Creator
Michael Crichton
Cast
Noah Wyle Dr. John Carter
Laura Innes Dr. Kerry Weaver
Laura Céron Nurse Chuny Marquez
Anthony Edwards Dr. Mark Greene
Eriq La Salle Dr. Peter Benton
Goran Visnjic Dr. Luka Kovac
DVD Release Date: December 19, 2006
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 976 Minutes on 6 discs
The Show
Currently in the middle of its thirteenth season, ER has entertained, saddened, and stressed out millions of people all over the world through it’s medical practices and thrilling cases. Members of the staff have come and gone, while others have lasted since day one.It has been the stepping stone to stardom for such stars as George Clooney, Noah Wyle and Anthony Edwards. While Chicago Hope had a good run and Grey’s Anatomy is Top 10 show, this Michael Crichton series is still going strong and doesn’t show any signs of stopping.
For the sixth season was a transitional phase. Clooney had just left the show in the middle of previous season and newer docs such as Maura Tierney and Goran Visnjic – who are still on the show today – were starting to come into rotation.
Prior to this review, I haven’t watched much ER. Every now and then I’ll catch a few episodes that have piqued my interest, and with the bombardment of reruns I can catch usually on any evening of the week. But there seemed to be a lot happening in season six, and if all of them are as suspenseful and interesting as this one, then I may need to check into the ER more often.
The talent involved crammed a lot of stuff in these 22 episodes. It begins with an episode full of tragedy as a truck smashes into a coffee shop, which leads to numerous patients into the emergency room. All this time Dr. Greene and Dr. Weaver go from partners to enemies in Weaver’s bid for Chief of Staff. That episode starts a snowball effect with everyone in the ER seemingly at each other’s throats. Not just for the episode, the entire season.
Throw in Dr. Carter’s abuse of prescription pain medication and the tragic loss of Lucy Knight and you’ve got some kind of stressful action going on in every episode. The death of Lucy hits you out of nowhere and certainly took its toll on me. For this six-year-old episode, I never saw it coming.
With such a diverse cast I thought that I would not be able to keep up with them. Come to find out, it’s not as hard to follow along as one may think. There are multiple storylines in each episode but they all interconnect in some way or another and just seem to make sense.
Out of al the characters, Dr. Greene is somebody, myself included, can associate with. He seems genuine, a nice guy who knows what he is doing and wants the best for his patients and for the co-workers around him. As for Dr. Weaver? Well, there are numerous times where you wish you could reach through the TV screen and choke her. Perhaps it is because of her extremely arrogant demeanor. Sure it’s obvious that in the end she was merely trying to do what was right, but she doesn’t have to be so demanding of others.
Episodes
Disc One:
Leave It To Weaver
Last Rites
Greene With Envy
Sins Of The Fathers
Disc Two:
Truth & Consequences
The Peace Of Wild Things
Humpty Dumpty
Great Expectations
Disc Three:
How The Finch Stole Christmas
Family Matters
The Domino Heart
Disc Four:
Abby Road
Be Still My Heart
All In The Family
Be Patient
Disc Five:
Under Control
Viable Options
Match Made In Heaven
The Fastest Year
Disc Six:
Loose Ends
Such Sweet Sorrow
May Day
The Video
The show is presented in Widescreen Format and looks fantastic. It transfers over to DVD really well and it kept one of the things I have liked about ER the most intact. It kept the hospital drab. The show is full of drama sequences and heart-pounding moments so it’s nice not to see shiny, happy colors plasted everywhere.
The Audio
The show is heard in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound and comes through nice and clear. You’ll hear every bit of dialogue, every cough and groan, and every beep from every dialysis machine in the whole place.
Special Features
Cutups – Cute name for a gag reel and really pretty funny. It’s just different seeing all the actors who are usually so serious joking around and laughing about things. And it’s amazing how many doors and walls you can run into with rolling beds and machines in an emergency room.
Outpatient Outtakes – Two, count ‘em two deleted scenes.
The Inside Pulse
For never really watching the show in depth before, I sure picked a good season to start with. I am rather disappointed at the severe lack of extras that are on the DVDs, especially considering that there even barely any deleted scenes. They might as well have just left them off all together. I will say that I really enjoyed the show though and that should be enough for anyone to want to pick up this set.
