The death of Mark Greene should've been the series finale.

Romano losing his arm to the helicopter was just lazy writing, a SHOCK just for the sake of a SHOCK. Too bad the idiot writers didn't think ahead and realize there's very little they can do with a one-armed surgeon, so for another SHOCK they dropped another chopper on his head. It was almost a parody it was so bad.

However, the high quality of the earlier seasons could've continued but the new characters that came in are all totally unlikable. Nothing like the smooth Ross or young & eager Carter. After Romano died, I stopped watching for a long time. Last night, I tuned in for the first time since then to see what was going on. I turned it off within 15 minutes. All the characters seem to absolutely hate each other, so why would I want to watch?

That's the kind of humour the show needs.

Bingo! That is the main shark-jump moment, although George Clooney's exit, Julianna Margulies's exit, and when the show switched into a "Shocking Event" episode mode for ratings sweeps, starting with Dr. Gant's train-jump suicide in Season 3, were other "smaller" shark jump moments.

Yeah, I buy that premise, but which season did the emphasis shift? I quit watching when Anthony Edwards left but the show quality had certainly declined before that event. I've been buying and really enjoying the early seasons but I need to figure out when to quit.

I recommend buying through Season 6, but not a boxed set more. (And I also recommend only watching through the second-to-last episode from that season called "Such Sweet Sorrow" if you want a nice, no-hanging ending to your collection of the show)

Gant vs. the Train, Lucy Knight, all true.

Carter's character never did mature in that Mark Greene kind of way, that was a big hinderance. As for all of those departures, I'd say Juliana Margulies's exit made the most impact. She was just great. No one else really has that "thing" on ER anymore.

I thought the Gant thing was an entertaining part of the show, perhaps because I didn't expect it and was as surprised as the characters were. It was shocking, but the show didn't feel like it was going for shock just for shock's sake at that point, in my opinion.

It's funny, I haven't given ER a thought since Anthony Edwards left the show. I actually hadn't been watching for about a year at that point, but I knew it was his final episode so I wanted to see how they wrote him out. I hated it. His death was so contrived to play on the emotions of the viewers, but it didn't strike me as an honest story - just one designed to get ratings, and that's part of the reason why I hated it (the other part was that the story just wasn't all that good).

I haven't watched since. I can't believe it's still on the air.

If they still were pumping out good, entertaining episodes that would be one thing, but this is like watching someone die slowly while temporarily being kept alive by machines.

It's time for NBC to pull the plug. (It was time a few years ago really...)

I actually liked Mark's departure from the show. I thought the music from his last 2 episodes was excellent. While it may have been ratings driven, it was better than a lot of the other cast members. He got episodes devoted to his departure, other people just left after an episode filled with randomness.

It's kind of sad that more people tuned in to watch Eriq La Salle's departure than Anthony Edwards'.

The show went downhill around the time they added new people sans Alex Kingston & Maria Bello to the cast. It seems with those additions the writers didn't anticipate having the characters grow. It was a huge cast in season 4-7 and they all probably got one page of dialogue in a whole season. I think it was around 15 or 16 people. And they all dropped like flies around season 6 and 7, reminds me of a season of Melrose Place where they trimmed the cast from more than 12 members to around 5 and everyone except two who were there since the beginning were fired.

Greene
Corday
Carter
Abby
Luka
Lucy
Romano
Peter
Cleo
Weaver
Carol
Ross
Michael
Chen
Anna
Jeanie
Malucci


Too much.

I liked the whole Gant thing. It led to good scenes with Carter and Benton when there was still character development back then instead of soap opera-ish love triangles.

Speaking of Gant, just watch HOUSE instead, it's a better show...

Any show where a castmember was hurt was cool. Like when Mark got beat up in the mens room. But after the Lucy stabbing that was the end of it, as they were using them only as shock moments.

After the Lucy thing I was still into it, and was more into it when Sherry Stringfield was brought back.

But they go overboard with staff having romance and personal family problems. The first few seasons are really rewatchable but any of the past few years reruns I didnt really care to see again. The Abby character was a nice addition but they go through so much turmoil for YEARS and YEARS I'd rather them just go to work.

I was still watching when they added Neela and Gallant but I stopped taping it; by Christmas break I never came back to it.

Clooney

It went downhill when it seemed that nobody could come to work at that place without sleeping with a co-worker.

I completely agree......
While I loved those episodes and Lucy Knight's death shocked the shit out of me, the show was never the same after that. I stopped watching regularly the next season, and then barely ever watched it at all since then. I haven't seen an episode of the show for over a year now.

So many moments where the show degraded. It has had its ups with some interesting story arcs that were actually good and touching enough to me (Alan Alda's character and James Cromwell's character), but the writing has been so poor lately. The Romano thing was absolutely ridiculous, just utterly stupid.

