ER FAQ 5.00, Section 1: The Show (1/8)
Rose 'BamBam' Cooper
Archive-name: tv/er-series/show-info
Posting-Frequency: monthly
URL: http://www.digiserve.com/er/erdex.html
ER FAQ 5.00: The Show
Asterisks (*) below denotes information updated or added since the last
version of the FAQ.
MeMiceElfAnI Productions Copyright 1997-99 by Rose Cooper; content cannot
be used without expressed written permission of the author.
Last Updated: 1/9/99 by Rose "MotherFAQer" Cooper
SECTION ONE: THE SHOW
1.1 What is "ER"?
"ER" is a weekly one-hour television drama on NBC that takes place
in the emergency room of a Chicago hospital. The show`s stories focus
primarily on the staff of the ER: doctors, nurses, medical students
and assorted personnel. The stories secondarily deal with the medical
problems of patients. "ER" is unlike most other medical dramas in that
its emphasis is often on a very fast-paced style of action, typically
when a patient or patient(s) is/are rushed into the emergency room for
treatment. It does share some similarities with other medical dramas,
however, particularly St. Elsewhere, in that stories in the lives of
the main characters are told over the course of many episodes, rather
than being self-contained to one episode.
[Given the general direction that Season Four veered toward, it remains to
be seen whether the above will still hold true for Season Five--and beyond...]
1.2 What does "ER" stand for?
[Truth, Justice, And The American Way. Oh, sorry. That`s "CCH Pounder".
But I digress...]
Emergency Room. Not to be confused with "OR", which is
Operating Room.
[Or, for that matter, "E/R", which was inoperable. But I digress
again...]
1.3 When does "ER" come on television?
[Note on time zone abbreviations--
"10E/9C/8M/7P" means: 10:00 Eastern
9:00 Central
8:00 Mountain
7:00 Pacific.]
1.31 American network television:
"First-run" "ER" comes on Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern
and Pacific time, 9:00 p.m. Central and Mountain time, on NBC, the
National Broadcasting Company. For the specific channel in your
area, check local listings.
1.311 Syndicated cable television:
On Sunday, September 6, 1998, 8pm Eastern, the US version
of cable channel TNT <http://tnt.turner.com/series/er> (Turner
Network Television) started broadcasting "ER" reruns, beginning,
appropriately, with the 2-hour pilot, "24 Hours"; it was shown
again at 5pm Eastern on September 7, followed by the next episode
in the series, "Day One", at the regularly scheduled 7pm Eastern
rerun slot. It is supposed to be shown in consecutive order every
weekday (Monday-Friday) in that time period. Watch this space,
FAQ section 5 <http://digiserve.com/er/erfaq5.html>, and the
ER Episode List <http://digiserve.com/er/erlist.html#tnt>, for
more details.
1.32 Satellite dishes:
If you have a satellite dish and live in North America,
you can watch "ER" at 10E/9C/8M/7P on Satcom C1 (also called F1),
transponder 8. This is the NBC East Coast feed and is unscrambled.
Those times also apply to WXIA (Galaxy 4, 22) and WHDH (Spacenet 4,
2); these channels are scrambled, however, and you must have a
subscription with a dealer that provides them.
"ER" also airs on the subscription channel KUSA (Satcom
C1, 14) at 11E/10C/9M/8P; and on the subscription channel KNBC
(Spacenet 4, 6) at 1:00AM-E/12C/11M/10P.
All of the above are on Thursday nights, when NBC normally
airs "ER". However, for weeks when a new episode is airing, you
can see an early feed on Wednesday nights. It can be seen on
Telstar 401, transponder 7, at 12:00PM-E/11:00PM-C/10M/9P. This
version of the show is completely commercial free, and airs the
full opening and closing (full-screen credits & no voice-over
announcer), as opposed to the half-screen credits and voice-over
that most NBC affiliates use.
If you have Ku band capability, you can also watch ER on K2,
transponder 1 at 10 PM E/9C/8M/7P, and on K2, transponder 3 at
1 AM E/12 Midnight C/11M/10P.
*1.33 International television
[NOTE: The information here is only as good (or bad) as the
international ER viewers who notify me of schedule changes, make it.
I will be glad to revise it when I get those viewers' email, but
unless the information can be verified through "official" sources,
the listings below will stand as written]:
CANADA
"ER" is broadcast on the Canadian Televison Network (CTV)
via affiliates throughout Canada at 10:00 pm on Thursday in all
respective time zones.
A French-language version of "ER" ("Salle d'urgence"),
which is one season behind its English-language counterpart, is
currently broadcast on the Quebec channel TQS on Sunday nights; as
soon as the new episodes begin in September, it will be on Monday
nights at 9:00 pm.
-(Information courtesy Talitha Cumi).
