So I just haven’t had time to post lately and that is why it took me so long to post this. ER came to a close last week. I would guess it ranks 2nd on my all-time favorite TV show list, behind Seinfeld and ahead of Friends. I didn’t watch if from the beginning (but I didn’t watch Seinfeld or Friends from the beginning either), but I joined in pretty quick, sometime during Season 1 I am pretty sure. I saw every episode and even after the show started to dip, I stuck with it.

It’s my belief that most TV shows peak in seasons 3-5. If you look at the previously mentioned shows, it’s likely that your favorite episodes occurred during this time. I think that the actor’s have perfected the characters but they haven’t reached the point of being over the top (read: Kramer in the last couple of seasons). For ER season 5′s close marked the end of George Clooney’s run on the show. For a lot of fan’s this was a big blow. But Anthony Edwards lasted another 3 seasons and Noah Wyle carried the torch beyond that. Although the last few seasons weren’t nearly as good as the first few, I don’t think the show really took as big of a nosedive as people like to say.

The last season wasn’t great. But Dr.s Pratt, Kovac and Rasgotra all made departures from the hospital, along with all the cameos from former stars (Benton, Carter, Lewis, Weaver, Greene, Corday, Jerry, Romano, Barnett, Ross, Hathway and Morgernstern) gave longtime fans something to see. It’s tough in a medical drama like this to find a way to end the show. Short of the hospital closing down there is no way to just end things, so we knew that wouldn’t happen. I liked the way they worked Clooney and Margulies into the final season without being over the top about it. The way that they didn’t even make them directly interact with the people they knew was a nice touch. Carter’s former stabbing and trips to Africa were a perfect way to to setup his kidney need. Morris ascending to the main man was well done.

Then there was the finale itself. I had watched the Pilot episode earlier in the week just for nostalgia’s sake. It’s amazing the shoutouts to that episode in the finale, especially the first scene. The old-school credits and theme song were an awesome touch. A new charatcer, Dr. Wise, showed up and got a lot of screen time. It was a lot of her questioning whether she could handle the job and whatnot. It seemed odd to give so much screen time in a series finale to a literally brand new character. But the point they seemed to be making was that, the show will go on, figureatively speaking. And the show did. Cameo’s aside, there was nothing that made it feel like a finale. Shows like Friends and *M*A*S*H had their tearful good-byes, but there really wasn’t any of that. Having Dr. Greene’s daughter, who was around from the pilot (although played by a different actress then) show up as a med student, was very nicely done. It was a perfect bookend to the show having her follow Dr. Carter in as the show ended. Panning away with, again, the old-school theme was also a nice touch.
I agree that as far as finales go, it wasn’t perfect. I have been trying to remember shows where I saw the series finale happen, but I don’t remember most of the plots: Full House, Home Improvement, Fresh Prince, Friends, Seinfeld, M*A*S*H (which I obviously didn’t see live), Roseanne and The Sopranos. I had to look up the Home Improvement one and didn’t remember that it was a cliff hanger. Roseanne was famously a letdown after it turned out the last few years were a book she was writing. The Sopranos was initially disapointing for most, but in retrospect was awesome. Seinfeld went completely over the top but they had been for years, so nothing new. My point being, that few season finales are perfect. Although I never saw it, I have heard Cheers comes close.
As a diehard fan though, I left satisfied. ER was in my life for more than half of it. It was the only night of the week (early on) that I was allowed to stay up past 9. And the way TV is now, it’s unlikely we will see a (non-reality/game) show last 15 years. So live it up.