Part of the deal that brought Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" to the big screen in 1993 was that Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment picked up the rights to a 1974 novel that Crichton wrote based on his experience as a medical student working in an emergency room.
In the fall of 1994, Amblin & WB sold ER to NBC, marking the network's return to medical drama since St. Elsewhere ended a few years earlier. The producers assembled an ensemble cast that, at first, was headed by Anthony Edwards (ex-Brideshead Revisited) and George Clooney (ex-The Facts of Life). This was the series that propelled Clooney into a lucrative movie career (he filmed "Batman & Robin" between seasons 3 & 4), though some of his movie choices weren't exactly the smartest.
The revolving door has also seen the likes of Angela Bassett, Noah Wyle, Linda Cardellini, Eriq LaSalle, and John Stamos pass through the doors of fictional County General in Chicago. In all, ER ran for 15 seasons on NBC, most of it anchoring the network's "Must-See TV" block.
Here's a sample open & close from the first season, featuring that kickin' theme song....
I've seen a few reruns when it aired on TNT. All I can say is that Dick Wolf's current Chicago Med has a hard act to follow.
Rating: A.
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