ER Still a Dramatic Powerhouse

ER has become one of the most popular dramas in the history of television, not only for its challenging content but the true-life situations that make a hospital a place of intrigue. Since its debut in 1994, creator Michael Crichton has taken the viewer on a journey that explores one of the places few people ever get to see. Every week the audience allowed a glimpse into the hardships, trials, joys and rewards of being on staff with the ill, the recovering, the dying, and of course the occasional hypochondriac all of whom make up the motley gang of everyday emergency room patients.

ER has won numerous awards from the television and medical communities and has stood the test of time in the ever-changing world of television. Most importantly, however, is its ability to make the viewer feel connected to every character week after week. Yes, the show can at times be seen as another soap opera set in a hospital, but one must look past that and see the key relationship foundations being built, whether good or bad, that present in every life.

In the last thirteen season's ER has made the public more aware of real medical issues without using them as simple filler space for a one hour show. Bringing to light such topics as spousal abuse, AIDS, cancer screeners, Alzheimer's and other medical plights have forced the audience to confront not only the reality of life, but its fragility as well (which is evident as the writers have chosen to never down play the loss of life, a moment that has played itself out hundreds of times on the show). The actors have always worked to make every case, every situation, and every death feel so real that no viewer can walk away without being moved in some way.

Over the past few seasons ER has begun to stray away from the confines of County General and has branched out further into the lives of the doctors and nurses. Dr. Luka Kovac works to balance career with his wife, Dr. Abby Lockhart-Kovac while raising their son Joe the best way they know how. Dr. Neela Rasgotra fights to become a top surgeon while fighting discrimination put forth by her immediate supervisor. And Dr. Tony Gates, former Iraq War veteran, struggles become an attending and mend relationships brought up by his past.

Through these characters the audience is forced to consider and reflect on the choices they are given in their own lives. This is what makes ER still one of the best dramas- telling the human story, in its purest and honest form.