Thread 214254002

Why was this show so fucking big back in the day? What makes it different than the countless other boring-ass hospital set soap opera-ish shitty dramas?

>>214254002 (OP)
George Clooney

watch a mass casualty event episode then get back to me

>>214254285
>watch an episode of tv
where in the fuck do you think you are

Alex Kingston was cute.

>>214254002 (OP)
It's exceptionally well written and directed drama. The quality didparity between ER and The Pitt is astounding, on just about every level of television quality. Also is surprisingly authentic depiction of healthcare.

I hate zoomers

>>214254726
>I hate zoomers
success breeds jealousy

>>214254002 (OP)
>What makes it different than the countless other boring-ass hospital set soap opera-ish shitty dramas?
Nothing. There are always a bunch of boring ass hospital dramas, and one of them has to be the bigger hit than the rest.
ER was on NBC which had a pretty strong primetime presence through the week.
Personally I was always a chicago hope because who doesn't love mandy patinkin?
ER was just a pretty solid medical drama soap opera with a bunch of characters to tell stories around.

>>214254002 (OP)
Boomerslop

I don't really know, but people truly forget how big of a fucking deal primetime television was 30 years ago. TV was peoples pastime.

There was also this element of like, another world that you're unfamiliar with. Now you have the internet so you can learn just how gay healthcare is, but 30 years ago you had dramatized TV shows. You thought "hey, I could see myself in this world, in another life if I actually studied"

I don't know where I'm going with this, but ER was good because life was fucking good back then. There was optimism, an ability to debate politics in TV without rubbing your nose in it, and all sorts of shit made topical.

>>214254506
Not in that picture

>>214254579
They're both great

>>214254579
The Pitt is good, but it just reminds me how terrible everything has become in all facets of life.

>>214254002 (OP)
It was faster paced & had better medical storylines than the prior shows.

>>214255900
>30 years ago you had dramatized TV shows.
You still have medical dramas for the same reason you still have cop dramas, its just a good format for story of the week shit with tragedy bait cases they have to solve.

>>214254506

She and Romano had good reactions.


“Robert, that’s a dog!”

“Correction, Lizzie, that’s my dog.”

>>214254002 (OP)
Television used to take the place of what your phone addicted ass browsing /tv/ all day did.

>>214256065
Third watch with the Russian mob boss was cool af! It had Larry from ronin in it.

>>214254002 (OP)
People think doctors are le heckin' heroes

Why did the medical drama genre die out?

>>214256684
It hasn’t.

>>214254002 (OP)
It was filmed like a proper tv show, not like a cheap one camera, stage set soap opera. This was ground breaking back then. It gave it an aura of high quality despite the plots still being soap opera drama.

>>214257344
Yes production wise it was unpredecented. Nothing like it exists today. The Pitt, or really most modern TV shows feel claustrophobic in comparison.

>>214254002 (OP)
>What makes it different than the countless other boring-ass hospital set soap opera-ish shitty dramas?
It was the first one that made an effort like NYPD Blue to police.

The two episodes where Carter and Lucy get stabbed are awesome. Good show overall for sure. Dr Greene seemed like a real person. I haven't watched this in twenty years and only watched once but remember their names

>>214256684
it kinda hasn't, but also over saturation

>>214254002 (OP)
Name 3,000 better boring-ass hospital set soap opera-ish shitty dramas if there are so many.

Have you ever listened to the full version of the theme song, because it sure is... something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VeZQdeE6Gc

>>214255900
literally everyone had watched an episode or more, especially nurses, and it was plotted by a med student at Harvard who knew what he was talking about, not just someone with a high IQ who felt like dabbling in a hospital melodrama. It came after the Grisham legal thriller had been established and it carved out a niche in tv by casting both sexy and normie looking actors. It crafted a slice-of-life yet episodic groundedness that made it go down easily in increments where people knew they could walk out on one story and follow up later with another character that they cared about. Viewers didn't expect to get the entire story in one episode; huge contrast to the pandemic narrative.

>>214254002 (OP)
I stopped watching after a few episodes because I hate soap operas but the pilot TV movie was really fucking good, especially for its time. Something about it also feels oddly timeless, it has none of the cheesy or quaint feeling of lots of stuff from that era.

>its a carter is incredibly rich but still wants to deal with shitty patients in the emergency room - episode
most unbelievable plot ever

show died with doctor greene

>>214254002 (OP)
It's just kino, great writing that was always presenting interesting moral dilemmas and grey area shit, not just preachy garbage. Characters are all memorable. I only watched the first 8 seasons though

>>214259320
That's called the myth of personal well-being, very useful if people project themselves onto that character (common in the states).

All I remember of it is that asshole doctor walking into a helicopter blade.

>>214259341
It had its moments after Greene died, but it was not as good.

>>214254002 (OP)
>back in the good old days a tv season had 22-25 episodes
we used to eat good. what the fuck happenend

I still remember watching when they let them say "Shit" on television. That South Park episode was accurate, it felt like a big deal. Ahhh old times. I was a fan of Maura Tierney.

