The
lifesavers on NBC's ''ER'' (Thurs. 10 p.m.) are undergoing a medical
emergency of their own. With series staple Anthony Edwards (Dr. Mark
Greene) preparing to vacate Cook County General later this season, the
show is scrambling to find the right doc to don his scrubs even as other
cast members make for the exit... or at least try to. In a surprising
move, producers recently flip-flopped on the farewell of longtimer Eriq
La Salle (Dr. Peter Benton), deciding to bring the actor back for more
episodes after airing his swan song Dec. 13. They've also enlisted Mekhi
Phifer (''O''), who'll scrub in beginning April 4.
But
the upcoming changes (and reversals) are just the latest symptoms to
plague ''ER.'' Since hitting a ratings peak four years ago, the show's
numbers have declined by 25 percent, and many fans feel the series has
been malingering for months, emphasizing over-the-top drama instead of
compelling storylines. ''Eight years is just a long time for a hospital
show,'' says Jon Hein, creator of jumptheshark.com, a website that
determines the point when hit TV shows begin losing steam. ''And
'ER' has covered so many of the clichés you see on dying shows, such as
Dr. Knight's murder and Dr. Weaver's lesbian plotline, I wouldn't be
surprised to see [''Love Boat'' star] Ted McGinley guest star on a very
special episode soon.''
The
show certainly isn't flatlining for lack of histrionics. In the last
three seasons Dr. Greene alone has weathered his father's death, a
marriage, a birth, a brain tumor, a petulant teenager, and most recently
his infant daughter's accidental Ecstasy overdose. It's a parade of pain
that might better fit a well-coifed doc on ''General Hospital.'' But
that doesn't mean Edwards' departure will be a welcome one. ''Since
George Clooney and Julianna Margulies left, Anthony Edwards had really
become the stable, sympathetic center of the show,'' says casting
director Billy Hopkins (''The Shipping News''). ''And when he leaves,
there isn't really anyone left who can fill those shoes.''
Though
the show hasn't suffered from its revolving door casting in the past, it
may be less resilient this year. The recent exits of Erik Palladino,
Michael Michele, and the on-again-off-again La Salle have left the
usually overcrowded ensemble short-handed, while those who remain have
been either sidelined or saddled with unflattering storylines.
This season Alex Kingston's Dr. Corday was transformed from blushing
bride to evil stepmother, while Ming-Na's Dr. Chen was reduced to a
thorn in the side of Laura Innes' already prickly Dr. Weaver. ''Goran
Visnjic [Dr. Luka Kovac] had potential to be the next Clooney, but now
his character is just irritating,'' says Hopkins, citing the doctor's
less-than-charming dalliance with a French thief (Julie Delpy) and his
break-up with Nurse Lockhart (Maura Tierney). ''And why bring back
Sherry Stringfield and barely use her?''
Hope
for season nine may lie with one of the show's few remaining original
players: Noah Wyle and his once wide-eyed, now seasoned Dr. Carter. But
even though Wyle, who's nine years younger than Edwards, has proven
himself as a mature romantic lead with current on-screen flame
Stringfield, he may lack the gravitas to serve as the wise man of the
hospital ward. ''You need someone like Alex Rieger on 'Taxi,' who
everyone took their problems to,'' says Hein. ''Unless Dr. Romano [Paul
McCrane] has a head injury and becomes a nice guy, they really need to
bring in someone new.''
Though
Dr. Greene will be tough to replace, his goodbye could open up some
opportunities for the show. With fans growing tired of the
overwrought personal dramas of the hospital staff, writers could revisit
the medical traumas that hooked audiences in the first place. '''ER'
fails to come anywhere near reality in terms of showing the types of
bizarre, poignant and different cases that are seen in real ERs,'' says
Kevin Pezzi, a former ER physician and author of ''Believe It or Not!
True Emergency Room Stories.'' ''What we've seen on the show is
stereotyped, and I can't believe they aren't touching on some of the
other topics out there.''
Pezzi
recalls ER patients complaining of everything from bad perms to
crack-induced sexual dysfunction. Focusing on patients, he suggests,
would allow the show to lose the incestuous storylines in which doctors
take their pregnancies (Drs. Chen and Corday) and other maladies to Cook
County. ''If anything, a real doctor steers clear of his local hospital,
because you don't want your staff to know intimate things about you,''
he says. Pezzi also suggests that dating on the job, an ''ER'' staple,
not only limits the number of new characters for the show to explore but
is also far from reality. ''Not only do you not want to talk shop all
the time,'' he says, ''but your interactions with the staff are so
intense, you don't want to complicate things any further.''
Okay, enough
venting. No matter what changes may come next
season, ''ER'' will remain open (the top 10 show is contracted to run on
NBC until 2004), and more power to it. While the show has
lost a beat, it remains one of TV's healthier specimens. ''There's still
nothing like it on the air,'' says media analyst Paul Schulman of
Advanswers PHD. ''It's a fast moving,
well-produced and well-written show that squeezes an hour and a half of
drama into an hour, and you can't dismiss that.''
