abbylockhart

Yeah, you read it right. This will be season 14 of NBC's ER, and probably its last. There were rumors that the show would be renewed for another two years, but they never came to fruition.

Last season brought a number of changes to the Emergency Room over at County General. We were introduced to John Stamos as Tony Gates and Busy Philips as Hope Bobeck and said good-bye to Laura Innes as she left the series and her role as Kerry Weaver. By the end of the season we saw Luka Kovac leave his role as ER chief to be replaced by the more intense Dr. Kevin Moretti (played by Stanley Tucci), Ray Barnett lose both legs to a car accident, and Neela (our favorite object of attention) being trampled upon during a peace rally gone bad

Want to know what will happen to your favorite docs during the (supposed) last season of ER? Well, you can find out after the jump. Oh, by the way . . . .SPOILER WARNING!!!! You have been duly alerted.

(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!

(S13E20) Lights out. A-ha. Blast, blast, blast!

Oh, hello there. Didn't see you come in. I must admit you caught me singing. See, the title of this week's ER reminded me of Lights Out, the Peter Wolf song from the early 1980's. That, of course, reminds me of Wolf's former band,the J. Geils Band, which reminds me of their song Centerfold, which reminds me of MTV. That reminds me of how sucky MTV has become.

But, we're not here to talk about the glory days of a music-video channel. We're here to talk about this week's episode, which was another good one. Really, this has been a solid season for this classic medical drama. If they decided to pull the plug on the show at the end of this season I would feel quite satisfied that they left on an up note. Luckily, we have at least one more season of the show to enjoy before it goes to the Eternal Land of Syndication. In the meantime, let's talk about what went on this time around.

(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.

(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.

(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!

(S13E12) Well, that was unexpected.

Laura Innes' character, Doctor Kerry Weaver, wasn't in many episodes over the last few years, but it looked like she was coming back into the normal ER fold. It started late last season when the issues with her degenerative hip condition were resolved, allowing her to walk freely without the need of a crutch. Then, after preventing Kovac from getting fired, she was demoted back down to the ER as a mere attending. She became a medical reporter for a local Chicago news broadcast, and she began dating her segment producer. Things were looking up for Kerry.

Now, it looks like she's leaving for good.

(S13E10) A few weeks ago one of our avid readers (may have been my brother, actually) said I should mention the radical change that Kerry Weaver has gone through this season. She's a kinder, more gentle Kerry that is on the screen now; a radical change from the authoritative, power-hungry doctor she was since she stepped into County General during the second season. It could be that her recent hip replacement, along with her son, have made her realize that there is more to life then being someone who rules over others. And the fear of homosexuality back in the sixth season? Well, that is completely and totally gone, as seen this week when Kerry snogged the producer of her television segments.

With that out of the way, let's get to the bulk of this week's review.

(S13E09) I'm with my brother Joel about new programming during Thanksgiving. Out of all the holidays we celebrate Thanksgiving should be the one that never has new episodes, even if it falls in the heart of the November sweeps. Why? Well, after ingesting so much sleep-inducing food it's hard to concentrate. If anything, Thanksgiving evenings should be reserved for three-hour long historical-period movies that feature plenty of silent scenes. You know, so you can get some sleep.

Okay, whining over, let's discuss this week's 'ER Event'.

(S13E08) Greetings, all you ER-heads! Just a quick note of clarification. Last week's review was mislabeled as episode six. It was actually number seven of the 13th season of ER. We are now back on track with the numbering.

Now that business is out of the way, let's bound ahead with this week's review. I would label this as a standard episode. Nothing earth-shattering occurred, no huge character developments. Just another episode to move the season along. Not to say it wasn't good, because it was. I guess you could say it was a placeholder episode, taking a breath before something bigger occurs.

Let's highlight a few important points, shall we? First, the plot with the homeless boy who comes in with rabies. Maybe I'm wrong, but it felt very mythical. Almost Lord of the Rings-like. There was the 'Blue Lady' with the secret name who was the heroine, and the 'Blood-Face Lady' who was the villain. Heck, with all of his curly hair the boy named Teller looked like a young Frodo Baggins. I wonder if we'll see those kids again in a future episode.

(S13E04) Could we have finally turned the corner here? After so many mediocre seasons of ER with rotating doctors, uncompleted storylines, and the constant moping of Abby and Sam, is the series back on track? Well, after watching this week's episode, which I thought was the best of this season so far, I would say yes.

Okay, NBC says yes as well, because they decided not to interrupt the show's run for three months in order to air The Black Donnellys. Sure, you can contribute the show's resurgence to weaker competition (Shark on CBS and Six Degrees on ABC), but I also think it's due to the gelling of the cast after last season's adjustment period. Oh, and of course the addition of John Stamos as the new Dr. Ross probably didn't hurt either. I just hope they stay on track this season and not veer too far off into personal stories. The name of the show is ER and it should take place in the ER.

Okay, my rant is done. Let's get going with this week's review.

(S13E02) Before we begin this week I wanted to address something a commenter mentioned about Luka's violent outburst in last week's season premiere. The commenter criticized him for acting in that way because Abby could only provide one child to him due to her emergency hysterectomy. I actually don't think that was the reason.

Think about it. He had already lost two other children to war. His reaction wasn't due to Abby's operation, but rather to the feeling that he was going to lose another young child. Plus, add the fact that the mother of his child was injured, the stress of what he endured during Samantha's kidnapping, and watching his premature son hooked up to all of the lines and tubes, and he had to vent his frustration somewhere. At least he did it on a bathroom mirror.

There, now I feel better. Onward and upward to this week's review. (Warning, there are minor spoilers after the jump if you haven't seen this week's episode).

(S13E01) Denny Crane.

Whoops, sorry, wrong review. Let's try this name . . . Abby Lockhart. Ah, much better. Of course, if we are mentioning the perpetually unlucky Abby we must be talking about the veteran medical drama ER. Yes sir, the NBC drama is still on the air and about to start its 13th season. There have been plenty of ups and downs, and all of the original season one cast have gone on their merry way, but the show still gets the ratings.

Thank God summer is almost over! Not because it was so hot, or that vacation driving pushed the price of a gallon of gas above three dollars, or that I used my air conditioner so much that the graph of electric usage took up two pages of my monthly bill. No, I'm glad summer is almost over because I'm tired of watching America's Got Talented Dancing With the Stars Who Want to be Supernovas while the Last Comic Stands With The One. In other words, bring on the new television season, dammit! So, without further ado, here are my five fall picks for the 2005-2006 season.

1. More season finales, less series finales: Over the last three seasons a number of good television shows left the airwaves for a life in syndication and DVD box sets. I'm talking about shows like Friends, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, West Wing, Alias, Malcolm in the Middle, Arrested Development, Will & Grace and of course Joey. This left plenty of open slots in network schedules that had to be filled. Sometimes a network like ABC got lucky and hit with the right shows at the right time. Other times you had networks like NBC struggling to find its place after losing many of its most popular shows (and revenue generators). Hopefully with this season things will calm down a bit. We know that The Sopranos is definitely leaving this season, and shows like 7th Heaven, The Shield and Gilmore Girls may hang it up come April or May, but I hope that's all the attrition we'll see.