TVSquad

(S14E15) So, Neela.

We all know her. She's cute. She's smart. She has that lovely English accent. She draws every single man and woman into her universe with her mutant ability to make people fall in love with her (Professor X, I hope you're aware of this). We just haven't seen much of her this season. Well, except for the season premiere, but even then she was unconscious for most of the episode. Perhaps the producers decided to give Ms. Rasgotra a break this season after the whole Dubenko/Gates/Ray love triangle took up a good portion of last season. That was corrected this episode as we finally had an episode that put some focus on the good doctor after a 24-hour shift.

Why focus on her after such a long session? To show her screwing up, of course.

(S14E13) Before I begin, a big shout out to Jen Creer for filling in on last week's ER episode, which featured the swan song of Abby Lockhart, or not, or, you know...whatever. Don't get me wrong, I like Abby. I just can't take the incessant whining about how bad she is all of the time. I thought we got past it all when Baby Joe was born. But, I guess the producers decided that P.I.T.A (Pain In the Ass) Abby was better for ratings than happy Abby. Ah, always reading the pulse of the viewer!

This week's episode was exciting because we saw the return of Doug Ross and Carol Hathaway. Well, in the guise of Tony Gates and Sam Taggart, that is. I'm sure older fans of the series have seen this relationship coming for a few weeks now and I'm surprised the producers and writers of ER didn't do it sooner. It's pretty logical when you think about it. They're both good looking (although John Stamos has looked a bit haggard these last few episodes), they are both above average in skills in the positions they hold, and they have that I-hate-you-but-I-really-love-you vibe going on. Plus, they're just so darn cute together.

Gallery: ER

(S14E12) "Were you ever drunk at work?"-- Sam to Abby

Good evening, and thank you for flying TV Squad. We know you have many choices in which television reviews you read, and we appreciate your clickage. Our regularly scheduled attendant Rich Keller is unavailable this evening, so I will be serving up complimentary opinions and maybe even a little snark. Truthiness is $5. We appreciate correct change. So, sit right back and let's get started.

Gallery: ER

(S14E08) "David Beckham is a wanker!" -- Archie Morris

The producers of ER certainly didn't go halvsies with the quick decline of Abby Lockhart. Getting drunk, sleeping with her new boss, leaving the baby sitter at her house until three a.m., taking Joe to the airport at the same time in the morning to see Luka in Croatia. Heck, I'm surprised that she didn't rob a liquor store with a sawed-off or, God forbid, run for political office.

Luckily, the calming influence of one Luka Kovac has returned to Chicago to get the demons that control Abby back into submission.

Gallery: ER

(S14E07) "All this wasted energy is seriously inflating my carbon footprint!"-- Archie Morris

Welcome to Green Week on NBC. If you watched the whole NBC lineup tonight, you have noticed that they all have to work in some kind of environmental theme. My name is Jen, and I'll be our cruise director this evening, because Rich Keller is off saving polar bears in the Antarctic.

The ER is experiencing a heat wave and brownouts, which brings everyone to the ER with heatstroke and stupid injuries as they try to fix their air conditioning at home.

Gallery: ER

(S14E05) Let's start this week's review of ER with a few introductions and welcomes.

First, we welcome Harold Zelinsky to the recurring character list of ER. Harold is Neela's new surgical intern and he is a bit of a mystery. He says he's twenty-five but the ER staff at County General isn't convinced. Only a pissed-off Abby can find out how old he really is, which is nineteen. This child prodigy began college when he was only twelve after getting a perfect score on his SATs. If that isn't a ringing endorsement of home-schooling I don't know what is.

Gallery: ER

(S14E02) Bernie, this is God. Hurry up, wilya! -- Dr. Moretti, addressing a drunk in the ER who thinks he is about to die.

Before we begin I'd like to speak to the promotions department over at NBC. Are you listening? Good. Come a bit closer to the computer screen so you can carefully hear what I am about to say . . .

No. More. Coming. Attractions.

Seriously, the previews that you create to showcase the next week's airing of ER are just out-and-out lies. The case that you focused on for this week, the one where the young, Hispanic gentleman is discovered to have a nice bullet hole in his lower back, wasn't even the main story in on the show. Heck, the man-boy and the teacher he was sleeping with had more attention paid to it! No more, please. Either retire all of those flashy production tools you have or put them to better use.

Whew! I feel better now. Let's go ahead with this week's review.

(S14E01) So, here we are.

After 13 years, numerous cast changes, various relationships, and a number of staff deaths, we come to what will probably be the final season of NBC's medical drama ER. This show has come a long way since Doctors Greene, Lewis, Benton, Carter, and Ross (and Nurse Hathaway) entered our Thursday nights. Some of the journey has been rocky (Season 7 was one of the rockiest, in my honest opinion). But, for the most part the trip has been a very good one.

