Too Many Characters

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Does anyone else feel that there are now too many characters in this show? In the old days you could expect to spend some time with Mark, some time with Carol, and see Carter and Doug screw up. Time was spent on them. Now we've got so many characters, some of them don't even get any screen time (Finch, Lucy.) I think that Dr. Dave guy got more time than Jeanie, Lucy, or even Benton last episode. And now they are adding Alan Alda briefly on top of everyone else. Enough already! My vote: ditch Lucy and Jeanie. One can't act and the other is just a bummer. Okay, I'll stop.

-- bret (blah@blah.com), October 12, 1999

Answers

Gloria Reuben (Jeanie) IS leaving. She only has 4 episodes left. I personally love Jeanie. Lucy, however, I agree can just be dropped. I like Kellie Martin and all. I just can't stand Lucy.

-- just another person (ewwhatevr@aol.com), October 12, 1999.

I couldn't agree more!

In my humble opinion last night's (October 14, 1999) episode "Greene with Envy" was ruined by the massively excessive number of characters. Most of the story lines were insufficiently developed and the entire show seemed very "choppy" because it was bouncing back and forth between different plots.

For instance, Romano brought in that reporter to poke around the ER and handed her off to Corday. Now clearly the reporter was very nosey and ended up with a negative view of the County General ER ... but this plot was never developed. We essentially only saw the reporter when she was first introduced, when Greene kicked her out and when she had some snide comments at the end. Compare this to a plot a couple of seasons ago when Greene brought his lawyer in to poke around the ER in exchange for the lawyer's services. We learned a lot about the lawyer's character because we saw him in a number of scenes.

-- Chris Kierkus (kierkus@uwindsor.ca), October 15, 1999.


I agree that the show can be choppy with so many characters, but I think that as long as we have some episodes with more focus on the old main people the choppy episodes can be interesting to see interacton between them all. Like the reporter, for instance, I think she was used more as a device to show interaction between Mark-Elizabeth-Romano than for a detailed plot. She was terribly snide, wasn't she?

-- May Archer (archere@cadvision.com), October 16, 1999.

I actually don't mind the influx of new characters--it makes it kind of exciting. And if the new characters mean less screen time for Lucy, then I'm a happy camper!

-- Shabba92 (shabba92@chickmail.com), October 18, 1999.

I LIKE LUCY!!! In my opinion, you can get rid of 'Dr. Dave'! He is just the most ANNYOING person I've ever seen! I thought I hated Romano! That was nothing! I will dance on Dave's grave, and laugh at his funeral! If they're gonna get rid of SOMEONE, it's better be him!! BTW, Jeanie rox too.

-- Lisa (Shaniakicks@hotmail.com), January 03, 2000.


What the writers seem to have taken to doing is alternating all the characters on a weekly basis. We are now up to TWELVE (12) principal cast memebes, which is literally double that of season 1!! I don't mind this arrangement 'cause in real life you don't see everyone you know every single day. If they tried to include all 12 principals in one forty-six minute episode it would look crammed indeed, and that might offend more than just not seeing a character. But if Carol or Mark or Lucy is absent from ons show, Romano, Luka, or Dave might be absent from the next. But they'll all get in eventually.

-- Chris A. (movibuf@juno.com), January 07, 2000.

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