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The "er" finale
Apr. 2nd, 2009 11:32 pmWe watched the last episode of "er" tonight on NBC. It reminded me of the best finale of all time, M*A*S*H.
I wasn't planning to watch...I gave up on the show years ago when Carter stopped being around most of the time. And they had a three-hour thing planned. But N. convinced me to give it a try. We were devotees of the show for almost 10 years, and even participated in the show's Usenet group. It could be neat to see how they finished it.
There was a retrospective hour at 8 pm, like a DVD extra with scenes and the cast reminiscing, laughing and crying. It was cool how they let actors who've been gone for years have a big part of it like Anthony Edwards or Eriq LaSalle. I hadn't realized that Spielberg was in on it. It was so good to see so many of the people I remembered. I knew who all but a couple of them had played. I had forgotten how young Carter was when he started. They show many of the moments I remembered...and seeing Dr. Greene's last advice to his daughter can still make me cry. I'll never forget our minister at the time admitting that she'd prayed for him when he got sick. And there was a sadness that Crichton died the same year the show ended. It was odd to see Jorja Fox who is her CSI character to me now, and remember her regular doc role there. And to see "unknowns" like Mariska Hargitay, so central to Law&Order:SVU now, in bit parts. It also made me remember that camera techniques and story tricks that we see all the time now were pioneered by the crew on that show.
Then there was the two hour finale. They patterned it after the pilot, so it had the old charming mixture of medical work and soap opera drama, with pinches of laughter and nostalgia thrown in. Lots of familiar faces appeared, and there was lots of Carter. I thought they did a great job of paying homage to the past, showing the present, and hinting about the future. It was a worthy ending.
I wasn't planning to watch...I gave up on the show years ago when Carter stopped being around most of the time. And they had a three-hour thing planned. But N. convinced me to give it a try. We were devotees of the show for almost 10 years, and even participated in the show's Usenet group. It could be neat to see how they finished it.
There was a retrospective hour at 8 pm, like a DVD extra with scenes and the cast reminiscing, laughing and crying. It was cool how they let actors who've been gone for years have a big part of it like Anthony Edwards or Eriq LaSalle. I hadn't realized that Spielberg was in on it. It was so good to see so many of the people I remembered. I knew who all but a couple of them had played. I had forgotten how young Carter was when he started. They show many of the moments I remembered...and seeing Dr. Greene's last advice to his daughter can still make me cry. I'll never forget our minister at the time admitting that she'd prayed for him when he got sick. And there was a sadness that Crichton died the same year the show ended. It was odd to see Jorja Fox who is her CSI character to me now, and remember her regular doc role there. And to see "unknowns" like Mariska Hargitay, so central to Law&Order:SVU now, in bit parts. It also made me remember that camera techniques and story tricks that we see all the time now were pioneered by the crew on that show.
Then there was the two hour finale. They patterned it after the pilot, so it had the old charming mixture of medical work and soap opera drama, with pinches of laughter and nostalgia thrown in. Lots of familiar faces appeared, and there was lots of Carter. I thought they did a great job of paying homage to the past, showing the present, and hinting about the future. It was a worthy ending.
