Watching ER

New episode tomorrow night! Yay! Are you ready for it? Here’s the preview and a few videos to tide you over until Thursday night!

WAS I DREAMING?—ALEX KINGSTON (“CSI”) REPRISES HER ROLE AS DR. ELIZABETH CORDAY—Neela (Parminder Nagra) finds herself having a recurring dream about her crazy day trying to saving a young girl with sickle cell anemia. Gates (John Stamos) works on saving a patient that jumped out of a window during his sleep. Meanwhile, Neela goes in for an attending interview and is surprised to see Dr. Corday (guest star Alex Kingston). Linda Cardellini, Scott Grimes and David Lyons also star.

There are some Youtube videos that I can’t embed, but here are the links to them!

Interview with Alex Kingston
Interview with Parminder Nagra
Corday interviews Neela

Is anyone else looking forward to seeing Dr. Corday again?!

Don’t lie. You know you’ve wanted to see it. You could cut the sexual tension between Sam and Tony with a knife and it’s been going on for weeks. I admit, I let out a little gasp when she kissed him. That’s right. If you missed it, Sam laid a Big Ol’ Smacker right on Tony - and it’s just in time too…

I’m not saying that sexual tension is a BAD THING. Goodness NO! I actually like a little sexual tension. Makes you work harder for it right? Makes the end result all that much sweeter and even a little hotter doesn’t it? Though there are some poor unlucky characters who are still working through their sexual tensions.

Ahem… Anyway, what I am trying to say is that the sexual tension between Sam and Tony was almost getting to be too much. What with Sam’s constant complaining and nagging -  the idea of a nurse second guessing a doctor!? But then in the next blink she is making eyes at him, smiling a coy little smile - He’s no angel! Tony is absolutely eating it up.

I don’t know what everyone else thinks about this match up but I really like the idea of Sam and Tony together. In my opinion, I think they are more evenly matched, more so than Neela and Tony EVER were. There is more of a chemistry between these two characters, albeit somewhat highschoolish, it is still an attraction and the flirtation between the two is a welcome site to the show. (Because seriously I don’t know how I feel about Skye and Dubenko together - though the words "GROSS" and "EW" come to mind).

Just in case you did miss THE KISS, a fabulous youtube member has been so kind to upload it for us so take a moment and enjoy THE KISS that we’ve been waiting to see.

Love, Romance, Character Romance, Sexual Tension, Character Hook-ups

I’ve mentioned in past blog posts that one of my favorite characters on the show is Sam. I think that Linda Cardellini is doing a fantastic job with the character but some of the fans in the forums I visit don’t agree with me. In fact, in some cases, it’s grown from a little distaste to REALLY hating Sam.

So I am putting it out there: What do you think of Sam? Most of the recent uprising stems from episode 12,  Believe the Unseen in which Abby comes back to work and confesses to all of her coworkers that her personal time off wasn’t spent with Luka in Croatia but instead in a rehab facility because she is an alcoholic. Everyone seems very supportive of her and welcomes her confession with open arms… everyone Except Sam. Instead Sam begs the question "Have you ever been drunk at work?" It’s an important question but when Abby purposely dodges (and conveniently gets interrupted by an incoming trauma) the question, Sam seems a tad disgusted.

I guess I don’t understand all the flack that Linda Cardellini’s character is getting. Sam is a strong character and I think that in the beginning they played her right and made her strong with a take no bull attitude. I’ve read comments lately where fans are coming down on her for the attitude she gave Abby.

I understand this is only a television medical drama but since ER lives to play so close to real life and deal with such real life situations, then I have to say that questioning Abby was the right thing to do. As a doctor, she has hundreds of lives in her hands, coming into work completely drunk or even feeling leftover effects of heavy drinking puts the patients at risk because she is in no condition to do her job. I wouldn’t want a coworker like that working by MY side. I think that was the point that Sam was making.

What do you think? Does Sam have cause to be angry with Abby? Let’s look at it another way, Abby isn’t the first television doctor to battle addiction… why should she be immune to disgusted and disgruntled coworkers?

