does anyone else miss the old fast pace show?? I was watching the reruns on TNT this weekend and thought how different the show has become. I for one will be glad when Carol leaves, she is making me tired and have they just forgotten to use some make up on her?? She was so pale in the last episode I thought she was sick. Mark and his dad deserve this time together since they are making up for lost time, and the Carter story is shaping up ok, but couldn't we have some traumas in the er? I haven't seen anyone really scurry since they found Lucy and Carter. It just seems to me that they used to be able to keep the plot line moving and still do something more exciting than chasing a kid around the hospital. Just my opinion...

-- Casey (steinbec00@netscape.net), May 01, 2000

Answers

I was thinking the same thing. Everyone is so laid back these days on the show. Everyone is tuned into their problems and not trying to help their fellow workers. The old ER used to be very fast paced, which kept its viewers glued to the TV because there was no time to look away. These days, everyone is just ho hum and not really into their jobs or each other. The old ER was very tight nit, and there was always something exciting going on. I think that we miss the "tanning" sessions with Carol and Susan, Mark, George, and Carol's get togethers and the AWESOME tramas. I wish that the writer would watch some of the old epis to get the show back on the interesting track. Everything is so predictable now that it almosts gets boring.

-- Jill (Huckabe5@bellsouth.net), May 01, 2000.

No kidding. Not only are they ruining Carol and Carter but the old, fun blood-n-guts approach is gone. I miss that a lot, because I love blood and guts. And the blood and guts that they DO have always has some stinking emotional envolvement that ruins it all. There is just way too much personal emotional stuff and the old fast-paced ER days are gone. What a shame.

-- Gina (ggg3dds@js-net.com), May 06, 2000.

"A Shift in the Night" from Season 2 aired here yesterday and it reminded me of the old days. The ER was deluged with people during a major rainstorm. Mark was in charge and basically there with Carter, Carol, and the ever faithful nurses. Peter popped in and out. What was cool was how they dealt with the characters personal issues and internal conflicts and still focused on the ER patients. At the end everyone worked together to clear out the minor injuries in the lobby. There were a couple of shots that stood out. One where Carol and the other nurses are watching the clock turn to 2 AM, when the bars will close, sending in more victims soon. Their lines, one after another, as soon as the clock struck 2 were wonderful and showed a comraderie that I haven't seen for a while. The other was a series of shots on people waiting in the ER, some bandaged, some in pain, some just bored. At the end, Mark and Carter spoke just outside the door as the rain continued to pour about this being why they were in ER medicine. Maybe over the summer the writers and producers can watch some of the reruns and return some of the flavor the show could use.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 07, 2000.

Yeah,

I do agree, though I must admit that I can't stop watching the show and that I'm still excited about next episode "All in the Family" (yeah, we're a little behind in Holland) ER used to be so good because they had a perfect balance between personal life and work (like Susan being so pissed off in "Summer Run" because Chloe wasn't were she supposed to be and Carol all nervous in "Days like this" because her notary dies), but now it seems either or too much trauma or too much swirling around personal lifes. And yes, I do agree that the pace is gone. I must admit that I'm *still* a great fan of Susan, and I miss her, but the years after she left were still good, and I liked the Carter/Anna year and season5. So what is going wrong? I know that it is difficult to write a good episode every time after 6 full years, but this is out of line. What should they do so the pace gets back? Suggestions, anyone?

-- Suzey (do_you_drink_milk@hotmail.com), February 21, 2001.