(S13E23)

Dammit! ER blindsided me again! A few months ago they did it when Dr. Weaver resigned from County General. And now, in the the 13th season finale, they did it again with Ray Barnett. From the previews on last week's show we knew that Neela was going to find Ray in another hospital, so that wasn't a surprise. But, when he rolled his wheelchair to face her, well . . . Holy Crap!

(S13E19) Even after 13 seasons and 285 (!) episodes ER can still get to me once in awhile. There will be that one storyline, that one character, that will just hit a raw spot with me and generate a overwhelming feeling of sadness of sympathy. This week's episode had one of those story lines.

It involved a son, who never took care of himself and was dying of heart failure, and his father, who was well into his bout with Alzheimer's Disease. As the episode progressed the son died with the father there to watch. His reaction to his son's death was a bit heart-wrenching to watch. Maybe it's because I have a young son of my own and I would never want to be in a situation where I watch him die before my very eyes.

(S13E18) Now, where were we? I think the last time we visited County General Dr. Carter was just returning to the emergency room after a near-fatal stabbing from a patient, while Carol Hathaway was fighting growing feelings for new doc Luka Kovac. Meanwhile, Dr. Greene was dealing with his father, who was dying of terminal cancer.

What? Those things happened seven seasons ago? Well, its just been so long since we've seen a new episode of ER that I just plum forgot what happened on the last new episode (even though I wrote a review on it and could've gone back to re-read it. I'm so silly!). Good news here is that ER is back with all new episodes for the rest of the season, which will probably culminate somewhere along the way with the marriage of Kovac and Abby Lockhart. In the meantime there's plenty of story to tell.

So, let's stop jibber-jabbering and get on with it.

(S13E17) What is it with the doctors of County General and their fathers? Other than maybe Dr. Lewis' dad all of the other fathers introduced on this show have had something wrong with them. Dr. Greene's father was a hard-ass, Dr. Carter's was cold and, possibly, an alcoholic. Pratt had an issue with his dad and Abby's father abandoned her. Now, we are introduced to another troubled patriarch . . . Mike, father to Tony Gates. I know it's hard to raise kids (I have four myself and routinely roll up into a fetal position and cry my eyes out), but the fathers on ER are downright losers.

By the way, the theme of this week's show . . . Fathers (and one mother). Pretty ironic, don't you think?

(S13E15 / S13E16) Since I was away last Thursday and ER wasn't covered I decided to review both this and the previous week's shows. And, as there's much to cover let's get started right away.

If you were to sum up last week's episode I would have to say it was all about living life and taking chances. There were two main stories: one about a comedian whose chance at stardom is shot down by cancer, and another about Greg Pratt's survival as a doctor while appearing before the medical board. The comedian's plight really got to me, more than the usual patient that comes into the Emergency Room. Here was a guy who struggled to get to Chicago, home to some of the best comedy clubs in the nation, only to get side-tracked by a life-ending illness. I thought about myself when I watched that. Here I am, husband, father of four, TV Squad poster extraordinaire, currently embarking on an Improv career that will one day, hopefully, get me out of my little cubicle world. Like that patient my world could be turned upside-down just like that (insert snapping finger noise here).

What surprised me the most about this story line was the reactions of the doctors that treated him. Abby, who has been known to stay the course when making a diagnosis, was trying everything to get her patient to the comedy club. Archie Morris, who you would think would be propping the guy up on a stretcher to get him to the gig, was extremely conservative to the point that he was actually at odds with Abby's decision. I was a bit shocked at Morris' reaction . . . our little red-headed boy is growing up right before our eyes.

(S13E14) Lots of cliffhangers to resolve this week. Let's get right to it!

Luka, Abby and Curtis Ames -- Remember Forrest Whitaker in Good Morning, Vietnam? Gosh, he was so sweet and innocent as Private Garlick. Just think back to that, because Curtis Ames is in no way sweet in his final appearance on ER (and I'm not going to tell you why it's his last episode). In fact, I would have to say he is down right crazed, even more so than Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh, the role Whittaker plays on The Shield.

(S13E13) I think ER may have reached a record here. I've lost count, but this could be the five millionth time that the staff at County General have encountered a pair of step-brothers whose father only loves one and not the other. And, the six millionth time that the father seemed to be a bastard. Also, unless I'm mistaken, this is the infinity plus one time that a doctor has confronted that parent and told them, in no uncertain terms, that he was an a**hole. It goes back to the very first days of the show when Dr. Ross (the dashing and dapper George Clooney) would berate a parent at least once an episode.

Man, I've been watching this show too long! This week, the Ray-Neela-Gates love triangle continues, Pratt is in trouble with the law, Abby discovers why Eddie is really in Chicago, and Laura Innes says good-bye to ER.

So, what are you dawdling around for? Let's get going!