All Episodes Talk: What's Up Doc?

[jewel21]

6 hours ago, slasherboy said:

I liked Mark a lot, and am curious what it was about him that made you dislike him so much.  Not looking for an argument here, I promise, but I'm always interested when someone has a completely different opinion of a character than I do.

Today was the episode in which Mark went into Jeannie's personal file to find out she has HIV. As someone who never minded Mark, I really disliked him in this episode. I know he's upset about Susan leaving, but what he did was terrible.

[pieinmyeye]

I didn’t realize ER ran until 2008. Did it move to another network at some point?

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I'm really disliking how he behaved while he was being sued and the things he said. That was crunchy. PTSD or not, he certainly has and did demonstrate less-than-admirable qualities. Also what he was saying about the chick on drugs who popped out a baby in the bathroom and he didn't have Carol's back at all. 

I'm skipping the road trip to CA episode. 

[WendyCR72]

47 minutes ago, pieinmyeye said:

I didn’t realize ER ran until 2008. Did it move to another network at some point?

April 2009, actually, and nope. NBC all the way.

[voiceover]

6 hours ago, pieinmyeye said:

Don’t know how the bingo thing works

"Guest Star Bingo" consists of calling out "Before They Were Stars" actors or "How Do I Know Him?" actors.  You did it exactly right.

IIRC, the name of the game is a voiceover tm ?

[CarolMK]

I watched the storyline with Ray coming back, enjoyed it. Thought he and Neela would hook up but I'm not surprised he changed his mind about it.

I liked seeing Chaz in the ER, but didn't buy Mouris letting him do a procedure he wasn't ready for. That was scary.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Ahahaha, I'm watching the episode with the Tamagotchi. Takes me back!

 

Random pet peeve: I've noticed the most with Carter, since he's my favorite, but what's up with wearing a beanie that doesn't cover your ears? It looks weird. It's happened several times now with several of the dudes. 

[justduckey]

I’ve gotta say, with Abby gone it truly feels like a different show.  Wouldn’t have guessed that I’d end up missing Abby.  Would it have killed them to have Haleh as a nurse during some of these scenes?  Who are these new nurses. And quite frankly, who are all these new interns that I could not  care less about?

 

Not really enjoying season 15 thus far. Looking forward to all the returns of the original cast (except the one POP won’t let us see).  

 

Which episode brings back Benton and Reese?

[doodlebug]

35 minutes ago, justduckey said:

I’ve gotta say, with Abby gone it truly feels like a different show.  Wouldn’t have guessed that I’d end up missing Abby.  Would it have killed them to have Haleh as a nurse during some of these scenes?  Who are these new nurses. And quite frankly, who are all these new interns that I could not  care less about?

 

Not really enjoying season 15 thus far. Looking forward to all the returns of the original cast (except the one POP won’t let us see).  

 

Which episode brings back Benton and Reese?

Both of them are in the finale.  Benton is also in the elusive episode 19 where he has wonderful scenes with Carter which we are apparently not going to see.  That one also has the Doug and Carol scene.  This is apparently so that we can see more of the interns that none of us care about.

Flashback with Mark Greene in today's first episode

William H Macy as Morgenstern on Thursday's second eppy.

Carter returns first episode on Friday. He is there until the end, though I don't think he's in every episode.

Neela exits the show on Monday's first episode.  Last Dubenko appearance, too.

Abby appears by phone on Monday's first episode where we discover that moving to Boston hasn't improved her mothering skills.

Ray shows up one last time in episode 21, airing in the second hour on Monday.

The finale, in addition to Benton, Reese and Carter, has Kerry, Susan and Rachel Greene.  That episode was originally a two hour one, looks like it has been cut to 90 minutes.

Edited January 9, 2018 by doodlebug

[Earl Is Dead]

17 hours ago, voiceover said:

Also: Molly Price, who previously appeared on the Third Watch crossover ep, is the mom who may have injured her daughter.

