A long-running series that’s about to enter its final year can learn a lot from the last season of ER, which was recently released to DVD from Warner Home Video.
The show survived many cast changes and departures over the years, but for the series’ swan song, almost everyone who made the show great came back for one last time. That list of people even included George Clooney, who you’d think would be “too busy” but instead paid tribute to his roots. There are new additions – like Angela Bassett, whose character has ties to folks from ER’s past – and many faces like John Stamos and Linda Cardellini who had kept the emergency running in those final years. Noah Wyle, who was so young when the series started – appears in several episodes of the final season. And how did I forget that Alex Kingston – River Song herself – did ER? (She’s in two episodes of Season 15, and in the documentary.) Although a show like Smallville celebrated its history by bringing back familiar faces, it felt like ER did it in a much less forced and organic manner.
I admit, I’ve only scratched the surface of what this DVD has to offer, so if I sound like an ER virgin, I pretty much am. But I did watch several, and it seemed to be a good show, even in its 15th year. For those wanting to revisit the past, there’s a terrific documentary interviewing many cast members past and present.
Sound and picture quality are great but the packaging – like most recent WB releases – isn’t the greatest. The plastic holding the “pages” together inside broke, so I had a disc bouncing around the case. Not good.
All in all, I liked this. It made me want to see more, even though for 15 years I resisted. Hopefully you’ll have the same reaction if you choose to pick this set up. You can order your copy from Amazon.com at a discounted price and support this site!
