Chicago Hope vs. ER...Which is better and Why?
Tamara Webster
watches it. All of my friends are hooked on Chicago Hope, which I've
never seen. I have noticed some CH fans posting on the ER group and
that's what prompted my posting here.
I'd like to know if anyone in this group has watched BOTH shows and
could explain what keeps people hooked on one or the other. I know
why I like ER but I want to know why you like CH.
I remember when the New Show Preview issue of TV Guide came out late
last year, I was all set to watch CH because of the cast. I recognized
all but the woman. Then when the season started and they had the shows
pitted against each other starting at 10 PM, I said too late for me,
and didn't watch either until about 6 weeks ago when ER finally sucked
me in. Since then I've been trying to get my friends to watch ER and
they've been trying to get me to watch CH and since neither has been
successful in getting the other to switch over, now I'm starting to
wonder what I'm missing. So tell me, what is it about this show?
Tamara
PS - Someone from this group says ER is 'mind candy'. What does
that mean?
JenLCB
if you've already read it there.
Play by play analysis:
Poor Maggie....once again, she is chastised by a surgeon about putting a
severed body part she is relunctantly holding on ice, and gets to look
grossed out. At least she was later given a few lines, and an additional
emotion or two.
In addition to maggie, I think this was also a good Camille episode. Her
best since the Rabbi Heart-Kick. (That would be the title for one of the
top three "Surgery's Funniest Home Videos" grand prize finalists).
What was the name of the amputee? I thought they said, "He's a goner,"
til I realized that was his name.
The whole memo thing.
Loved the glint in Kronk's eye as he said, "Not respect." But was Kronk
admiring Geiger's lack of respect, or did he catch the irony, that Birch
really is respected?
Man, do these boys have some messed up chicks! (Sorry, that was coarse
humor....Didn't get the memo....) I wish Jeffrey'd wink at me like he
winked at the psycho girl.
Phillip finds his staff in the oddest situations in the men's room.
Pretty soon, he's gonna stop going in there altogether.
Lines: "Don't look at me with .." whatever the word was he used that
sounded like "incongruity." Was that what he said? I was laughing too
hard, I couldn't quite catch it---Birch
"Son of a bitch reminds me of me." --Kronk
"Blood's on your hands, not mine"--Watters....struck me as kind of a
Pontius Pilatey kind of a thing to say for a Catholic.
"Your lips do not move in here"--Birch (I love that line....I've adapted
it to my own use as a teacher: "No talking means the lips do not move.")
"Officer (whoever) will never know What." --Birch
"Please get out of my eyeline. . . .I'll ask you once more nicely. Please
get out of my eyeline."--Geiger (nice fake-out, by the way).
I like the spontaneous soundtrack outbursts ("Wild Thing" from a few
weeks back, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"--which reminds me of the
little concert the kids did at the school I student taught at. My 2nd
graders sang that song....)
It's taken Geiger a woman and almost a whole season to soften....they're
not softening Kronk already, are they? I was just getting to like him!
Creepy deal with the photographs, though.
Uh-oh....Dr. Grad + Dr. Watters = Get Me Some Medication!
I'm gonna cry....PERSONAL MESSAGE TO FICTIONAL CHARACTER ALLEN BIRCH:
Allen....John and I have a guest room. Its nice and spacious, has a
double bed, I can put the stereo in there if you like....Whaddya say ya
come on over, spend a week or so here. No pressure, no stress, no
worries...Hakuna Matata. We can go for dinner, drinks, catch a show,
maybe some bowling....I don't know, whatever you're into. Our treat. We
want to be your friends! SERIOUS! HONEST! WE SWEAR! We won't send you
on any wild friend chases.
Now, this actually did bring a tear to my eye. Two years ago, I was
supposed to meet some sorority sisters after a meeting at Shoney's. I
asked one of them whereShoney's was, and she told me. So I had to stay
behind to help a sister in crisis (I was the president). I got to
Shoney's, and asked for the group, and they said they didn't have any
large groups, but I was free to look around. So, I did, looking like a
real weirdo. Nobody I knew was there! I was feeling crushed and used!
So on my way home, I remembered the OTHER Shoney's, and went there.
There they all sat, (including my friend Holly, you know the Maggie
look-alike) with another sister's husband, who was giving them all an
Amway presentation! I almost wished they'd just left me. . .
CH CAST AND CREW--good job, guys and dolls! This was, in my humblest of
opinions, the best episode since the Quarantine one.
Jen <--who humbly sides with Watters, fellow Catholic
James B. Reed
|> I'd like to know if anyone in this group has watched BOTH shows and
|> could explain what keeps people hooked on one or the other. I know
|> why I like ER but I want to know why you like CH.
My wife and I usually watch both shows. I prefer CH. She prefers ER.
I can't explain why she prefers ER, but I strongly prefer CH because
the writers do an excellent and realistic job of presenting the
opposing views on difficult issues. The characters on CH also have
more realistic and more interesting personalities.