Thank you! I knew she looked familiar but I was too lazy to IMDB it last night.  What a strange bit of recasting, since the Third Watch role she played was a pretty significant one.  

I really hope the Pop schedule is wrong but in case anyone doesn't know, you can get the episodes for $0.99 on i-tunes.  I succumbed to that last week when I forgot to set my DVR to see Pratt's death episode.  

Edited January 9, 2018 by Earl Is Dead

[justduckey]

12 hours ago, Zoe said:

They skip the episode on Pop's website too :\

Just checked the PopTV online schedule and for Monday they have 19/Old Times starting at 1:05 and ending with And in the End starting at 420!

 

Hopefully this is accurate and the DVR’s will adjust for this.

[absnow54]

I remember seeing the episode with Ray visiting when it first aired. But the one following it - very disappointed in Neela. As soon as Ray leaves she’s out getting drunk with that gross Australian dr?

Knowing how Neela's story ends, I really don't get what the writers were doing by bringing Ray back so early in the season, only to throw her back into a thing with Brenner an episode later. Then again, I'm just so turned off by Brenner that every hint at his redemption has me immediately tuning out (like, "oh, he's so nice to that intern he screwed over a few episodes ago. What a great guy!" *gag*)

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, absnow54 said:

Knowing how Neela's story ends, I really don't get what the writers were doing by bringing Ray back so early in the season, only to throw her back into a thing with Brenner an episode later. Then again, I'm just so turned off by Brenner that every hint at his redemption has me immediately tuning out (like, "oh, he's so nice to that intern he screwed over a few episodes ago. What a great guy!" *gag*)

Brenner's entire story arc is a waste of time.  I think they were kinda trying to replicate Doug Ross' transformation except in a third the time with an actor with half the charisma.  Brenner was introduced as a misogynistic jerk who only got the job because his uncle pulled some strings.  He then changes for no apparent reason; maybe Neela has a magic vagina?  At least in Doug's case, we saw the reasons he wanted to change and watched the evolution over time.  Neela looks like a fool for sleeping with him the first time, let alone going back for more. 

I think the reason they brought Ray back earlier in the season only to have him decide not to pursue her is twofold. 1.  Shane West was available and probably came cheap, his career was hardly thriving and 2. they'd run out of ideas and were no longer capable of writing with any subtlety or nuance; stuff just happened sort of randomly until they decided they were done and wrapped it up with no thought as to how interesting or logical any of it was.

Edited January 9, 2018 by doodlebug

[absnow54]

Yeah, I agree, it was pretty obvious that they were trying to make Brenner the new Doug (well Luka was the replacement Doug, and Brenner was the replacement Luka) but they already had Gates who was kind of filling the role (they even had him date Sam who was the replacement Nurse Abby, who was the replacement Carol...) so Brenner felt kind of pointless. How early into Season 15 did they know it would be their last season?

[doodlebug]

3 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

Yeah, I agree, it was pretty obvious that they were trying to make Brenner the new Doug (well Luka was the replacement Doug, and Brenner was the replacement Luka) but they already had Gates who was kind of filling the role (they even had him date Sam who was the replacement Nurse Abby, who was the replacement Carol...) so Brenner felt kind of pointless. How early into Season 15 did they know it would be their last season?

It was announced even before the season began. 

[slasherboy]

14 hours ago, jewel21 said:

Today was the episode in which Mark went into Jeannie's personal file to find out she has HIV. As someone who never minded Mark, I really disliked him in this episode. I know he's upset about Susan leaving, but what he did was terrible.

I agree that what he did was totally inappropriate and unforgivable, but I still liked Mark, just not what Mark did.  Thanks for replying.

[slasherboy]

On 1/8/2018 at 4:35 PM, MVFrostsMyPie said:

I will try to slow down. And valid question - TBH there's just something about his personality that rubs me the wrong way. I liked him okay in season 1 and he's not annoying alll the time, but I think season 3 has really reminded me that he gets on my nerves. If I can figure out what it specifically is that ticks me off, I'll let you know :)

Also, any time he has sex scenes or making out scenes, they're beyond unsexy. Like, cringe-worthy

MVFrostsMyPie, I couldn't agree more about Mark's sex scenes.  I literally muted them and would look away, glancing back occasionally to see if it was over yet.  That all day sex marathon with his wife (can't remember her name) was horrible!  I appreciate your response, and hope you'll add to it if anything else comes to mind.

 

On 1/8/2018 at 4:37 PM, pieinmyeye said:

It skips on DirectTv too. Just damn!,

Don’t know how the bingo thing works, but Gregg Henry aka Mitchum Huntsburger is on today’s second episode.

PieInMyEye, I was going to comment on the bingo thing, but someone else did and did it better than I would have.

 

20 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

I'm really disliking how he behaved while he was being sued and the things he said. That was crunchy. PTSD or not, he certainly has and did demonstrate less-than-admirable qualities. Also what he was saying about the chick on drugs who popped out a baby in the bathroom and he didn't have Carol's back at all. 

I'm skipping the road trip to CA episode. 

MVFrostsMyPie, thanks for this response.  Something else Mark did that I thought was wrong (and I may have the exact details wrong) was when he totally ignored the young woman who was anorexic/bulimic, dismissing her without giving her a single moment.

 

11 hours ago, justduckey said:

Just checked the PopTV online schedule and for Monday they have 19/Old Times starting at 1:05 and ending with And in the End starting at 420!

 

Hopefully this is accurate and the DVR’s will adjust for this.

JustDuckey, you said 420.  Hee Hee

I just re-scheduled a very important meeting on Monday so I can wallow all afternoon in the ending of this series.  Thanks to those of you keeping up with the times for these episodes.

Edited January 10, 2018 by slasherboy
Cause I wrote some stupid.

[RedbirdNelly]

On ‎11‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 4:00 PM, walnutqueen said:

Time of Death (the Ray Liotta episode) made a huge impression on me the first time I watched.  This time around, it absolutely gutted me, and I could not stop crying.  It may have something to do with the recent 1 year anniversary of my Mum's death, and my distress about what she may have experienced while dying.

I finally got to this episode (season 11). I know I saw it the first time but I really didn't remember any details. It was very well done. And I didn't expect to cry but I did when Pratt cried. Well done by both actors.

I'm generally a fan of Mark but agree sexy Mark was not good. On the other hand, kind of nice to have a series with some "real people" versus every actor being a model or something so points for realism?

others have pointed out that a lot of couples on here really weren't that hot. Good that the show wasn't super focused on that angle. I generally enjoy the ER scenes more than any scenes outside of the hospital.

[Bastet]

7 hours ago, doodlebug said:

Benton is also in the elusive episode 19 where he has wonderful scenes with Carter which we are apparently not going to see. 

Damn!  I don't care about missing Doug and Carol (I wouldn't mind seeing them, certainly, but I'm not clamoring to), but now I'm pissed about that episode being skipped.

6 hours ago, justduckey said:

Just checked the PopTV online schedule and for Monday they have 19/Old Times

Hey, look at that - my anger was short-lived.  Cool.

5 hours ago, doodlebug said:

It was announced even before the season began. 

Before it began filming, or before it began airing?

[doodlebug]

13 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Damn!  I don't care about missing Doug and Carol (I wouldn't mind seeing them, certainly, but I'm not clamoring to), but now I'm pissed about that episode being skipped.

Hey, look at that - my anger was short-lived.  Cool.

Before it began filming, or before it began airing?

Definitely before it aired, and I believe even before it began filming.  It had been pretty obvious for a couple of seasons that the show was on its last legs and I seem to recall the announcement being made not too long after Season 14 ended.  I seem to recall the showrunners making an announcement telling us that the last couple seasons were planned out well in advance so they could bring the show to an end in the way they'd hoped.

I forgot to mention that AK also returns as Corday for the finale.

Edited January 9, 2018 by doodlebug

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I'm enjoying seeing guest stars from Alias (my fave show). I think there will only be two total... I had totally forgotten about Arvin Sloane/Ron Rifkin being Dr. Vucelich in season 1 and/or 2, and Marshall Flinkman/Kevin Weisman just made a cameo in season 4. 

Hilarious to pretend that maybe they were undercover as spies in the ER ;) 

[walnutqueen]

3 hours ago, slasherboy said:

I just re-scheduled a very important important on Monday so I can wallow all afternoon in the ending of this series.  Thanks to those of you keeping up with the times for these episodes.

I cannot begin to tell you how comforting it is to know I'm not the only one who appreciates a good afternoon wallow.  ;-)

[desertflower]

1 hour ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

I'm enjoying seeing guest stars from Alias (my fave show). I think there will only be two total... I had totally forgotten about Arvin Sloane/Ron Rifkin being Dr. Vucelich in season 1 and/or 2, and Marshall Flinkman/Kevin Weisman just made a cameo in season 4. 

Hilarious to pretend that maybe they were undercover as spies in the ER ;) 

I love Alias too, and while I knew Ron Rifkin was on ER I hadn't realized Marshall appeared until I did this rewatch. It was fun seeing him. And, it's funny you posted this because just the other day I posted about an actor named Corey Stoll that was in Ant-Man and who I recognized as Neela's student Teddy. Well, when I looked him up to confirm I saw he did an episode of Alias too! He only did one episode of Alias and one of ER, but you can still add it to your list. :) 

[casey65]

Today’s first episode was the last one I remember watching back when they first aired.  I knew Mark was in it but I’d forgotten Romano and Jerry were in it too. Aw, Romano with his snarky remark and arm still attached.

[absnow54]

Does Angela Bassett's real life husband and award winning Johnny Cochran impersonator, Courtney B Vance count for guest star bingo? Also Nasim Pedrad of SNL fame has been a recurring nurse for the past few seasons, but I keep forgetting to mention it. 

I like that Anthony Edwards got (top) billing with the rest of the cast. I remember them doing that for the rest of the season, most notably for the retro credits, where all the alum were featured first. I wonder why Laura Ines and Paul McCrane didn't get the same honor. 

[WendyCR72]

14 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

I wonder why Laura Ines and Paul McCrane didn't get the same honor. 

Probably because Innes and McCrane weren't part of the original cast (although Innes was close, joining in the first episode of Season 2).

[pieinmyeye]

10 hours ago, justduckey said:

Just checked the PopTV online schedule and for Monday they have 19/Old Times starting at 1:05 and ending with And in the End starting at 420!

 

Hopefully this is accurate and the DVR’s will adjust for this.

Yay!! Thanks for the info.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

2 hours ago, desertflower said:

I love Alias too, and while I knew Ron Rifkin was on ER I hadn't realized Marshall appeared until I did this rewatch. It was fun seeing him. And, it's funny you posted this because just the other day I posted about an actor named Corey Stoll that was in Ant-Man and who I recognized as Neela's student Teddy. Well, when I looked him up to confirm I saw he did an episode of Alias too! He only did one episode of Alias and one of ER, but you can still add it to your list. :) 

Good catch!! 

[slasherboy]

So, did Alex die?

[doodlebug]

4 minutes ago, slasherboy said:

So, did Alex die?

Alex will never die, he's like a cat with 9 lives.

[casey65]

What was the point of creating an eleventh hour abuse backstory for Australian doctor out of thin air? Especially when that was hinted at and never fully developed for Malucci, a much better character played by a much better actor. Does Neela end up with this guy? I can’t think of any other reason why they are trying so hard to make him sympathetic at this stage of the game.

[Bastet]

12 minutes ago, casey65 said:

Does Neela end up with this guy?

Oh, please tell me no.

[desertflower]

13 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Oh, please tell me no.

No. 

[desertflower]

36 minutes ago, casey65 said:

What was the point of creating an eleventh hour abuse backstory for Australian doctor out of thin air? Especially when that was hinted at and never fully developed for Malucci, a much better character played by a much better actor. Does Neela end up with this guy? I can’t think of any other reason why they are trying so hard to make him sympathetic at this stage of the game.

Don't worry. Neela has a nice ending. (At least I think so.)

[absnow54]

1 hour ago, casey65 said:

Does Neela end up with this guy?

Only temporarily. 

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, casey65 said:

What was the point of creating an eleventh hour abuse backstory for Australian doctor out of thin air? Especially when that was hinted at and never fully developed for Malucci, a much better character played by a much better actor. Does Neela end up with this guy? I can’t think of any other reason why they are trying so hard to make him sympathetic at this stage of the game.

At this point, I think they realized the character was not catching on with the audience.  They were about half way through the season and the guy they'd hired to be the ER hunk to follow in Clooney's footsteps, and then Visnic's was simply not happening.  I think they then decided to give him the big dramatic backstory to try to capture the audience.  And, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have some notes from the storyline Malucci never got that they grafted onto Simon (that's his name, isn't it?).  They were just tossing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck at that point; the show was ending, nobody really cared about the new characters, they were just treading water until they got to bring back the old timers for the finale.

And, as noted above, his relationship with Neela doesn't last.  She ends up where you'd expect considering the many anvils TPTB have dropped over the last several seasons.

Edited January 10, 2018 by doodlebug

[Zoe]

Sorry, TPTB, but you've done nothing to elicit sympathy from me for Brenner.

[Earl Is Dead]

This was my first viewing of the return of Mark and Romano (and Kerry!  And Jerry!) episode, and I thought it was very well done.  I like how they made it clear what point in the ER timeline it took place by Mark being in chemo at the time.  Also I'd been feeling sorry for Angela Basset up until now because she's such a dynamic actress but her character was being written all over the place.  The episode really gave her a chance to show her acting chops too.  (Only to be singing drunken karaoke with Morris two episodes later but ... whatever.  It is still S15 I can't expect too much I suppose). 

My DishNetwork guide is also showing the missing episodes in the schedule for next Monday now.  Yay!

[absnow54]

So what I learned from the last episode today was that Neela not having sex with Brenner was killing those two patients. 

Also seeing Corday made me sad that she wasn't Neela's mentor. They obviously couldn't figure out what to do with her post-Greene, but giving her a main character pritoge would have given her new purpose. 

[Bastet]

55 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

Also seeing Corday made me sad that she wasn't Neela's mentor. They obviously couldn't figure out what to do with her post-Greene, but giving her a main character pritoge would have given her new purpose. 

Especially because, other than dating Benton, her best relationships were all with her female colleagues.  The way she actively sought out friendships and supportive professional relationships among women was one of the things I loved about her.

[CarolMK]

I've got all the episodes airing this week taped to watch later as I've been on jury the past 2 days- and have to go back in 2 weeks for a 3 day trial. But I couldn't resist watching episode 1 today. Wow. Mark Green had hair. Doug Ross shows up drunk and Frank has a cameo as a police officer patient. Daria is there too as a pregnant teen. Interesting that these early guest starts later became regulars. And it was so much fun to see John Carter on his first day of work being practically eaten alive by Peter Benton. Then Morganstein comes in to finish an operation Peter had started to save a man's life. Carol Hathaway's attempted suicide is in this first episode as well. I'd ever forgotten William Macy was on season 1 of the series, to be replaced by Kerry Weaver next year. 

[absnow54]

5 hours ago, CarolMK said:

I'd ever forgotten William Macy was on season 1 of the series, to be replaced by Kerry Weaver next year. 

He's actually around until season 4, which is when Kerry because his interim replacement. 

[justduckey]

So were we to assume that guy was, indeed, a child molester?

