Watching ER

With all the talk about the list of the former characters scheduled to come back and those that ER creators would like to have come back, I really have to ask… Who would you have come back? Any fan who is a fan has a list forming in their head before these words were even on the screen. I know I have fantasized about my own little eopisodes in my head about who I would like to see…

For one, let’s bring Julianna Marguiles back as Hathaway. I would love to them bring in actresses for her twin girls also. Who knows what that storyline would bring but I remember her being heavily involved in a free clinic program.

Let’s not forget Eriq La Salle (Dr. Peter Benton)… If they brought him back he would have to reunite with none other than Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle) I for one have dreamed of a meeting between those two.

I really believe that they left some storylines still left to be told. For instance, there could have been a great love between Pratt and Dr. Chen (Ming Na) but sadly that ended before it had the chance to get really steamy.

Then again, there were some storylines that were just too sad to keep trying to tell. What would have happened to Dr. Corday (Alex Kingston who incidentally has not been on television since leaving in season 11) had she stayed and tried to build a new life without Dr. Greene? It was heart wrenching for me to watch her in episode after episode to try and find love again.

Here’s a question for you… Do you ever wonder what happened to Rachel Greene?

So there it is folks. Who should come back to the ER? We already know that some people are in the works but I would like to know if there is anyone you want to see that I didn’t mention.

Please… No dead characters. That’s just to sad. **Sniff**

Dr. Benton, Dr. Corday, Dr. Chen, Dr. Carter, former characters, Eriq La Salle, Alex Kingston, Ming Na

Poor Harold. Part of me wanted to either kill this new intern or just “tsk tsk” him all night. While he might have had the facts down (a little too well) something tells me he is needing some much needing bed side manner skills. Could it be that he is only 19?

If you think Steven’s character, Harold, is young, then you won’t be surprised to learn how close fiction really is to the truth.

Steven Christopher Parker is just the ripe old age of 18 years old. Born on January 8th, 1989 and hailing from Denver, Colorado, Steven is not going to be leaving the ER anytime soon. At the present he is slated to appear in two more episodes of ER in November. He will appear in next week’s “The Test” and episode 8, “Coming Home”.

A true ER fan will probably be thinking… Haven’t I seen this actor before?

So if you think you’ve seen this young man before on ER, then you are correct! Two years ago in Season 11 “Here and There”, he played Gus but for the life of me, I have no idea who Gus was. At that time, season 11 was wrapped around the Gallant-Neela Iraq storyline. Not only has he already done a stint in the ER but he also made a small appearance in Little Miss Sunshine as well (think small, teen age boy #1 in the credits).

Here’s what I am wondering: Were the Powers That Be so impressed with Steven’s acting that they decided they wanted to bring him back for another stint in the ER or were there just not enough young actors willing to to portray prodigy turned Intern?

Hmmm… anyone care to weigh in on that?

ER Interns, Young New Intern, Actors, Steven Christopher Parker, Season 14, Season 11

Did you know there was a wish list for ER? I didn’t either until recently.

Apparently the writers and producers of ER have been dreaming of ways to bring back some of our most beloved characters. There is always a chance that a doctor could reappear at any time on ER. But the fact that they have been actively putting some thought into getting some former stars back on the show for an episode or two is surprising.

This just leads me to what has been rumored for quite some time.

This is the last season for ER. Shhh… I know. I didn’t mean to say it so loud for all of you out there covering your ears. I don’t want to believe it either but the truth is that this is probably the last season.

According to the writers and producers, they have a lot of storylines to close up this season if that is true and what’s to become of the ER? Presumably that is where the former characters come in.

Here is how the list shapes up as of now:

Noah Wyle (Dr. John Carter) is contracted for four episodes. He WILL BE in the ER. No news on exactly what he will be doing, only that he will be interacting with the doctors and nurses. His filthy stinking rich family dedicated a wing to his still born son and that brings him home.

Remember Jeannie (Gloria Ruben)? She is said to be coming back in January for medical treatment for her HIV-positive son. No word on how many episodes she will appear in but hey… at this point I will take anything!

They are also hoping to bring in Julianna Margulies and we are ALL hoping the hottest pediatrician ever will bless us with an appearance and so are the ER execs. They would also like to see Sally Field and Danny Glover come back as well.

But now I have to share my mixed feelings on the wish list. Of course I want to see all the former cast members (or at least as many of them as they can bring back), but I don’t want it be in the wake of a final season (though it still isn’t confirmed… Thank Goodness!) But still… how bittersweet, sad and ugh… just plain heart wrenching is it to see all of our favorites for the last time.

Who would you like to see make an appearance? It’s too bad that they can’t bring the dead back… I would love to see Dr. Greene again. Just once. Sigh.

I know, syndication and DVD’s… but it isn’t the same. Does anyone want to keep my hopes alive and start a rumor about some of the actors from ER in a spin off? That would be nice. Can we do that?

ER, guest appearances, former cast members, Jeannie, Gloria Ruben, John Carter

There has been much debate on ER fan message boards everywhere on whether or not there is a way to see full episodes of ER on online. I for one was a little A LOT peeved that I couldn’t see this season’s premiere a couple of weeks ago. I almost always try to be home to watch the show because I don’t get the best reception for local television (we are rural… think country roads, lots of them). So if I miss something, if I have to wrestle the remote from my husband, I tend to get a little cranky. And believe me, I am not alone.

I decided to do some searching to see if I really could find a little snippet of the shows I have missed. I hate the two minute replay. It makes me feel like I am watching the sports recap on the nightly news or something. WHO CARES! I want to see it all. In my opinion, The two minute replay doesn’t show me squat. You know how I feel… I’ve mentioned it before.

But fear not my fellow ER fans!

I think I found a solution… (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), and I think you all are going to like it.

