Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

ER Checks Out Tonight

Critics, fans, brace for last episode tonight

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 2, 2009 10:54 AM CDT

(Newser) – After 15 seasons, viewers will make their final trip to County General Hospital tonight in the series finale of ER. Critics and fans are reflecting on the groundbreaking show:

  • Mixing “medical triumph” with “personal angst,” ER “may have begun as a show about salvation, but it became a show about the near impossibility of salvation—a show less about healing than about damage,” writes Neal Gabler in the Los Angeles Times.

  • Fans writing to Slate agree that “the show exhausted the standard emergency-room plots in its first decade or so, but its three-dimensional characters kept viewers coming back.”
  • Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times observes that ER’s final hours have been underscored by “creators’ fear of oblivion,” echoed onscreen as characters fade from importance.
  • Writing in the New York Daily News, David Hinckley pulls for a positive but not "gooey" wrap-up. “I want the show to end like ER, not like a Hallmark movie.”

Actors Linda Cardellini, left, and John Stamos are seen while filming an episode of ER on set in Burbank, Calif. on Friday, April 25, 2008.
Actors Linda Cardellini, left, and John Stamos are seen while filming an episode of "ER" on set in Burbank, Calif. on Friday, April 25, 2008.   (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
In this undated image released by NBC, Anthony Edwards is shown in character as Dr. Mark Greene from the NBC series, ER.
In this undated image released by NBC, Anthony Edwards is shown in character as Dr. Mark Greene from the NBC series, "ER."   (AP Photo/NBC, Paul Drinkwater)
In this Oct. 20, 1998 file photo, cast members cut a cake celebrating the 100th episode of the NBC series ER.
In this Oct. 20, 1998 file photo, cast members cut a cake celebrating the 100th episode of the NBC series "ER."   (AP Photo/Rene Macura)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
"Today" bids adieu to ER.   (MSNBC)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

More Newser Stories

Smash Opens to Rave Reviews

Coming Soon: Real Dunder Mifflin Paper

NBC's Ratings Keep Sinking

Lights Out for Playboy Club

Breaking Bad Gets Final Season


NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne