I know how ER ends!

not a bastard, I don't think. but yes, definitely, corny. definitely.

 

I'm like you in that I sorta grew up with this show.

But I stopped watching on a regular basis about 4-5 years ago. I would catch reruns every morning on TNT, but that was it for me. I just couldn't look past all the stupid stuff and stopped watching.

I may have to catch the finale on hulu soon.

 

Hey... they gave me my theme music back!

Got my hair on end.

 

I'm watching on tape, and I'm finding it very disconcerting that Alexis Bledel has such a major role on this finale. I mean, I like her and all, but she's never been on this before as far as I know.

 

The opening was always great, Dr. Greene leaning back in the chair, Dr. Lewis on top of the gurney, Carter looking ready to puke, and of course Dr. Benton with the karate.
I'll sleep better tonight knowing the folks at County will still be dodging puke, ordering Chem-7s, talking crap to Jerry, and willing to stand outside in the rain waiting for the ambulances to roll in. Great way to end the run.

 

I liked how, at the end, it was all in an autistic kid's imagination and snow globe.

 

I can honestly say I watched every episode in 15 years. Made sure to record it when I had to do the VCR thing and then set my season pass when I got DVR.

I'm terribly sad to see this show go. The last two years rebounded so well after a few years of absurdity.

Things I liked about the finale:
That it didn't tie up all the loose ends; it's kind of like the Cheers finale to me in that there's comfort in knowing that County General goes on. There wasn't some financial disaster closing it just for the sake of ending a TV show.

The Rachel Greene story arc. From once a very troubled child to aspiring doctor, and it's entirely plausible to me because the writers cared enough however many years ago to treat her character with respect during the story arc with Mark Greene dying. I remember his final words to her about being generous (and not just because they replayed them tonight). When the prospective students were getting the tour, it gave me a good feeling that things will continue on at County General. every year new student doctors came in, and it will go on as usual. And then, when she came into focus in the group, my entire body went into goose bumps and it got very dusty in the room.

The story line with Alex and Tony giving Sam the refurbished Mustang. It ties in a little with the Rachel Greene story for me in this manner: The character of Sam is a very good person and the character of Mark Greene was a very good person. For a while, their kids seemed headed for troublesome lives. Nice to see that good-character characters ended up having good-character offspring. And Tony and Sam holding hands in their last scene together was a very nice touch, too.

Ernest Borgnine can still bring it at the age of 92. And an interesting bit of writing with the wife and daughter character, too, with it appearing from what the daughter says that the wife was a hard-to-live-with mother but he remained devoted to her. When he says he met her in sixth grade, it reminded me of The Wonder Years, as we've discussed on the other thread the last few days. Was the wife the Borgnine character's Winnie Cooper?

Things I didn't like:
That there will be no ER on next Thursday. That's about it.

I'll give this replacement show "Southland" a chance to win me over. It kind of represents a "full-circle" thing to me. NBC began owning that 9 p.m. Central hour on Thursday night back in 1981 with Hill Street Blues. That was replaced by LA Law, then ER. Can a new cop show start the cycle all over again?

But with only a couple of exceptions now (24 and the amusing Chuck), my place for fresh hour-long dramas is the cable channels -- TNT (Raising the Bar, Leverage), USA (In Plain Sight) and FX (Well, it's over now, but The Shield).

 

Well said, O_T.

I thought you were being sarcastic when you were referring to Borgnine as being 92 years old (I thought he was in his late 70s). Then I looked him up. What an amazing career he has had.

 

NBC is replaying the series finale on Saturday night starting at 8.

 

Well done, o_t.

I thought that the woman who played the daughter of the elderly woman was Lin Shaye (Nightmare on Elm Street, Something About Mary, Kingpin), but I don't see it on her imdb.

I hadn't seen ER in about eight years before this season.

Very sharp finish.

And, again, loved that theme music.

 

i could take it or leave it, I guess. Never was one of my favorite shows. Way too much End-Of-The-World-Disaster stuff for me.

 

OT: For the most part, I agree with you except I thought they spent way too much time on the Sam/mustang and the drunk/coma girl stories. I did like how Sam learned a little life lesson however, with the Ernest Bourgnine storyline (and yes, amazing that he is 92). And what was the point with the "fractered penis" storyline other than it seems like they stole that right from Grey's Anatomy?

Also, I saw the mother with the twins dying coming a mile away....after all "Love's Labor Lost," when the mother died on Dr. Greene, was such a huge episode for the series and one in which I don't think I've every cried so much.

Kinda surprised Clooney and Margulis weren't in the final episode at all. And where was Kovac and Maura Tierney?

With 5 minutes to go I couldn't fathom how they were going to end it, but I really liked that last, long shot. I also thought the Retrospective was great.

I will give Southland a try next week too, although the amount of promotion they were giving it was borderline obnoxious.