I’m not even sure I’m going to bother watching tonight. Sure, I’m quite aware of the horror that is Darfur, but for it to keep turning up on ER isn’t something I look forward to.
How about you?
I agree. Enough with the African subplots already. If my husband weren’t still a fan, I’d probably have stopped watching ER long ago. I don’t want this show to raise my political consciousness. I want it to be entertaining. When my political consciousness needs arousing, I’ll find something on PBS or the History Channel.
I’m not even going to tape it. For a ratings ploy, it sure isn’t working on this particular viewer.
Did anybody wind up seeing it? Was it as heavy-handed as we’d suspected?
I watched the first 20 minutes or so, hoping they’d flash back over to the ER for at least part of it.
It was just the boring dreck you expected — earnest, melancholy Carter and whatshisface, and pointing out the horror of the situation over there. Babies dying, people getting shot up, the military abusing their power, etc.
Guys — your show is intended to be entertainment. This ain’t it.
It’s sort of like a really serious version of the Moldavia plotline from DYNASTY in the 1980s. It isn’t helping Darfur as much as its hurting ER.
What I loved about their self importance at being ernest was that at the end there was a message
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DARFUR GO TO HTTP://NBC.COM/ER
Yeah. That’s a good web site. Mhmm. Those “Save Darfur” and “Stop the Genocide” and UNICEF and encyclopedia articles about it are pretty good to, but the NBC/ER site is so much better because why listen to some egghead blather about Tutus and Hootsies or whatever when you can get Noah Wyle’s take on the matter?
Jeez it’s ER!
Perhaps someone decided that while they were entertaining you they should educate you, or at least make you think about something other then doctor-angst or doctor-relationships.
It’s a frigging TV show that has been on for EONS. If Darfur bores you then it is time you changed the bloody channel (who the hell kept this doctor,nurse CRAP going for so long!).
If the the show has been going long enough that it’s popularity is ensured then it deserves nothing but KUDOS for attempting to show people what life is like elsewhere on the planet.
Why is tv always about entertainment? Didn’t this show spend years basking in the award glow? Perhaps they entertained long enough to make money and glitz and glamour and now they are hoping the captive audience will follow them and actually learn something…other then a a bunch of medical terminolgy.
I watch reality crap myself…the human beast never disappoints (entertainment WHILE seeing how crap people can be).
I loved the episode. I wouldn’t mind a spin off, maybe a “Doctors Without Borders”?
I’m so bored with the ER characters it was a refreshing change. I don’t care for Carter with his Clooney-esque bobbing head but I’m enjoying seeing Pratt out of his element and the other doctor, the one that needs surgery, I think he’s great.
And the storyline…I had no idea it was so bad out there. I guess I don’t pay close enough attention to international news but it hit me hard.
But no, it’s not ER. I guess next week we’ll be back to people getting shot up, babies dying, and gang/inmate/random others violence in Chicago where it’s supposed to be.
He was great on the TV show OZ as Kareem Said, a militant black American muslim and “celebrity prisoner”. On that he spoke in a cultured American oratory style and in ER he had an African accent, but his actual speaking voice is a beautiful English accent.
PS- I specify “black American Muslim” even though it’s fairly obvious he wasn’t playing a Chinese baker, but because I’m not sure if his character was “Black Muslim” [i.e. Farrakhan] or just black and Muslim [i.e. Malcolm X after his split with Elijah Muhammad]).
This was the first Darfur episode that I actually enjoyed. Not sure why, specifically.
I don’t demand that all TV be about entertainment. I watch a lot of non-entertainment programming. However, this show is basically a hospital soap opera, and that’s what I want it to be. If its creators want it to become a preachy political “message” melodrama, that’s their prerogative. I won’t be watching, though.
I like the occasional African episodes. I don’t know if a spinoff would work, but they’re an interesting digression.
And I think Mary McCormack is hotter in ER than in The West Wing.
I. for one, have gotten so bored with the regurgitated story lines in the “normal” ER episodes that the Darfur subplot’s actually rekindled my interest.
I also like the idea of putting stuff as emotionally disturbing as Darfur smack dab in the middle of prime-time. If American news feels the best stories to run concern abductions of rich white girls, then maybe the next best thing is to get real-world news stuck in the middle of our soaps.
I’m not saying ER is “real” news - but I can’t remember seeing anything about Darfur in the news for a long time, and it does seem like a pretty significant thing.
Of course, the general reaction to this is a gigantic “Meh” and a reach for the remote (hey, I’m going to hell too) - It’s easier to watch this than /do/ anything about it as shown by movies like Hotel Rawanda. We beat our chest and rend our clothes all the way to the mini-fridge, and then switch over to SuperNanny.
Aren’t humans grand?
Every bit. You could tell a good story in that setting, but the writers from ER don’t seem to be the people to do it.
It’s not like I would necessarily dislike seeing a drama set over there. But ER’s Africa episodes are just aren’t good from a story-telling perspective. I feel like I’m basically being yelled at by left-wing do-gooder types rather than getting involved in a story. If I wanted yelling from lefty do-gooders, I’d ask any number of my friends to do it, or just sit in front of a mirror and do the yelling myself, thank you very much!
I seriously don’t like any of ER’s Very Special Episodes.
I don’t need my entertainers to do that. In fact, if I want someone to educate me, I want it to be someone who’s educated on the subject themselves. I have no hostility to learning about the situation in the Darfur; I simply don’t need the hackneyed, manipulative attempts of ER’s producers to do it. Stick to what you’re good at, people.
But, but, sweaty Mary McCormack!
Yep, on the plus side there was that. And for those of us who prefer sweaty guys, the very well-built Mekhi Phifer.
Nevertheless, I prefer my perspiring eyecandy to remain stateside. For me, this show has jumped the camel.
I thought hackneyed, manipulative drama is what they’re good at. I don’t see why the setting of Sudan changes anything.
So I wasn’t the only one getting a spin-off vibe? Mark my words, we’ll see “E.R. Africa” in 2007 or 2008.
Of all the Africa episodes, this was the most interesting one. But then, that’s like picking the best of the final three Police Academy movies… When I want TV to educate me, I watch one of the discovery channels, thanks.
I think there is probably a huge percentage of ER fans that don’t know the first thing about what is going on in Darfur. If these episodes get a few more folks to start paying attention I think that’s a good thing.
Also, I like Mekhi Pfeiffer, his character is infinitely more interesting than most of the other doctors.
You’re all forgetting the good thing about the Africa episodes.
No Sam or that spawn of hers!