I know how ER ends!

[Baron Scicluna]

Liked the show, thought the ending could have been a little more dramatic than what it was.
I'm sad the show's ending. I hadn't watched it in a couple of years because the cast kept changing and the storylines were getting a little crazy. My wife and I have a lot of nostalgia for the show. We started watching it together when we were in college and for many years, it was our show that we marked on the calendar to watch each week.


SPOILER TO THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET:















Thought Carter asking, "Dr. Greene, are you coming?" to Rachel was a nice touch.

 

[DanOregon]

The retrospective just started out here - Scott Grimes: "I watched the first episode and I used to hang out with Noah Wyle and I thought, "That douchebag got a show? I thought it was a documentary."

 

[cougargirl]

I am going to miss ER. I feel like I went into adulthood with that show as I began watching it in college, at the insistence of one of my teammates.

I liked the ending, especially how it came full circle ...





(Spoiler alert)





... with Rachel returning to the ER (which was weird because I was just telling someone this morning, "let's see, Rachel Greene would be 22 or 23 now ...") and with a lot of allusions to the pilot, including the first five minutes of the finale. Even at the end, Dr. Carter said, "I just had a bit of deja vu." Plus, I liked that Drs. Weaver, Lewis, Benton (and Reese, his son), Elizabeth Corday were all woven in.

I was also half-expecting Alexis Bledel's character to be named "Rory."

 

[suburbia]

I'll be interested to see what the ratings are for the finale. I know it won't get what the MASH finale got (ER was no MASH and there is way too much competition now). But could this get a 20?

 

[John]

With storms raging in the Tennessee Valley, NBC's feed went out near the end when everyone went outside to meet the ambulances. Did I miss anything after that?

 

[cougargirl]

Anyone else disappointed that Benton and the English woman didn't renew old flames -- or at least just go "do it"...... >:(

That's the direction I thought it was moving.

I see what they are going for in the ending. Show opens with Dr. Green teaching Dr. Carter, show closes with Dr. Carter teaching Rachel Green. I was expecting something a little more action packed.

I thought that at first with Benton and Elizabeth Corday, but there were too many mentions of Cleo (Michael Michele) to consider any kind of hook-up. It was more as if they came to terms with things.

Good question about the ratings, but it seemed to me they were in a rush to get this over with. No hype, no build-up. Hell, there were parties for the last MASH.



Potential spoilers ...







This episode was a thud of an ending to an otherwise outstanding season. Tons of loose ends not tied up. ... What happened to the woman who needed the heart? What happened to the drunk girl from tonight's show? Are Carter and his wife even together? I could go on. Tonight had a very "tune in next week" feel, only there is no next week. Very disappointing ending.

No, I don't think it was disappointing. I actually think it was a very modern ending. Consider current literature - are the loose ends ever really tied up? I think there was just enough answered and intimated and enough finished (the AIDS patient and the elderly couple) and left unfinished (the girl with alcohol poisoning, the woman who gave birth to twins and died) in the finale.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I read where one of the producers said something like ... when the show started, we joined some storylines in progress and we'll leave with some still in progress.

 

[podunk press]

Allow me a moment to grieve here.

ER debuted when I was in middle school. It was the first show my parents allowed me to stay up and watch. I watched it when I was in high school. I taped it when I was in college. And I've figured out a way to catch almost every episode.

Some of them sucked. Some of them were ridiculous.

But I kept watching through all the warts.

I'll miss the nurses, many of whom made their first appearances on the show in at least five years tonight. I'll miss Archie. And Gates. And Neela. And all the ones that came before: Dr. Greene. Dr. Kovac. Dr. Benton. Dr. Ross. Dr. Cordet.

I was fine with the ending. I would have loved to figure out what happened to the heart transplant patient. But I loved how it came full circle -- with a weary Dr. Carter, fighting through marital trouble, showing a young Dr. Greene the ropes.

I'm not a fan of change. I'm a 20-something still working at newspapers, clinging to my print edition of Sports Illustrated. And I clung to ER through the rotten years. At least the show got a proper sendoff, but, still, it hurts a little that I will never see a new episode again.

Maybe that makes me a corny *******. But so be it.

 

[jps]

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

 

[KYSportsWriter]

Allow me a moment to grieve here.

ER debuted when I was in middle school. It was the first show my parents allowed me to stay up and watch. I watched it when I was in high school. I taped it when I was in college. And I've figured out a way to catch almost every episode.

Some of them sucked. Some of them were ridiculous.

But I kept watching through all the warts.

I'll miss the nurses, many of whom made their first appearances on the show in at least five years tonight. I'll miss Archie. And Gates. And Neela. And all the ones that came before: Dr. Greene. Dr. Kovac. Dr. Benton. Dr. Ross. Dr. Cordet.

I was fine with the ending. I would have loved to figure out what happened to the heart transplant patient. But I loved how it came full circle -- with a weary Dr. Carter, fighting through marital trouble, showing a young Dr. Greene the ropes.

I'm not a fan of change. I'm a 20-something still working at newspapers, clinging to my print edition of Sports Illustrated. And I clung to ER through the rotten years. At least the show got a proper sendoff, but, still, it hurts a little that I will never see a new episode again.

Maybe that makes me a corny *******. But so be it.

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.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

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

Got my hair on end.

 

[shotglass]

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.

 

[DanOregon]

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.

 

[The Granny]

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

 

[old_tony]

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).

 

[Baron Scicluna]

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.

 

[EStreetJoe]

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

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

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 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.

 

[User 1019]

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.

 

[bagelchick]

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.