There is a member on YouTube who shars in our pain and kindly has reposted every single episode of ER from the beginning of this season. I don’t know who they are… but I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

Don’t believe me? Take a look at this from last week’s episode “Gravity”

Yea… That’s right folks. It’s there. Every single piece of it. It’s loaded in five parts (as are most of the previous episodes) so you won’t miss a thing.

You know what I love about this the most? The person who is posting these cuts out very little from the first run show.

And in case anyone is wondering… Yes. I really do think it’s Luka that will be on next week’s show.

Full Episodes of ER, Youtube, Videos, Season 14, ER fans

I remember watching Scott Grimes in various bad 80’s television and even some even worse horror movies. So let me tell begin by saying that I was very skeptical when he came on as an ER regular. I didn’t think his character Dr. Morris would make it. I really mean that. I didn’t like the storylines they gave him… I didn’t like… well, (sorry Scott Grimes fans..) HIM.

But for once TPTB showed me up and now Morris has grown on me… by the way, does anyone find it odd that he is a red head and they named his character Morris… like the cat in the Meow Mix commercials? No? Ok it’s just me then.

Anyway, what I was trying to say is that somewhere Morris got… CHARACTER. I am not sure how they did it or why but it seemed like one day Morris was different. Maybe it was the change of finding out how many sperm doner children he had… I don’t know but there is a different side of Morris that we see now and I like it.

In fact, I don’t know if anyone else has noticed but it seems that his part on the show has gotten bigger too. Could that be because Luka is leaving, and Ray is gone(?) too? I wonder about that. Especially this week’s show. We see Morris getting rid of the boogeyman with “medicine”, primping for a date with Hope by getting a makeover and some apparent much needed exfoliating. It’s a whole new side to Grime’s character that I think they began to play with last season and are just beginning to develop now.

Can I say it’s about time that they begin exploring some of the more interesting characters on the show?

Scott Grimes, Dr. Archie Morris, character development, storylines

There was a brief moment on ER last Thursday where I swore I saw a storyline begin. Maybe you missed it to but it was just a brieft moment where Sam (Linda Cardellini) was in the trauma room with the dead teenage boy’s mother. She was telling Sam how he had been lately, how removed and distant he (Casey) had been but that how things with Casey had been getting better.

If you were really paying attention and listening to the mom and what she said, the camera closed in on Sam and we saw her let out a breath… like she was thinking. Hmmm, in my own mom mind, I was thinking of the storyline with Sam and her son Alex and the difficulties she had with him last season.

I don’t know about you but I do not think that storyline is closed. I think there is still more to that. If I remember correctly, season 13 left off with a phone call between Sam and Alex. There was no real ending to that and so I have to wonder… What is next for this storyline? There are many different directions they could take this. They have already exposed us to the difficulties that Sam has as a Single Parent and I have to admit that I do not think that is a finished storyline. Not at all. The complications that Sam has about being a single mom and then top it all off with sending Alex away to school… too much there that was left unfinished and leaving the ER fans and fans of Sam (yea that would be me) in the dark on how to tie that one up.

So what do you think? Did you catch the moment in the trauma room? Is the Samantha and son story finished?

Samantha, Linda Cardellini, character development, storylines, single parents

I get to a lot of places on the Net. Of the many places I travel to is message boards and forums for the fans of ER. I check the gossip, I read the lovey-dovey story lines, I put in my 2 cents when appropriate but mostly I lurk.

While lurking last week, I saw an overwhelming number of people upset and in dismay over NBC not putting full episodes of ER on the site. The general consesus at the NBC ER site is that most posters looked for the season premiere to be up on the site. But alas all that The Powers That Be wanted us to see was the two minute replay.

Is this Football?

Why only two minutes? Why not five? Are the storylines not exciting enough that it can be summed up in two minutes? I don’t see the point in two minutes. It surely didn’t answer my questions about the show. Nor did it allow me enough time to pick one line and get the full picture of it.

I have a theory as to why we don’t see a complete ER episode on NBC.

It’s old. I mean, 14 years??? That is a long running show. We have discussed before how the show has lost some steam, the great characters that have come and gone and the many twists and turns the show has taken us through. We also discussed how the wants and needs of the fans seem to be falling on deaf ears over at NBC.

So once again, it looks like NBC has their own idea of what will make the fans happy.

hatever happened to the customer is always right? I guess that doesn’t apply to television customers huh?

Alright. So did you watch or did you miss it? I watched. Honestly, I thought the show lacked its usual luster until Gates flipped his wig and attacked the patient who started the riot and then began parading him around the ER. Crazy right? Not as crazy as reassigning him to the ICU.

I will be honest. I was in and out of watching ER. In fact, I missed nearly all my favs on Thursday night. I gave up the last 15 minutes of ER because I couldn’t hear it to begin with (I had a sleepy baby in my arms and didn’t want to turn it up to wake him). I know… Where’’s my dedication to the show? Oh believe me, I have it but are you like me? Do you miss the seasons past when they did the show live? To me those shows felt like the ER. Very hyped. Very electric with emotion and tension.

I think that this is what this last one may have been missing. That certain amount of edge of your seat that we love about the show.

Plus, I know I am contradicting myself here (a bit) but I don’t really know how I feel about Moretti yet. I know that I blogged about Stanley Tucci once before but (and please don’t think that I am recanting what I originally said, I am not), but I don’t know if this is the role for him. I guess I expected more from him in the season premiere but it didn’t live up to what I expected.

Tell me what you think: Was this season premiere a let down compared to some of ER’s past premiere episides? What do you make of Stanley Tucci now? Am I being picky? Is it too early to tell?

Stanley Tucci, ER, Episode Review, ER Season Premiere, Gates, John Stamos, Moretti