starting to see an ID physician who sounds exactly like Barack Obama when he speaks. The same clipped phrasing, the same pitches. It's eerie.

I’m pretty sure that actor has played Obama in something or other since.

are you talking about the actor who plays Dr Benton?

No, as PP said he plays Jeannie’s doctor once she’s diagnosed with HIV and they go on a couple of dates. The character’s name was Greg (but not Greg Pratt played by Mekhi Phifer who came on much later.)

Anonymous wrote:

She is now starting to see an ID physician who sounds exactly like Barack Obama when he speaks. The same clipped phrasing, the same pitches. It's eerie.

I’m pretty sure that actor has played Obama in something or other since.

are you talking about the actor who plays Dr Benton?

Anonymous wrote:

Julianne Margolis is amazing. As far as I'm concerned, she's really the lead character.

Carol was supposed to die in the pilot episode. Keeping her on instead was one of many great decisions the show made on the way to becoming appointment TV.

Agree Margolies is fantastic on the show. I always felt the core four on the show were Carol, John Carter, Mark Greene, and Susan Lewis. I think it's too bad Sherri Stringfield decided to leave the show after the 3rd season because Susan was probably my favorite character and she has such great chemistry withe everyone else. Her storylines with her sister, that psychiatrist who burns out and leaves, and the romance stuff with Carter should all have felt kind of soapy and over the top, but she made them feel natural and believable. She's a really underrated actress.

Carter winds up having the most longevity, he stuck around for most of the run of the show. Wylie gets very committed to TV, has he ever tried to move to films? It seems like he understands TV dramas are his niche and really sticks around.

I stopped watching the show after maybe season 8 or so? I never liked the new characters they added as much as those core four in the first few seasons. Also the show gets way more into the surgery team as the show progresses, and away from the ER, and that was never as interesting to me. I mean, surgery is fascinating but it was just a soap about the different surgeons and their various inter-personal dramas. That's less interesting than the pace and demands of the ER, IMO.

She is now starting to see an ID physician who sounds exactly like Barack Obama when he speaks. The same clipped phrasing, the same pitches. It's eerie.

I’m pretty sure that actor has played Obama in something or other since.

Julianne Margolis is amazing. As far as I'm concerned, she's really the lead character.

Carol was supposed to die in the pilot episode. Keeping her on instead was one of many great decisions the show made on the way to becoming appointment TV.

I'm watching Season 1 now. I feel like it took a minute to find its footing but I'm really hooked on it again. I haven't seen it since it first aired, and I was in high school, so a lifetime ago. It's actually a really tender show. I just watched the Christmas episode from the first season, and it was so sweet and sad. They don't make television like that anymore, at all. It really took me back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on season 3, gets me through the week (I'm saving the Pitt for tomorrow)

Jeanie Boulet, a PA, got AIDs from her ex before they divorced. She is now starting to see an ID physician who sounds exactly like Barack Obama when he speaks. The same clipped phrasing, the same pitches. It's eerie.

You don’t get AIDS from someone - you get HIV. Good Lord.

At the time I think the terms were used interchangeably, and other people in the show who were infected were often referred to as having AIDs. Even Jeanie said that about herself. They mention the "new cocktail" and there's a patient who had earlier sold everything he had and cashed in his life insurance but then after starting the cocktail he realized he was not going to die anytime soon. At that point, Jeanie reconsiders her reluctance to date the doctor who talks like Obama.

I do remember that era (wouldn't have recalled what years) when news articles described the new situation other infected people faced after assuming they had a year or two to live finding themselves in an entirely new reality.

That’s no excuse for what you said when you know better. Jeannie did not get AIDS from someone like you said. You sound ignorant.

Anonymous wrote:I did/am doing the same, OP! I did peter out after about season 6-7 but it was so fun to rewatch, the show was great. I think I posted this recently, because on my rewatch I was reminded of how much ER did to normalize HIV and AIDS. I also got a kick out of how many actors who went on to become major stars appeared as unknowns in an episode of ER (a lot of then-famous actors also guest starred).

