Emergency Room (ER)

Production and year: USA, 1994–2009 Genre: medical drama Cast: George Clooney, Noah Wyle, Anthony Edwards, Laura Innes, Eriq La Salle, and many, many others Description: A true pioneer in the world of medical dramas! Undoubtedly one of the most popular series, it ran for a whopping 15 seasons, totaling 334 episodes! I’m almost certain there isn’t a single person who didn’t get swept up, even for a moment (a season or two), in the fates of the staff at the Chicago-based hospital and its patients. I myself followed the characters’ adventures for a few (or maybe a dozen?) seasons, though I never made it all the way to the end—thinking about it now, I don’t even know why. Fortunately, I can always go back to it, given that TV stations regularly rerun this unforgettable series. Interestingly, this is the only series so far that has depicted the lives of all hospital staff—doctors, nurses, administrative staff, technicians, and so on—in its stories, sometimes pushing strictly medical plotlines into the background. However, I consider this a strength of the series, as it shows that patients’ fates do not rest solely in the hands of doctors (as, for example, my favorite series House M.D. suggests, where doctors literally do everything in their practices). The series featured guest appearances by actors who were just starting their careers and whose names are now very well known to everyone.