And the fact that they haven't introduced anybody decent. I think character wise, they are getting better in general (sans Sam) but the writing just isn't there yet to take advantage of it. ER needs to go back to its roots being a more realistic hospital drama like it used to be.

The other thing was that it was more boring once the doctors were actually in charge and not learning themselves, being pushed around, and what not.

And sans Romano, I think the biggest loss to ER was Benton, though they drug his character around a good bit as well. Clooney wasn't a big loss to me, Greene was by far my favorite character (because he is the doctor most doctors want to be, and the type of doctor most people want to have), and his loss has certainly been felt. Carter is going to hurt big time.

Abby is really the only reason to watch right now. Shane West's character I think is going to end up as a good character, and Neela has some promise, though not a lot.

I see signs of hope ahead for ER as it is moving back towards its roots moreso than the past few years. I don't think the show is necessarilly done yet if they give up the crap they have had lately, but I kind of doubt that too.

They simply need to make it more like working in a real urban ER rather than what it has been lately (helicopters crashing, virus outbreaks, a fricken tank coming to the hospital to get Morris, which I thought was completely plausible given the Morris's character, lets see what else, oh yeah Pratt's crash into Lake Michigan after being fired upon, and on and on). You don't have to do something brand spankin new every episode. See Law and Order. We just want good writing and interesting, real (REAL) characters. Tanks charging into emergency rooms sounds like one of those bad fox shows they put in timeslots where they have nothing else.

I can't see Lucy's death as a big deal, at least not as big a deal as they made it out to be. She was barely on for any length of time, so I didn't even get a chance to really start liking her character; I mean, just was just a nobody to me. Though it was a touching episode, I guess, just for Carter.

The last time I remember being really, really moved by an ep of ER was Mark's death. Despite the horrible, horrible version of the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" song, I thought it was quite poignant, and it really made me sad. I've really missed his character, he was my favorite, although I never got into the Mark/Elizabeth thing. I was always rooting for Lewis/Greene.

Oh wait -- the last time since Mark's death that really moved me was when Luka was treating the bishop with lupus, and it brought up Luka's wrestling with his own faith and remembering his family. Those episodes get me every time, I keep catching them on re-runs. Plus Luka's hot. But he needs to quit banging everyone. And I can't stand Thelma. Please let her hurry up and leave the show; she's so annoying.

Rocket Romano was one of the coolest things to happen to that show, speaking of "Lizzie". He was really pathetic in his attempts to get her to notice him and the way she didn't reciprocate his obvious feelings for her; I thought his character was really interestingly developed. But the helicopter thing -- just, no way. If there was a true Jump The Shark moment in terms of sheer ridiculous-ness and obvious schlock value, that was it. I mean, COME ON. And then the helicopter crashes on him. Please. I couldn't even believe I was watching ER.

This past year before Carter left I realized how interesting it was to think back on how he was that first year and how he'd metamorphi... changed into who he became. I hated when he left to go to BumFuckWherever though. But I thought it was okay the way he left. I mean, I didn't want him to go; you'd think he could have stuck it out another year, but it was appropriate; it just seemed he wouldn't/couldn't get over the loss of his child (well, who would) and made him seem very real. It totally changed him.

Lewis is just being too bossy. She's not fun anymore.

That Mr. Rock N' Roll guy has to go. Although I see them making him change into a real human being and stuff. Whatever.

I just like the old stand-bys. I think it's cool as hell that Chuny and Halle have always been there and that they're content to be in the background, delivering their one or two lines. They should make a special award for characters like that and call it the Chuny/Halle award.

Anyway, with all the young whippersnappers, it's just hard to get into it nowadays.

Do I ever love Neela, though.

I consider those some powerful episodes and some of the best ER has done. But then again I couldn't stand the Lucy Knight character (or the actress who played her) so I actually cheered when she was killed. It was a mercy killing for me, because it mercifully saved the show that Kelly Martin was killing off.

But yeah, the show really ended for me when Greene died. I didn't watch much beyond that (although the stuff in Africa with Carter and Kovacs looked damn good from what I have seen of it.)

Is it just me or is Abby like, the grimmest bitch ever? Even more so than Kerry. Well, maybe not that much. Kerry's fun to watch because she's such a bitch. Abby's just ... I don't know, a grim, sour little person who needs to be put out of her misery. (I love her mom and brother, though.)

Not true. The focus of the first season was on Carter and how rough it is in the ER on someone new, so a good way to bookend it would have been with Carter leaving.


I couldn't agree with this more.
But he had a slow decline, like a full season. If you just turn into the actual death episode, of course it is going to seem contrived.

RE: Gant. That is my all time favorite plotline because it served a purpose. It showed the viewer what resolve Carter has dealing with Benton, and they developed so much more as characters and relationship-wise.