OP

It's also fascinating to see the major changes in hspitals. I'm mid-Season 3 and no reference to HIPAA, no privacy whatsoever, occasional reference to patient confidentiality but there's the whiteboard with people's names/medical problem on it as well. Hospital is crazy ugly, all colors of the old asbestos floor tile and garish wall colors. I get that some stuff is ramped up for TV when little league players storm the ER but every episode has people's friends/family crashing into the trauma rooms with nobody stopping them. Hospital design these days basically makes the kind of chaos you see impossible now. Hospital we use was built 10 years ago. Creepy as hell because there is no nurse's station to see, they are off in a room that requires badge entry, lighting is dim and windows seem tinted as well. They have their workstation niches in the hall but most of the time you see nobody in the hallways at all. There is no way someone is crashing their way into the ER, let alone a trauma room. Patient dumping still happens(reference in one episode but they refer to COBRA, afaik EMTALA was not passed as a part of an omnibus bill) even though EMTALA was 10 years old by then (unless the private hospital they refer to didn't take federal money, which seems hard to believe). Bloody gloves get tossed into regular bins, at least sometimes, instead of separate hazardous waste containers.

Julianne Margolis is amazing. As far as I'm concerned, she's really the lead character.

I was watching it on another service and to my surprise at the end of ep 10 of the Pitt HBO went right into ER S1E1.

I did/am doing the same, OP! I did peter out after about season 6-7 but it was so fun to rewatch, the show was great. I think I posted this recently, because on my rewatch I was reminded of how much ER did to normalize HIV and AIDS. I also got a kick out of how many actors who went on to become major stars appeared as unknowns in an episode of ER (a lot of then-famous actors also guest starred).

Anonymous wrote:Oh man I envy you, seasons 2-6 are the best seasons of ER.

For other medical shows I like, try Berlin Krank (8 episodes set in a Berlin ER), This is Going to Hurt, and Nurse Jackie. Not quite the same as The Pitt or ER, but I still enjoyed them.

I tried to get into House but just wasn’t feeling it. Also Greys is more of a soap opera and got ridiculous too fast for me.

I enjoyed House, silly as it was. One thing that did annoy me was how they put the hospital admin (can't recall the character's name) in the super tight skirts and low cut blouses. I started realizing that a lot of primetime shows would put low cut blouses on women playing professional characters if they were brunette and high necked buttoned shirts on them if they were blonde. I got the impression they assumed a buttoned up brunette would be entirely sexless while an unbutton blonde wouldn't be considered a serious character. It was consistent across several shows I watched involving police procedurals, medicine, and other professional characters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on season 3, gets me through the week (I'm saving the Pitt for tomorrow)

Jeanie Boulet, a PA, got AIDs from her ex before they divorced. She is now starting to see an ID physician who sounds exactly like Barack Obama when he speaks. The same clipped phrasing, the same pitches. It's eerie.

You don’t get AIDS from someone - you get HIV. Good Lord.

At the time I think the terms were used interchangeably, and other people in the show who were infected were often referred to as having AIDs. Even Jeanie said that about herself. They mention the "new cocktail" and there's a patient who had earlier sold everything he had and cashed in his life insurance but then after starting the cocktail he realized he was not going to die anytime soon. At that point, Jeanie reconsiders her reluctance to date the doctor who talks like Obama.

I do remember that era (wouldn't have recalled what years) when news articles described the new situation other infected people faced after assuming they had a year or two to live finding themselves in an entirely new reality.

Anonymous wrote:I'm on season 3, gets me through the week (I'm saving the Pitt for tomorrow)

Jeanie Boulet, a PA, got AIDs from her ex before they divorced. She is now starting to see an ID physician who sounds exactly like Barack Obama when he speaks. The same clipped phrasing, the same pitches. It's eerie.

You don’t get AIDS from someone - you get HIV. Good Lord.

Oh man I envy you, seasons 2-6 are the best seasons of ER.

For other medical shows I like, try Berlin Krank (8 episodes set in a Berlin ER), This is Going to Hurt, and Nurse Jackie. Not quite the same as The Pitt or ER, but I still enjoyed them.

I tried to get into House but just wasn’t feeling it. Also Greys is more of a soap opera and got ridiculous too fast for me.

I'm on season 3, gets me through the week (I'm saving the Pitt for tomorrow)

Jeanie Boulet, a PA, got AIDs from her ex before they divorced. She is now starting to see an ID physician who sounds exactly like Barack Obama when he speaks. The same clipped phrasing, the same pitches. It's eerie.