Linda Cardellini, Samantha Taggert, Abby, Alcoholics, Doctors, Coworkers

That’s right everyone, the first former ER cast member makes an appearance just in time for the new year. “Status Quo” will air on January 3rd, and according to Spoilerfix.com and NBC spoilers, Gloria Rueben, who played Jeanie Boulet, a physician’s assistant will be bring in her HIV positive son named Carlos to treat a cut on his head from a fall at school. However when Carlos has a CT done, a spot on his brain is found which will need further testing. Plus when the higher ups at County do not take Pratt seriously, he wants to quit his job (could we really take anymore great actor losses on ER?) Plus Neela’s cousin will be visiting and Morris and Harold will be trying their best to woo her. (My money is on Morris, what about you?) Also appearing is Kari Matchett from “24”.

When we last saw Jeanie it was November 1999, and she was leaving to spend more time with Carlos, (who you should remember is not her biological son but a baby she adopted after the mother died in the ER) and Reggie (a police officer).

Ok, so now we are up to speed right? Good. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything that related to how many episodes she will appear in. If you have that scoop, feel free to contact me or leave a comment.
As you know, Abby is away at rehab and Luka and little Joe are in Croatia for Luka’s father’s funeral. No word on when Luka will be back (again).

Gloria Rueben, Jeanie Boulet, Guest Appearances, HIV, former cast members

I found this interview at youtube of Linda and Scott talking about ER. Linda touches on what is in store for her (again The Powers That Be are listening to me!)

While some of this is based on Episode 7, there is some upcoming news that you won’t want to miss!

I really like how Sam is going to be getting some kind of a life. Hopefully it won’t be destructive… but I am a little disappointed that they aren’t taking more of a focus on her reconnecting with her son. In fact it almost sounds like the opposite of listening to me but it does sound like Sam will have a chance to live the part of her life that she had missed as a young mom. It’s still better than no storyline for her at all… what do you think? Could this be a good storyline for her?

And… I am curious to see if they give her a “hook up” with anyone in the ER. There was the cop, then the energy expert that was in “Blackout”… so who is next?

Also be sure to pay attention to Scott give out some information on his latest movie! All in all, things look strong over at ER despite the writer’s strike, but have no fear, I have information and a bit of a scoop if not more of a conflict of information which I will post for you tomorrow and I will let you decide what to think.

Otherwise, be sure to watch the video and leave some comments about what you think over Sam’s new storyline.

Sam, Morris, Linda Cardellini, Scott Grimes, news, writer’s strike

That’s actually the title of a really great book but I think in this case, it fits Abby perfectly. Not only did they open up Abby’s alcoholism but they put her in situations that are just unthinkable.

So let me ask you this: Was last night’s episode as painful to watch as it was for me?

Seriously… I didn’t like watching Abby like this. The party was embarrassing (for me to watch even) and I was pretty much horrified when they flashed back to her in the throes of passion with Moretti… How wrong was that? And then she gets home, lights up the babysitter and then takes off in the car with Joe. I’m glad she realized she was in no shape to drive and hailed a taxi.

I don’t think I like the spin they are putting on Abby’s storyline… UNLESS… it is their way to writer her off the show. She was trying to get a ticket to board a plane to Croatia.

Something else that I hope no one missed was the little comment about how Dr. Ross and Dr. Greene ruled the ER… please tell me all of you caught that. Could it be a some glimpse that some of the cast members will be returning? Others think that it was a small play on “Going Green”

Back to Abby though… Maura Tierney is such a great actress. She is highly underrated and I think when the writers do give her a tough storyline like this, she rises to it and excels to such a believable extent that it is no wonder fans all over were freaking out over Abby’s actions last night. Emotions ranged from loving the show to loving the show but hating how the writer’s wrote Abby’s story this week.

Be sure to read tomorrow’s post when I show a video clip that makes me wanna say thank you to TPTB for FINALLY listening to me!

Abby, Maura Tierney, alcoholism, Moretti

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