ER is a popular NBC serial drama primarily set in a teaching hospital's emergency room, the fictional County General Hospital (based loosely off Cook County General, a real hospital) on Division Street in Chicago, Illinois. The series was created by novelist Michael Crichton. The first episode, known as "24 Hours", "Pilot", or "E.R.: The Movie", aired in the United States on Monday, September 19, 1994. The show is produced and co-written by John Wells. Stephen Spielberg was for the first episodes the executive producer. The series exists in the same (television) universe as the series Third Watch and Medical Investigation.

It has won at least one Emmy every year of its production up to and including the 2003 awards and won the People's Choice Award for "Favorite Television Dramatic Series" every year from 1997 to 2002. Over the years, it has been nominated for and/or won numerous other awards including BAFTAs, Screen Actors Guild awards, TV Guide awards, Image Awards, GLAAD awards, and Golden Globes.

The show is also notable for broadcasting a live episode in 1997, with the NBC camera crew disguised as a PBS crew making a documentary film in the hopsital. Even more unusual, the actors performed the show again three hours later, so that the west coast airing would be live as well.

Before the 11th season it was announced that Alex Kingston's (Dr. Corday) contract was not being renewed, and she recently left the series. Also, Noah Wyle (Dr. Carter) has announced his intention to leave the show at the end of the 2004-2005 season.

The complete first season of ER was released on DVD on August 26, 2003.

Current stars of the series

• Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter (1994-2005)
• Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis (1994-1996, 2001-present)
• Laura Innes as Dr. Kerry Weaver (1995-present)
• Goran Visnjic as Dr. Luka Kovac (1999-present)
• Maura Tierney as Dr. Abby Lockhart (2000-present)
• Mekhi Phifer as Dr. Greg Pratt (2002-present)
• Parminder Nagra as Dr. Neela Rasgotra (2003-present)
• Linda Cardellini as Nurse Samantha Taggart (2003-present)
• Shane West as Dr. Ray Barnett (2004-present)

Former cast members

• George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross (1994-1999)
• Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene (1994-2002)
• Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton (1994-2001)
• Julianna Margulies as Nurse Carol Hathaway (1994-2000)
• Gloria Reuben as Physician's Assistant Jeanie Boulet (1995-1999)
• Alex Kingston as Dr. Elizabeth Corday (1997-2004)
• Maria Bello as Dr. Anna Del Amico (1997-1998)
• Paul McCrane as Dr. Robert Romano (1997-2003)
• Kellie Martin as Lucy Knight (1998-2000)
• Erik Palladino as Dr. Dave Malucci (1999-2001)
• Ming-Na as Dr. Jing-Mei ("Deb") Chen (1994-1995, 2000-2004)
• Michael Michele as Dr. Cleo Finch (2000-2001)
• Sharif Atkins as Dr. Michael Gallant (2001-2004)

Other long-serving regular cast not credited as stars

• Sam Andersonn as Dr. Jack Kayson (1994-1995, 1997-1999, 2001-present)
• John Aylward as Dr. Donald Anspaugh (1996-present)
• Eion Bailey as Jake Scanlon (2004-present)
• Abraham Benrubi as Jerry Markovic (1994-1999, 2002-present)
• Conni Marie Brazelton as Connie Oligario (1994-2003)
• Lisa Nicole Carson as Carla Reese Simmons McGrath (1995-2001)
• Laura Cerón as Chuny Marquez (1995-present)
• Ellen Crawford as Lydia Wright (1994-2003)
• Deezer D as Malik McGrath (1994-present)
• Ron Eldard as Ray Shepard (1995-1997)
• Christine Elise as Dr. Harper Tracy (1996-1999)
• Omar Epps as Dr. Dennis Gant (1996-1997)
• Troy Evans as Frank Martin (1994 pilot, 2000-present)
• Sally Field as Maggie Wyczenski (2000-2003)
• Jorja Fox as Dr. Maggie Doyle (1996-1999)
• Yvette Freeman as Haleh Adams (1994-present)
• Sara Gilbert as Jane Figler (2004-present)
• Scott Grimes as Dr. Archie Morris (2003-present)
• Michael Ironside as Dr. William Swift (1995, 1998)
• William H. Macy as Dr. David Morgenstern (1994-1998)
• Lily Mariye as Lily Jarvik (1994-present)
• Vanessa Marquez as Wendy Goldman (1994-1997)
• Kristin Minter as Randi Fronczak (1995-2003)
• Leland Orser as Dr. Dubenko (2004-present)
• CCH Pounder as Dr. Angela Hicks (1994-1997)
• Beah Richards as Mae Benton (1994-1995)
• Kyle Richards as Dori (2000-present)
• Monté Russell as Curtis Zadro (1995-present)
• John Terry as Dr. Div Cvetic (1994-1995)
• Lisa Vidal as Sandy Lopez (2001-2004)
• Emily Wagner as Doris Pickman (1994-present)
• Gedde Watanabe as Yosh Takata (1997-2003)

Broadcasters

• NBC (United States) (new episodes)
• TNT (United States) (reruns only)
• Raidue (Italy) (new episodes)
• FOX Life (Italy) (reruns only)
• Television New Zealand (New Zealand) (new episodes & reruns)
• France 2 (France)
• TSR 1 (Switzerland)
• RTL-TVI (Belgium)
• CTV and SRC (Canada)
• Channel 4 (new) and Sky One (re-runs) (UK)
• Pro7 (Germany) (new episodes)
• Kabel1 (Germany) (reruns only)

External links

• NBC's ER website
• Warner Bros. official ER website
• ER entry on IMDB
• Google archive of alt.tv.ER newsgroup
• A comprehensive collection of episode guides and reviews (Note: This collection ends with series 9 (2002-2003) and appears to have no intent of updating. It is however the better of the two episode guides.)
• Another set of episode guides