# ER finale ... any reason to watch if I haven't been for 6 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728 "2009-04-02T16:46:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/41 "2009-04-04T15:39:06Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > My four included Pratt, Lucy and Romano and a young black guy whose name I forget - I think he was a med student or early intern who either fell or jumped in front of a train. There was that dramatic moment when they were trying to page him to come help with the mangled unrecognizable patient and everybody realized when they heard the patient’s pager that the mangled unrecognizable patient was _him_. That was Gant, played by Omar Epps, now better known as Foreman on _House_! ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/42 "2009-04-04T22:04:28Z")
Erased what I originally wrote because I didn’t see that **SigmaGirl** beat me to it. Argh! Anyway, like others I mostly gave up after Greene left. (I liked Carter too, but he became too much of a jerk.) Then my favorite character turned to Corday. But once Romano’s arm was sliced off, followed by a _second_ helicopter accident, the increasing ridiculousness of the plots was too much to handle once and for all. And people make fun of daytime soaps! Yeesh. Plus, the unceasing trials of Abby bored the heck out of me. I love Maura Tierney, at least on _Newsradio_, but … no. The real problem, I think, was that ER seemed utterly joyless. Too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/43 "2009-04-04T23:18:00Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > That was Gant, played by Omar Epps, now better known as Foreman on _House_! I like to think that Gant just faked his death, assumed a new identity and started practicing in Philly. Maybe he had a twin brother that he pushed onto the tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/44 "2009-04-05T00:04:59Z")
I still love the episode that featured Romano’s amputation by helicopter, because for once NBC didn’t spoil it in the previews and the actual event was so quick and quiet. (Well, as quiet as it can be with a running helicopter in the scene.) But then to have the same character be crushed by a helicopter falling off the roof? Now, that was ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/45 "2009-04-05T00:08:21Z")
> [@Justin\_Credible](#): > > I like to think that Gant just faked his death, assumed a new identity and started practicing in Philly. Maybe he had a twin brother that he pushed onto the tracks. I think the same thing. He spent a long, long time in rehab, changed his name and is now working at Princeton-Plainsboro. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/46 "2009-04-05T00:28:02Z")
The consensus on the internets seems to be that the most definitive shark-jumping moment was Romano getting crushed by a helicopter. After that would be Greene dying, followed by Carter’s leaving. I checked out shortly after the helicopter; I just didn’t like the new cast. I still have to watch the last episode. Is the 1 hour clip show on Hulu as well? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/47 "2009-04-05T18:29:49Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > My four included Pratt, Lucy and Romano and a young black guy whose name I forget - I think he was a med student or early intern who either fell or jumped in front of a train. There was that dramatic moment when they were trying to page him to come help with the mangled unrecognizable patient and everybody realized when they heard the patient’s pager that the mangled unrecognizable patient was _him_. Best episode ever (or maybe tied with Greene and the childbirth gone wrong). The whole episode was crazy-quiet as there were no emergencies, staff were playing wheelchair races, etc. Meanwhile Carter hadn’t stuck up for Gant (who wasn’t doing well) but Gant had the peaceful, that’s OK dude, that in retrospect you know means he had already decided to off himself. In the last minute or so of this tedious night comes a patient who jumped in front of the train… My friend had actually changed the channel in the last minute because the episode was so quiet, and missed “The patient…it’s Gant” Carter: “O sweet Jesus!” ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/48 "2009-04-06T23:40:34Z")
Did anyone else happen to notice that Ming Na (Dr. Jing-Mei Chen) only got like 1/8th of a second of screen time in the ‘retrospective’? Wasn’t she a fairly prominent member of the cast? Maybe her original exit wasn’t pleasant. But speaking of unpleasant, I was generally surprised to see Alex Kingston (Dr. Elizabeth Corday) in any of these last episodes. She seemed pretty bitter when they axed her some years back for being too old and played out. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/49 "2009-04-07T10:49:01Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > Did anyone else happen to notice that Ming Na (Dr. Jing-Mei Chen) only got like 1/8th of a second of screen time in the ‘retrospective’? Wasn’t she a fairly prominent member of the cast? Maybe her original exit wasn’t pleasant. Ming Na’s _original_ exit, back in Season One, was pleasant. Her second exit, however, was not. There was a lot of back and forth between her and TPTB about the marginalization of her character, the fact that they essentially took her out of the ER and made her a nursemaid for her father, and mucked up her relationship with Greg Pratt for no good reason. Not pretty. > [@](#): > > But speaking of unpleasant, I was generally surprised to see Alex Kingston (Dr. Elizabeth Corday) in any of these last episodes. She seemed pretty bitter when they axed her some years back for being too old and played out. I thought it was extremely gracious of her to come back as she did. Telling the truth about the crappiness of her dismissal from the show and how badly it hurt kind of killed her Hollywood career, she should and could have told them to go pound salt. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/50 "2009-04-07T13:47:28Z")
I just watched the retrospective on Hulu. Why didn’t they have any of the nurses on? Or Jerry? Borrrring. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/51 "2009-04-11T02:01:39Z")
I’m still pissed they canceled _Chicago Hope_. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/52 "2009-04-16T14:39:51Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Margulies and Clooney were already on a recent episode, but there is a rumor they will also make an appearance in the final epsiode. We still have the show on the DVR, but my wife was only interested in watching if Doug Ross (Clooney) was on it. Can anyone confirm that he was or wasn’t on the series finale? Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/53 "2009-04-16T14:41:11Z")
I think he was at the new building ceremony - but no, he did not have a story arc about him. That was a few episodes previous to the finale. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/54 "2009-04-16T15:26:15Z")
We just watched on DVR a couple days ago- if he was anywhere, it only could have been at the ceremony, and if he was there, he was just in a crowd shot. He was not featured at all. I kind of doubt he’d do the show just to be a face in the crowd, so I’m pretty sure he wasn’t in it at all. Of course, I missed the first 8 minutes, so I guess he _could_ have been in it, but I’m not betting on it. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/55 "2009-04-16T15:58:05Z")
Nope, neither Clooney nor Margulies was in the finale. I was a little disappointed, but they still got a very nice sendoff in the episode which aired a few weeks earlier. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728/56 "2009-04-20T16:57:23Z")
Thanks! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/er-finale-any-reason-to-watch-if-i-havent-been-for-6-years/491728.md?page=2)