I fast forwarded through Archie and Angela Bassett (I don’t even know her characters name lol) at the bar, did I miss anything important there? 

I did think the Mark “return” was well done. I don’t care about AB’s character but they wove that together nicely.

Running out of room on my DVR so I have to FF to get through some episodes. 

[doodlebug]

2 minutes ago, justduckey said:

So were we to assume that guy was, indeed, a child molester?

I fast forwarded through Archie and Angela Bassett (I don’t even know her characters name lol) at the bar, did I miss anything important there? 

I did think the Mark “return” was well done. I don’t care about AB’s character but they wove that together nicely.

Running out of room on my DVR so I have to FF to get through some episodes. 

Yeah, although the guy had been acquitted in the prior case, he was clearly grooming the little girl.  At the end of the episode, she came into his room and he asked for her blog info and told her he would email her there and told her they could be friends and keep it secret from everyone else. 

I thought the Morris/Banfield scenes in the bar during the snowstorm were nice comic relief and showed a side of her we hadn't seen.  It also set up a bond between them that allows her to share stuff with him which is obviously vital to the audience getting to know the character better.  I must say, her story arc is one of the better ones this season, at least in part because Angela Bassett is a terrific actress and brings her 'A' game to the role.

[absnow54]

I thought the Morris/Banfield scenes in the bar during the snowstorm were nice comic relief and showed a side of her we hadn't seen. It also set up a bond between them that allows her to share stuff with him which is obviously vital to the audience getting to know the character better. I must say, her story arc is one of the better ones this season, at least in part because Angela Bassett is a terrific actress and brings her 'A' game to the role.

Yeah, I liked the Morris/Banfield friendship because I'm a sucker for the eager puppy/annoyed cat dynamic (see Benton/Carter) and while Banfield character arc was a little heavy handed, she was one of the few additions to season 15 that I didn't mind, because Angela Bassett is so talented.

[RedbirdNelly]

I continue my lone tour through Season 11. Just watched White Guy/Dark Hair--the one with the rape victim where Sam (arguably) gets her killed by pushing to get the victim to talk to police, putting her health at risk . . and all the info gained is that the rapist was a white guy with dark hair. That sinking in with Sam was well done.

then I watched the next episode where Ray again demonstrates good skills connecting with families but then is a jerk and leaves exactly when his shift ends, so his promise to have the 15 year old's back (who is supposed to decide whether his dad gets surgery or not, while being pressured by exwife/mom not to do it) is broken when he's no longer there. . and Neelah calls him out on it. I kind of liked Ray having some good qualities while obviously needing to mature and get over his focus on his band and their gigs. When Neela tells him "medicine is not a part time job!" and  he jumps back at Neela and tells her this is something getting criticism from someone who was working at the convenience store 3 months ago, she rightly tells him not to flip this to being about her. I would have liked it though if she would have yelled back "that is completely irrelevant. I'm not working part-time at the Jiffy Mart while taking ER shifts, you idiot!"

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Random note: I kind of liked Carter with his beard. Wish it hadn't gotten stuck to the guy with glue. Do we know if he purposely grew it out for that story or if NW just wanted to have facial hair?

[Bastet]

Morganstern and Rance Howard's character are killing me in this episode, and I got emotional with the mother/son storyline, too (when he told her he nailed his audition).

[voiceover]

GSB: Modern Family's Ariel Winter as the little girl whose long-lost dad gets temporary custody when her mom is put on the (heart) transplant list.

absnow54: Courtney B Vance's appearance is definitely a square in GSB.

Ugh with the kids throwing food at Morris.  They're not needing to defend themselves from assault, fer crissakes.  And they're not babies.

[casey65]

10 minutes ago, voiceover said:

GSB: Modern Family's Ariel Winter as the little girl whose long-lost dad gets temporary custody when her mom is put on the (heart) transplant list.

Had no idea that was her! I kept thinking what a good little actress she was.