In Saskatchewan, CBS is rerunning ER on Saturdays and Sundays
at 9:37 CST. [What a *weird* time to start]...According to a TV
Times (the Canadian TV guide) schedule, this Saturday and Sunday bit
will be a continuing thing. I am thrilled about this because we
don't get TNT in Canada, and are missing out on the reruns during
the week.
-(Information courtesy Vanessa Rey).
An addendum to the above, from Vanessa:
"Uh-oh.
I read the FAQ update today.....oops. The information on the FAQ
in regards to the international ER showings in Canada is now
incorrect because of the time change. Here's all I know:
I am getting ER now Saturdays and Sundays. On Saturdays, we used
to get ER at 5:00 P.M. Now, because of the time change we get it
at 6:00 P.M. On Sundays, we get ER at 10:37, previously 9:37.
When I last e-mailed you around the beginning of October, we
were getting ER 9:37 on both Saturday and Sunday. This lasted
for a few weeks, and then for some unknown reason, ER on
Saturdays was bumped to 5:00 P.M. The Sunday time remained the
same (9:37).
Confusing, eh?
[Nahhhh...I followed...every...word...of...thaaaaa...]
Saskatchewanians (I luv that word) are the only people who do not
switch their clocks back to Standard time. No one here changed
their clocks on Saturday. This does affect our TV schedule.
During Daylight Savings time, I get ER at 8:00 on NBC and at 9:00
on CTV, but during standard time, I get ER on both NBC and CTV at
9:00.
The way I look at it, during DST, American programs on American
networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) come on an hour earlier. During ST, the
come on one hour later. Canadian networks stay the same all year
long. So, because CBS is an American network, all their programs
are an hour later here.
Because Saskatchewan is the only one to whom this applies to, the
above info might not be that all that important for the FAQ. You
will Definitely want to check with some official sources. A good
one might be the TV Times website": <http://www.tvtimesonline.com>
[Thanks Vanessa. I think.]
UK (SKY ONE AND CHANNEL 4)
[NOTE: detailed UK-specific information is now available in the
ERuk FAQ <http://freespace.virgin.net/e.griffiths/faq.html>, created
and maintained by Ed Griffiths, my "UK Man On The Scene"]
In England, ER can be seen on SKY One (satellite) on Thursdays
at 10pm (Channel 4 is not currently showing repeats, but). According
to both Katy Lindemann and Ed Griffiths, SKY One's Season Five premier
"has been confirmed as 'end of October, beginning of November'."
Though Ed reports "Channel 4 will not confirm schedules until 2 weeks
in advance", both Ed and Katy suggest that the logical pattern should
mean Season Five "will begin on Channel 4 at the beginning of January
1999"; "...as it has always gone out the first Wednesday after New Year
before."
[Note: "Day For Knight", the 5th Season Premiere, will be shown
7th January, 1999 on SKY .]
Check the SKY and Channel 4 UK schedules on the
ER Episode List <http://www.digiserve.com/er/erlist.html#uk> regularly
for up-to-date timelines.
-(UK schedule courtesy Katy Lindemann).
In Wales, "ER" airs at 10:30 on Wednesday nights on S4C.
AUSTRALIA
Australian television airs "ER" on Channel 9 on Thursdays
at 9:30 pm. Their second season run appears to be about five
episodes behind the U.S.
LATIN AMERICA
Some (possibly most) Latin American countries show a
"ER" dubbed in Spanish on open-air television, and an English
version with Spanish subtitles on cable (Sony).
[NOTE: Since I have received conflicting information from multiple
sources about "ER" in Latin American countries, and this is the
only agreed-upon information, this is how I will leave it].
*EUROPE
*German television is currently showing the fourth season
of "ER" on a channel called Pro7. It airs Wednesdays at 8:15 pm,
with reruns airing Monday to Friday from 4:00-5:00.
-(Information courtesy Dirk Tretner and Ayshea Halliwell)
Called "Urgences" in France, the French version of "ER"
is shown at the rate of two episodes a week (!) on France 2
every Sunday at 8:50 pm. This is also not the same dubbed
version as the French Canadian version that airs in Canada.
*The fourth season has just ended on France 2; the fifth should
start September 1999.
-(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini and Didier
{aka Mash}).
[A bit of a different take on the above]: it is written
in the section International Television that the French dubbed
version shown in France isn't the same shown in French Canada,
but it is. The dubbing is made in France and there is only one
version made in French, so that's the one we get here in Quebec.
However, the title has been changed (it's called Urgences in
France and Salle d'urgence in Quebec) because there was already
a series called Urgence in Quebec. So the opening credits aren't
exactly the same from France to French Canada, even if the dubbed
version is the same.
-(Information courtesy Talitha Cumi).
[I understand now why Scott was hesitant on trying to keep up with
international TV...]
Iceland's RUV (National Television) shows "Bradavaktin" (ER)
on Wednesdays at 10pm. The fourth season started on January 25.
-(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini).
*Ireland`s RTE 1 shows "ER" on Sundays at 9:30 pm.
