As ER gets ready to air its final episode on April 2, 2009 after a very successful fifteen year run, Warner Bros. recently released the complete tenth season of the multi-Emmy Award winning show. Created by the late novelist Michael Crichton (who was also a physician), ER is NBC’s second longest-running drama (after Law & Order), and at 15 seasons, the longest-running American primetime medical drama of all time. Though the series won five Emmys, Ten Golden Globes and scored several nominations, ER will likely be best remembered by some observers as the show that launched George Clooney’s movie career.
George Clooney aside, a lot was going on during the 2003-2004 season, both inside and outside of County General Hospital. As the season begins, Carter (Noah Wylie) returns from Africa only to learn that Abby (Maura Tierney) is less than thrilled to see him. When Carter gets a call that Luka (Goran Visnjic) is dead, he decides to return to the Congo to retrieve his body, despite Abby’s pleas for him to stay with her. Luckily for Carter, when he gets to Africa, it turns out that Luka is alive but ill. When Luka returns to the states, Carter decides to stay in Africa and gives his friend a “Dear John” letter to deliver to Abby.
The tenth season introduced us to medical student Neela Rasgotra (Parminder Nagra), who arrived via India from London. Talented but demure, she arrived as the ER was undergoing extensive renovations and is largely unnoticed. The exception was Dr. Michael Gallant (Sharif Atkins) who tried to help her through a fairly rough start at the hospital. Also this season, Nurse Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) resumes the training to become a doctor that she had put on hold several years before. During the tenth season she completed her final year of training and at the end of the season, graduated from medical school with Neela.
ER wouldn’t be ER without a healthy share of crisis and sadness; the tenth season is no exception. In “Freefall” one of the seasons best episodes long time head of the ER, Dr. Robert “Rocket” Romano (Paul McCrane), has the ultimate bad day. A helicopter crashes on the roof, falling into the ambulance bay where it lands on Romano and causes a huge explosion. This turns out to be a stroke of luck for Dr. Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) and Dr. Archie Morris (Scott Grimes), because Romano had just fired Pratt and caught Morris smoking weed in the ambulance bay. While Dr. Susan Weaver (Sherry Stringfield), does suffer some internal injuries, she will recover. This all happens on thanksgiving, no less! ER always had a knack for turning holidays into disasters.
On the happier side of things, in “NICU” Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) and her partner Sandy Lopez (Lisa Vidal) have a baby son named Henry. I thought that was an interesting storyline but felt the producers took the easy, tragic way out just six episodes later, with, “Where There’s Smoke.” Sandy Lopez dies after going into a fire in an abandoned warehouse. Kerry is devastated; even more so when Sandy’s family won’t let her see Henry. As a result, weaver must prepare for a custody battle. I thought the show would have been more interesting if the producers had kept Sandy alive and the audience was given the opportunity to watch them raise their son.
Despite some missteps, the tenth season of ER remained one of the most intriguing and entreating series on the air. The writing is strong and the acting is solid, even as characters come and go. Fans of the series will want to add ER: The Complete Tenth Season to their DVD collections today.
The series is presented in ‘matted’ widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of its original television exhibition enhanced for widescreen television. The video is quite clear and free of any digital artifacts that affect the viewing experience.
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English, Chinese and Portuguese.
ER: The Complete Tenth Season includes Outpatient Outtakes: Unaired Scenes and Cutups: Gag Reel.
