# Question about "e.r." (TV Show) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2000, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628 "2000-12-08T14:58:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sdimbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdimbert/32/20204_2.png) [@sdimbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdimbert)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/1 "2000-12-08T14:58:28Z")
Regarding last night’s episode (Dec 7, 2000), has Anthony Edwards announced intentions to leave the program? My wife is really upset. [sub]If we can, let’s try to avoid spoilers in this thread. It’s just nicer that way.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/2 "2000-12-08T15:24:02Z")
I haven’t heard anything. Granted, I don’t keep up on these types of things (I didn’t know that David Duchovny was trying to leave the X-Files). OTOH, next week looks like some kind of “miracle” episode in which a baby gets born and Anthony Edwards has some kind of hope restored to him. IMHO, the show has been pretty bad this season – everything has been **waaay** too overdramatic. Last night’s episode was a good example. No, they don’t give him a neuroma or something mild. No, they don’t give him an astrocytoma, which is worse but still survivable. No, they don’t give him an anaplastic astrocytoma which is pretty piss poor. No, they don’t even give him a legitimately sized glioblastoma multiforme. They give him a full-on non-operable GBM. Average time from diagnosis to death is like 2 months. It is seriously like the absolute worse cancer you can have, even pancreatic cancer. There are some life insurance plans that will let you cash in your policy with that kind of diagnosis – it is basically universally fatal, quickly. Let’s list some stuff that has happened in the 6 or so episodes **this season** : Mark - deathly brain tumor Mark - helicopter crash Elizabeth - pregnant Elizabeth - lawsuit Mark + Elizabeth - engagement Peter - nephew shot and killed Peter - fired Peter - rehired Carrie - possibly lesbian Abby - most bipolar mother in the whole world Carter - recovering addict Kovac - killed a man It used to have some semblance of a plot. Now it is just an overly dramatic soap opera. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/3 "2000-12-08T15:25:16Z")
oops I never saw the line about spoilers. My bad… ::backs away non threateningly:: ---
**Author:** ![LazarusLong42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/4 "2000-12-08T16:07:31Z")
I’ve been told this is the last season of ER. So… even if he doesn’t want to leave, I think he will be. Then again, my sources may be wrong. LL ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/5 "2000-12-08T16:30:01Z")
_E.R._ is renewed through 2004. Anthony Edwards contract runs through 2002. (This is according to [E! online](http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,6380,00.html).) Neither of these necessarily means that _E.R._ will continue or that Anthony Edwards won’t leave, but they do indicate the possibility. I haven’t heard anything about Edwards leaving the show, but then I didn’t know Julianna Margulie was leaving until two weeks before that episode. Based strictly on last night’s episode, I was wondering if both Mark Greene and Elizabeth Corday were on there way out. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/6 "2000-12-08T16:47:06Z")
This confuses me too, considering that Anthony Edwards is contracted through 2002. I sense something really schmaltzy on the horizon. The promo they ran at the end of the show mentioned something about “a night of Christmas miracles.” Do you think they’ll actually make Mark’s tumor miraculously disappear? I hope not. Not that I want the character to die, but that would just be too much. About last night’s episode in general and the trend the show has been displaying lately. Someone needs to put the writers on suicide watch. I was so friggin’ depressed after last night’s episode, I barely wanted to get out of bed this morning. ---
**Author:** ![sdimbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdimbert/32/20204_2.png) [@sdimbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdimbert)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/7 "2000-12-08T17:16:49Z")
**Jack** , you’re on the money. It’s easily to most depressing program on TV… has been for years. It’s like the writers go through cycles. First it’s “It Sucks to Be Benton” month, then thy move to “It Sucks to Be Mark.” They drop in a couple of weeks of “It Sucks to Be Carter,” for filler, then they can get back to “It Sucks to Be Benton.” You see the pattern? 🙂 BTW, this is a hijack, but Sally Field is _fantastic_. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/8 "2000-12-08T17:40:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sdimbert \* > \*\ ***Jack** , you’re on the money. It’s easily to most depressing program on TV… has been for years. It’s like the writers go through cycles. First it’s “It Sucks to Be Benton” month, then thy move to “It Sucks to Be Mark.” They drop in a couple of weeks of “It Sucks to Be Carter,” for filler, then they can get back to “It Sucks to Be Benton.” You see the pattern? 🙂 > > BTW, this is a hijack, but Sally Field is _fantastic_. \*\* You made me laugh out loud. 🙂 And yes Sally Field is doing a bang up job. I think she’s a terrific actress as do many people, which would explain the two Oscars and an Emmy on her mantel already. And you know she is having a blast with this, too. I still love ER, although i’m missing Julianna Margulies terribly, and Kovac, while being stunningly beautiful, is no George Clooney. I want more Carrie. I finally learn to love her, and they barely show her! As for mark, yes he will be miraculously healed. Of course he will, are you nuts? He’s the heart and soul of the show…without him there is no center. stoid ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/9 "2000-12-08T18:17:32Z")
Personally, I’m just about through with the show. I’ve been a fan since the beginning of it, however, anymore, I just can’t take the plot lines, the characters and the points all mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/10 "2000-12-08T18:26:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by edwino \* > \*\* IMHO, the show has been pretty bad this season – everything has been **waaay** too overdramatic._\* I haven’t been watching too often but I caught the one on Thanksgiving. It was pathetic–they have the crystal meth blow up for no reason other than to have an explosion–no one’s seriously hurt, no real crisis. Just fireworks for the sake of fireworks. Pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/11 "2000-12-08T18:28:07Z")
Does the ER even take place in a hospital anymore? They worked on three patients last night. One was Mark. Another was Abby’s mom. No wonder they get so backlogged there. Also, I know that Eric La Salle doesn’t want to leave the show, but for Benton to accept that job as an ER advisor is just selling out everything he stands for. “Romano, I wouldn’t work for you again if you felated me right here in the ER. Oh, hey Carrie, there’s a job opening? Well, sign me up. Glad to be aboard again, Romano.” Edwards will NOT die. This much is certain. But for no reason whatsoever the writers have trapped themselves into a corner. Getting out again is going to be really a sickening display. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-e-r-tv-show/44628/12 "2000-12-08T22:57:51Z")
Here’s what will really happen: One of the other doctors will run some routine blood tests and discover that Green doesn’t really have a brain tumor – he’s actually suffering from … _thallium poisoning_. You know, the stuff from mystery novels that causes a bewildering variety of symptoms that look like other diseases. Green’s father’s body will be exhumed, and it will turn out that _he_ died of thallium poisoning as well. Suspicion will immediately fall on Corday and her mum, who, like all English people, are addicted to murder and particularly expert on the subject of untraceable poisons. (You didn’t know that? You need to read more Agatha Christie.) It will turn out that Patterson knew Corday before she fled to America and was about to turn her in to the authorities, so she tried to kill him on the operating table, but botched the job because she was in a hurry and left him a cripple. No wonder she’s so upset. Oh, and of course she’s faking the pregnancy. Stay tuned for next week’s powerful new episode!