TV3 Norway shows ER (called "Akutten") on Mondays at 9:30pm,
starting from early 1998 with the fourth season, one episode per
week. Now TV3 is showing reruns on Sunday late-afternoons
-(Information courtesy Vala Olafs).
TV3 Sweden <http://www.tv3.se> shows ER [called "Cityakuten"]
reruns every weekday. New episodes (the middle of season 4) will start
week 48.
-(Information courtesy Johanna Theng).
TV3 Denmark shows "Skadestuen" on Mondays too, at 8 pm,
and as its scandinavian counterpart it will start on 1998 with the
fourth season. Now it is showing reruns on Fridays at 10:30 pm.
-(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini).
In Spain, "ER" is shown in TVE1 on Mondays at 9:45. TVE1
is currently wrapping up broadcast of the first season.
Portugal is currently showing the third season of ER, which started
on October 16th, on its main state channel, Radiotelevisao Portuguesa
(RTP)-Channel 1. The Portuguese title is "Servico de Urgencia", all
programs are subtitled and aired every Friday at about midnight.
-(Information courtesy Isabel Fajardo).
Polish television is showing the fourth season of this
excellent show on a channel called Polsat. It airs Wednesdays at
9:00pm.
-(Information courtesy Adas, "Polish fan of ER", and Agnieszka).
In Finland, MTV3 will show the fourth season beginning
Thursday 7th May, with no reruns. The fourth season finale should
come out in early October.
-(Information courtesy Simo Heiskanen).
In Switzerland, "ER" is broadcast on two of the four
national television stations. TSR (French-Swiss) shows two
consecutive episodes of ER every Sunday at 8:00 pm. Schwiez 4
(German-Swiss) shows one episode on Mondays at 7:55pm.
(Schwiez 4 is about a season behind TSR.)
Italy's RAIDUE is now showing season four, showing two
episodes of ER per week on Thursdays at 8:50pm. It's called
"E.R.: Medici in Prima Linea" ("E.R.: Frontline Doctors") and
they show two episodes concurrently
-(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini and Federico "faith" RUSSO).
Belgium`s Flemish-language channel VTM shows "ER" on
Thursdays at 10:15pm. A Walloon (French-language) channel
there recently ceased showing ER on Wednesdays at 9:00pm.
*"In Holland ER (subtitled) is broadcasted every Friday
evening, at 22.00h. It broadcasted by the AVRO (broadcasting
company) on Dutch channel 1 (called 'Nederland 1' in dutch).
There are no more repeats on Sunday, unfortunately. We are one
season behind of you, so season 4 is now being shown."
-(Information courtesy Tim Dijkema).
"ER" is shown in Slovenia on POP TV, and airs every
Friday at 8:00 pm.
"In Russia, 'ER' is currently shown on NTV channel at 22.45
four times a week (they promise to show 2nd and 3rd season; 1st has
been shown a year ago)."
-(Information courtesy Mikhail E. Veselov).
JAPAN
Japan`s NHK began showing "ER" in April `96. It airs
every Monday at 11:00 pm.
ELSEWHERE
In the Philipines, "ER" is shown on Saturdays at 8:00 pm.
The episodes there are roughly three months behind.
In Hong Kong, "ER" airs every Tuesday at 9:30pm
-(Information courtesy Karen Lee).
In Israel, "ER" airs Sundays at 9:10pm on cable channel 3.
-(Information courtesy Shlomi Codish, MD).
In Taiwan, the CTS Channel shows "ER" on Sundays at 4:30pm.
Singapore television airs "ER" every Tuesday at 9:30pm and
is currently broadcasting the fourth season.
-(Information courtesy Corrine Hoo)
In Kuwait, "ER" can be viewed on the ORBIT Sattelite Network
<http://www.orbit.net> on the channel "America Plus", which is
currently broadcasting the third season..
-(Information courtesy Fares)
1.4 Who produces the show?
Created by: Michael Crichton
Executive producers: Michael Crichton, John Wells, Lydia
Woodward
Co-executive producer: Carol Flint
Supervising producer: Paul Manning
Co-producers: Neal Baer, Wendy Spence, Lance Gentile
Produced by: Christopher Chulack
Staff writers: Jason Cahill and Samantha Corbin
Unit production manager: Michael Salamunovich
Medical consultant: Lance Gentile
Technical Advisor: Dr. Joe Sachs and Dr. Fred Einesman
Director of photography: Richard Thorpe
Film editors: Randy Morgan, Jacque Toberen, Kevin Casey
Production design: Ivo Cristante
Produced by: Constant c Productions and Amblin Television in
association with Warner Bros. Television
(from the show`s web page)
--
Rose "MotherFAQer" Cooper,
Keeper Of The Mostly New And Somewhat Improved ER FAQ
EMAIL: er...@digiserve.com ICQ: 7760005
http://www.digiserve.com/er/
http://manetheren.cl.msu.edu/~bambam/