>>214259320
>>214259373
they kinda fixed it when he build his own hospital

>>214254002 (OP)
Michael Crichton lead-in
Great cast
George Clooney finally launching his career
Asshole characters who are never conveniently redeemed
Alex Kingston
Abraham Benrubi
Anthony Edwards
It isn't Grey's Anatomy

>13 Seasons before Tony Gates shows up
never made it there but it was probably interesting?

>>214256082
Romano was an incredible prick but he typified the guy who thinks he's right all the time because he WAS.
I mean the dude was getting a leg amputated and before going under wrote on his other leg "NOT THIS ONE, STUPID" because he KNEW the bonehead with the saw would fuck it up.
Also my brother jumped out of a plane with Paul.

>>214256684
The same reason most formats from before the mid 2000s died out. Low effort productions filled with low skill artists and technicians who are just there for a paycheck. The shots don't look good or at least interesting, the writing and research is shit, and since everything's dumped on streaming all in one go before the production goes dark for 4 fucking years there's no fanbase continuity so no sense of community. This gay race to the bottom streaming bubble can't pop soon enough.

Pic related has more compelling lighting setups, blocking, camera moves, choreography and transitions in their pilot episode than most prestige series have in an entire season. And it was back the next year at the same time for a new season instead of going on production hiatus for 3 years.

>>214256040
That was Wyle's inspiration. During COVID he kept getting fan mail from first responders and nurses starting with "we could really use Carter right now" telling him the absolute fucking nightmares they were going through and he made this show out of a sense of obligation to their stories.

>>214257344
All the medical equipment was real and not nerfed. First week of shooting, Clooney clowning around on set burned his chest playing with the paddles.

>>214257501
>where Carter and Lucy get stabbed
Kellie Martin's brother was dying slowly of an incurable disease; she couldn't cope with alternating between watching him die in a real hospital bed and pretending to be a miracle worker resident, and asked to be killed off. Didn't do much acting for a few years.

>>214259544
i miss og alan shore. it's a shame in what they turned into him in boston legal

>>214254002 (OP)
15 years ago I paod $1000, to watch an episode of er in a dui class. lol should of done like the forners and just drove anyways.

>>214259320
And literally everyone from the other doctors to his own family roasts him over this because even in-universe no one believes this.

>>214259424
>I still remember watching when they let them say "Shit" on television
That was Chicago Hope. A patient dies of a mysterious infection later traced to contact with horse feces and Adam Arkin's character sums it up with "Shit happens."

>>214259709
I didn't watch Chicago Hope. I know they said it once on ER. Or maybe they said fuck. It was when Anthony Edwards character had cancer and he bumped his head or something. I'm not gonna bother googling it because I know I'm right but I guess I'll Google it anyway.

>>214259851
Hey maybe you are right, I don't know everything

>>214259851
I googled it. It was both shows. Chicago Hope did it in 1999 and ER did it in 2002. South Park did it in 2001 but I didn't watch South Park back then so I didn't know that episode was before the ER episode.

>>214259916
It's all good. The South Park episode is informative because it's from that time period and the plot is literally about the increased usage of the word Shit as a way to boost ratings on TV shows.

>>214254002 (OP)
>Why was this show so fucking big back in the day?
best writing
best fucking cinematography
best episodes that would come around at least every 3 or 4 times a year

it was an amazing show

>>214260097
The live episode that they did twice that night for each coast, introducing Alex Kingston to the cast where there was no soundtrack except one scene where a crackhead with a plastic bucket and a pair of drumsticks mimics the exact kind of incidental music used in intense scenes until Green yells at him to cut it out.

>Greene announces his brain cancer's returned and incurable this time, as he leaves he pats Carter on the shoulder and says "you carry the pace now" passing the baton
>Seasons later near the end of the series, Carter announces he's leaving to start his own hospital in Africa, pats Scott Grimes' comic relief ginger fuckup resident on the shoulder saying "you carry the pace now" with mock seriousness

>>214259559
Oh and Wyle's mother, an actual ER nurse, telling him she really believed his character on The Pitt, him saying "mom, I played an ER doctor for over a decade before that, remember" and her replying "no, you were Superman in a lab coat for a decade, Robby is what ER doctors actually live like."

>>214260326
The job I currently have (not medicine), at my interview I literally ripped off Carter's "I'm smart and can help people" line. I owe Noah a beer because this marks my 26th year in it.

>>214254002 (OP)
Because it was a fun medical procedural, not a soap opera.

>>214261188
>ER
>not a soap opera

>>214254002 (OP)
>What makes it different than the countless other boring-ass hospital set soap opera-ish shitty dramas
It was created by the greatest American author, and arguably the greatest author of the 20th century period, Michael Crichton.

>>214261315
The soap elements were in the background to flesh out the characters, the prime focus was always on the medical procedural storytelling.