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List Price: $27.98 | | Label: Warner Brothers Home Video
Salesrank: 2869
Released: August 26, 2003 |
| Our Price: $9.99 |
| Used Price: $4.97 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The lives, loves and losses of the doctors and nurses of Chicago's County General Hospital. Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the most watched and honored drama of the last decade. Loaded with extensive special features including two new documentaries featuring Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton, John Wells and George Clooney created exclusively for this release.
DVD Features:
Additional Scenes
Audio Commentary:Audio commentary on three key episodes by series producers and crew
Deleted Scenes
Documentaries:Prescription for Success: The Birth of ER; First-Year Rotation: Caring for ER; On the Cutting Edge: Medical Realism on ER; Post Operative Procedures: Post Production in the ER
Easter Eggs
Featurette
Interactive Menus
Outtakes
Scene Access:Audio commentary on three key episodes by series producers and crew
Description of ER - The Complete First Season:
Inspired by creator Michael Crichton's experiences as a medical student in a hospital emergency room, ER quickly became one of the most compelling shows of the 1990s, each episode a whirlwind of intense and involving drama, gritty realism, and offbeat humor. Heading the staff at the inner-city Chicago hospital is Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), a doctor so good at providing care to the downtrodden, helpless, or just plain quirky patients that his career blossoms even as his personal life crumbles. Greene is the soul of the cast, but the heart is Julianna Margulies's nurse Carol Hathaway. Her character was intended only for the pilot episode, but she ended up capturing viewers with her palpable empathy for patients and her troublesome romance with womanizing pediatrician Doug Ross (George Clooney). The rest of the central cast consisted of compassionate Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), Peter Benton (Eriq Lasalle), whose prodigious talent nearly matches his ambition, and his fresh-faced student, John Carter (Noah Wyle). Other key characters included ER heads Morgenstern and Swift (William H. Macy and Michael Ironside, respectively), overachieving student Deb (Ming Na), who returned later in the show's run, attending physician Angela Hicks (CCH Pounder), and physical therapist Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Rueben).
The remarkably strong first season showed off its sharp ensemble cast through a variety of compelling story lines both personal (Carter's conflicts with Benton, Lewis's struggles with her no-account sister, Chloe, played by Kathleen Wilhoite) and professional (a holiday blizzard and especially the harrowing tale of a pregnancy gone bad, "Love's Labor Lost," which won five Emmy Awards). When Carter is pondering whether his future includes the ER, Green jokes, "It's not bad: Stress, late nights, hard work, no pay--it's hard to beat." It's hard to imagine people choosing to work under those conditions, but they do, and in the process these very human people perform superhuman feats as they face life and death as part of their daily jobs.
DVD features are fairly generous for a TV series box. There are two commentary tracks on the pilot episode, including one by Crichton, and crew commentaries on "Sleepless in Chicago" and "Love's Labor Lost." A new 39-minute documentary discusses the show's genesis, casting, and the "Chicago hospital drama smackdown" with Chicago Hope through interviews with Crichton, executive producer Steven Spielberg, other crew members, and the principal cast members other than Eriq LaSalle. Also included are a very watchable featurette on the show's realism (ever wonder why Ross is always looking down?) and another on post-production, a list of characters (including patients by episode, but why no actor credits?), three minor deleted scenes, outtakes, and a glossary of frequently used medical terms. Particularly notable is that the episodes are shown in anamorphic widescreen. ER was one of the first network shows broadcast in widescreen, but that was years after these episodes, which are shown in widescreen for the first time. --David Horiuchi
ER - The Complete First Season Reviews:
ER will always be a classic 
2009-12-14 - I can remember first watching this show when I was 8 years old and absolutely loved it. They say that the original is always the best and in some cases that may be but to me all the ER seasons or at least up to season 9 are great. The actors are all wonderful but who could not like George Clooney, his character in the first season is so heart warming and likeable I enjoy him a lot. Anthony Edwards does a great job as Dr. Mark Greene, he never seems to let me down in any episode as far as his acting goes. I recieved this series as a gift and have loved it ever since, with all of it's drama, comedy, action, and even some romance on top. If you like medical dramas you will love ER season 1 cause it delivers a knock out performance. During some episodes in the series when it was still on television I found myself hungary for more medical excitement when one episode would end and not come back on for another week. I give this TV series DVD 5 stars based on the great acting, excitement, drama, directing, and overall writing. For those of you wanting to know about shipping cost and the overall cost of the DVD, believe me it was well worth what i paid in the end, and the shipping was fast. So if it grabbed my heart at 8 years of age it could certainly grab yours at any age!
One obnoxious character 
2009-10-29 - It's probably unfair to compare this with other hospital TV series, but it's inevitable--at least, it is for me. For the most part this is an excellent series, but not quite as good as "Grey's Anatomy," because I didn't identify as closely with the characters. Anthony Edwards is fine in the lead, and George Clooney is surprisingly good. The one character I found distasteful was the one played by Eriq La Salle. I don't think it was the actor's fault. He didn't write the lines, nor was he the director. It's just that his character is always negative and makes all sorts of contorted, smirking faces to show his displeasure at everything, and with everyone.
The story lines are quite good, and most of the characters feel exactly right. The sets couldn't be better. As an aside, however,I can't imagine why anyone would want to work in the emergency room of a hospital. I have, alas, gone through emergency rooms as a patient, and it's amazing that doctors and nurses there can keep some semblance of sanity.
I did feel tense in watching the chapters of this dvd set. It's bloody sometimes. There are tragedies and very little happiness. Will I watch subsequent years? Probably not. It's just a bit more graphic than I find entertaining.
ER Season 1
2009-09-22 - I bought this but then returned it. Just found it somewhere else with season one and two. Love the show though!!
The start to a great show!!
2009-03-28 - If you like doctor/er type shows, then ER is a great show to get started on! I have watched this show since it started, and you the characters really grow on you. This show has 11 total seasons. If you have not been apart of the ER rush, start today! I think the earlier seasons are way better then the later seasons, however it is still a great show!
Back To The Beginning
2009-03-20 - I have been a fan of ER since the beginning, though I have not gone back to view old episodes, though I have caught a few now and again on televsion. And as the show is winding down its run I started getting a bit sentimental (for lack of a better term) and about the show and began thinking back how I was immediately captivated by it. So I went and got the first season.
The first season recaptivated me again, and is a standout one among all these years. Having not seen many of these episodes in quite along while they were fresh and powerful again. If you are a newer ER fan and did not ctach these episodes you should get this because you will love them. And if you have been a fan since the beginning, these are some of the biggest standout episodes and writing of the series. Over time some seasons had some ups and downs, this one is solid.
The bonus features alone are worth the price of the set, but it is a case of having your cake and eating too, you have it all.
Highly recommended to any ER Fan.
