ER

This television series is in its fourteenth season. “ER” premiered on NBC in 1994, the same day as CBS’s “Chicago Hope” (another prime-time drama series set in a hospital) but “Hope” only lasted six seasons. I’d be willing to bet there are very few people watching “ER” today who also saw its premier. I’m not sure Heather and I saw the first episode, but we did begin watching “ER” in its first season and have followed it ever since. This is mostly due to Heather’s initiative. If it were up to me, I would have stopped watching it years ago. “Why?” you ask.

Because it’s just too realistic. Consider:

In one episode Robert “Bullet Head” Romano gets his arm chopped off by a helicopter blade only to recover and then have another helicopter crash from the roof of the hospital and land on the poor shmuck some episodes later. Uh huh, cuz that happens in real life.

I also like the times when the show doesn’t even take place in the ER. Like all those episodes in Africa. Cuz, yeah, the show is called “ER” for a reason, eh?

One final note: the women on the show drive me absolutely nuts (they’re all so emotionally constipated)! But, what can I say? In spite of this, guess what I’ll be watching later this week? Another episode of “ER”. No kidding.

I know, I know… I need a CAT scan.

I watched the very first episode of ER, and I have watched it ever since. We were actually living in Chicago when the show started, on the exact same night as Chicago Hope. Chicago Hope soon had to move to a different night to be able to “compete” with ER. Do you see Chicago Hope on TV now? I don’t think so!

It has been a wild ride. Troy watches with me, but he is forever shaking his head, rolling his eyes and saying “This is the craziest ER I’ve ever seen.” He just says that because he can’t keep up. I have to admit there have been moments that literally have left me with my mouth hanging open. Things like helicopter rotors cutting off arms, helicopters falling on people, (I think Michael Crichton and the ER writers enjoy using helicopters as weapons of mass destruction!) desk clerks blowing up the ambulance bay with bazookas. Yeah. I’m sure that makes you want to watch!

I think the main reason I have kept watching is that I am an ambulance chaser, and I am fascinated by the medical cases they dream up. I don’t know where they get all their ideas.

But hey, at least I’m not one of those people who actually thinks I can go to Chicago and seek medical attention from Dr. John Carter.

Because, duh, everyone knows he works in Africa now.