ER (DVD) Review

Nominated for 25 Golden Globes and 110 Emmys, including 7 for Outstanding Drama Series, ER has long been one of the best prime-time shows on television. Premiering in September 1994 on NBC, the hour-long hospital drama vividly illustrates the intensity and fast-paced stress endemic to hospital emergency rooms across America. Brought into being by Michael Crichton - famous Hollywood insider, novelist, and brains behind such films as Jurassic Park, Twister, and Timeline - ER fulfills its creator's ultimate vision (it took over a decade of pitching the show before network executives bit) for a close-to-life glimpse of the technology and the humanity omnipresent in the ER. Since its inception, many cast members have passed through the halls of ER, many of them having gone on to become big stars in Hollywood…

ER follows the exploits of a group of emergency room staff who work in a busy Chicago hospital. The show attempts to examine every detail of the ER experience. From the exhilaration of saving a life to the tedium caused by mountains of paperwork, all the highs and lows are covered. In the show's first year, a number of regular faces staffed the ER. Doctors Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), Douglas Ross (George Clooney), and Susan Lewis (Sherri Stringfield) were regulars in the ER along with Head Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) and Benton's medical student understudy (and later ER doctor), John Carter (Noah Wyle)… Any given episode tends to run multiple plot lines throughout the show, interweaving scenes in short snippets intended to heighten audience emotion and create the aura of a stress-laden atmosphere. The show's high drama, coupled with subplots of the staffers' personal lives and the display of cutting edge medical technology, combine to make ER one of most adrenaline-inducing programs in television history…

The ER DVD features a number of dramatic episodes including the series premiere "24 Hours" in which a long day in the ER is made longer when multiple casualties pour through the doors following the collapse of a building and medical students report for training (marking the first appearance for John Carter's character). Meanwhile, Dr. Benton performs a heart surgery normally reserved only for senior staff members while the staff is struck with a personal tragedy when Head Nurse Carol Hathaway is brought in following a suicide attempt… Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Blizzard" in which a major snowstorm first leads to an empty ER and then (following a 40-car pileup) one with overflowing capacity, and "House of Cards" in which, while trying to keep up with Carter, Deb nearly causes a patient's death…

Below is a list of episodes included on the ER (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (24 Hours: Part 1) Air Date: 09-19-1994
Episode 2 (24 Hours: Part 2) Air Date: 09-19-1994
Episode 3 (Day One) Air Date: 09-22-1994
Episode 4 (Going Home) Air Date: 09-29-1994
Episode 5 (Hit and Run) Air Date: 10-06-1994
Episode 6 (Into That Good Night) Air Date: 10-13-1994
Episode 7 (Chicago Heat) Air Date: 10-20-1994
Episode 8 (Another Perfect Day) Air Date: 11-03-1994
Episode 9 (9 ½ Hours) Air Date: 11-10-1994
Episode 10 (ER Confidential) Air Date: 11-17-1994
Episode 11 (Blizzard) Air Date: 12-08-1994
Episode 12 (The Gift) Air Date: 12-15-1994
Episode 13 (Happy New Year) Air Date: 01-05-1995
Episode 14 (Luck of the Draw) Air Date: 01-12-1995
Episode 15 (Long Day's Journey) Air Date: 01-19-1995
Episode 16 (Feb. 5, '95) Air Date: 02-02-1995
Episode 17 (Make of Two Hearts) Air Date: 02-09-1995
Episode 18 (The Birthday Party) Air Date: 02-16-1995
Episode 19 (Sleepless in Chicago) Air Date: 02-23-1995
Episode 20 (Love's Labor Lost) Air Date: 03-09-1995
Episode 21 (Full Moon, Saturday Night) Air Date: 03-30-1995
Episode 22 (House of Cards) Air Date: 04-06-1995
Episode 23 (Men Plan, God Laughs) Air Date: 04-27-1995
Episode 24 (Love Among the Ruins) Air Date: 05-04-1995
Episode 25 (Motherhood) Air Date: 05-11-1995
Episode 26 (Everything Old is New Again) Air Date: 05-18-1995