For example, Dr. Bensen on ER focuses his whole life on the ER, even
to the point of neglecting his elderly mother. That may be realistic,
but it's not very interesting to me. Geiger on CH also focuses his
life on his work, but he has a much more complex and (to me) interesting
personality. That's just one example, there are plenty of others.
On the other hand, my wife used to be an OR nurse. At times she
laughs at the sterile technique (or lack thereof) in the CH ORs.
She also can't stand the "super nurse" who is everywhere you look
in the hospital because no nurse does so many jobs on a regular
basis.
|> PS - Someone from this group says ER is 'mind candy'. What does
|> that mean?
It means that the show can be enjoyed like candy, but (also like candy)
has no meaningful substance.
Jim
--
James B. Reed | Hey, this is software,
Intergraph Corporation | almost anything's possible.
jbr...@ingr.com |
085...@sscl.uwo.ca
>From: Tamara Webster <tam...@doctord.com>
>Subject: Chicago Hope vs. ER...Which is better and Why?
>Date: 21 Mar 1995 01:13:27 GMT
>Tamara
The difference is the depth. The characters on CH have more substance and
the show deals more with the characters. ER is a good show, it is more
light hearted however. I does not seem to delve deep into any issues.
Chicago hope follows in the tradition of LA Law, Hill Street, NYPD Blue for
character development. It seems to build slow but it gets stronger each
episode.
Pete
Michael A. Chary
The shows are only superficially similar. I enjoy Chicago Hope more, but ER
is a first rate show. ER sort of tries to drwaw you into the moment of the
episode. It's good but I don't think it's particularly original in the
sense that we've seen this *sort* of thinbg before. ER belongs to a long
tradition of medical shows like Trapper John and Dr Kildare. It's better
than those shows were, and it's *really* good, but I think it's a sort of
natural out growth of the way medical shows work. I would never miss the
show willingly :)
Chicago Hope is a different animal entirely. It's rather iconoclastic. It
had the best cast it could get. It has the best writers it could get. It
has the highest production values it could get. And then they turned it
into a *brilliant* dark comedy. It reminds me of Paddy Chayefsky's "The
Hospital." Now, I might be misreading there intention. They might not
intend to have a farce, but they are succeeding anyway. They play to their
strengths. Mandy Patinkin can *sing*. So they let him sing. Hector
Elionzo can get angry, so they let him get angry. Additionally, the show is
*about* something. Every episode has something interesting to say. Now,
this means the it strains the credulity a little. I know people who despise
it for being too silly. But I think it works. And it's the sort of sahow,
that if it works for you, it *really* works for you
So I don't think they are comparable. I enjoy watching Chicago Hope more,
but I can't definitively say it's *better* than ER.
(Though I will say that if Mandy Patinkin doesn't get an Emmy, I am writing
my congressman.)
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Mark A. Zaremba
I have a hard time comparing these two shows, because, as you say, they
are different types of shows. ER is faster, more exciting, more involved
with the doctors' personal lives, more of a `meat and potatoes' medical
show. It is, simply put, a show about an emergency room and secondarily
about the people who work there.
CH is slower, more cerebral, more humorous, less realistic, more of a
`total hospital' show, a show that deals more with medical/moral issues.
ER is 60 minutes of pure entertainment. It is constantly dropping little
hints as to the future outcomes of certain stories. But it doesn't give
you time to think until the show is over. CH is 60 minutes of thinking
along with the characters, considering the issues that they are dealing
with on the show. I love both, I would never miss a new episode of either,
but I can't say that one or the other is "better."
One more note: Mandy Patinkin is certainly a _great_ actor, but my vote
for best actor on CH goes to Peter MacNicol.
--
Mark A. Zaremba, Case Western Reserve University, ma...@po.cwru.edu
"Me again, huh? Why don't you come down here and play me? Come
on, come on! You and your kid, too! I'll give you two a side and
play your low ball!"--Golfer Tommy Bolt to God, after missing a putt
Benjamin R. Defnet
--
Benjamin Robert Defnet
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
Internet: gt0...@prism.gatech.edu
Darin Johnson
He can? I've watched most episodes, and I haven't run across
anything resembling song...
:-)
Did anyone catch this Amercian Playhouse bit where he played someone
held against his will to build a wall in the middle a field? I
didn't catch the beginning of it, and wanted to know what was going
on.
--
Darin Johnson
djoh...@ucsd.edu -- How come my mind went off for lunch before I did?
Laura D. Andrews
: > Mandy Patinkin can *sing*. So they let him sing.
: :-)
Does he sing? Yes he sings. He has three CDs out. He has been in
several Broadway hits including: Sunday in the Park with George,
Evita and The Secret Garden. He is one of the most versital (sp) artists
in America today. (Can you tell I'm a big fan?)
The movie you are talking about is called "The Music of Chance" its
available on video. It's an awsome movie, a little dark, James Spader
co-stars.