Farewell, ER!

Yes, I do have a pair of movies that I was able to see this weekend, which I will be posting about later. And yes, it is the start of the baseball season and I have to make my horrendous selections.

But, ER closed its doors for the last time on Thursday and I thought it deserved a small blog today.


ER began way back in 1994 with the likes of George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle, Noah Wyle, Julianna Margulies, Sherry Stringfield and William H. Macey patrolling the hallways. Not a single one was still around Chicago's County General, even though Wyle returned in a brief stint as the season concluded.

This show began when I was just 13 years old and has been on more than half my life - 15 years. I have to admit, I didn't watch each and every season. I believe I started watching the show and had a pretty large gap somewhere in the middle before finishing up with probably the last 5-or-6 seasons.

A lot of people say the show sort was a "spin-off" in itself as members of the original cast slowly left and were filled in with other cast members. But, in my opinion, it is sort of like a real ER - not very often do you have the same exact doctors and nurses aroudn for 15 years. There are bound to be new people, and ER continued on just like if nothing had changed.

The finale on Thursday proved that the most, as we said goodbye to the show, the show showed us that these people will continue on - without us. There were many subtle hints that reminisced about shows in the past - including the arrival of a new Dr. Greene, as Mark's daughter Rachel is all grown up and about to become a Med student.

There was no wedding, birth or funeral for everyone to come back to - the hospital wasn't closing. The finale brought back a handful of people from the original cast as Dr. Carter opened up the Carter Institute - and the ER continued on as usual behind the scenes.

I may not have stuck with the show through its entire run, but I was around for most of it. And I can tell you this, it will be very difficult not seeing it in its regular 10 p.m. slot on Thursday nights.

Thanks for the run.