Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
I don’t watch much television, maybe an hour a day, late at night when I finally finish at my desk and want to wind down before bed. I also try to watch a film at a weekend. Not always successfully.
Generally, we record many different series and end up watching them months and months, if not years, after everyone else is talking about them.
There are a few that have fully engaged me over the years. Line of Duty and Game of Thrones immediately spring to mind. There must have been others.
However, there is one series that I have loved ever since I saw it for the first time way back in the 90’s. At that time, I had young children and a full time job and there was just one episode shown a week. Can you even imagine that now in a world where everything is streamed and you can watch a whole series in a couple of days, should you want to?
The series in question is ER (Emergency Room) and if you haven’t seen it it’s a medical drama set in the emergency room (A&E in the UK) of the fictional County General Hospital in Chicago. It is busy and bloody and chaotic, and I love it!
In those days I made sure I was ready to watch each weekly episode as although we had the ability to record stuff it was a little haphazard. Taping had to be done onto VHS cassettes and these were not reliable. The recordings were frequently of poor quality, occasionally getting chewed up in the machine, and the player had to be handled just right to even manage to get it to accept a tape and play it. As I didn’t want to risk a recording mishap I preferred to watch live, whenever possible. This was the first time I watched the series through.
The second time was after we had a major upgrade in recording ability which I think was around 2010. Anyway, the series was recorded and I watched them far more frequently than one a week! I loved the storylines, the drama unfolding in the emergency room in each episode but also the background lives of the doctors and nurses as they progressed through the series. I loved the attention to detail in the writing, the character arcs and the care maintained through fifteen series which set the tone (if you know, you know) for this beautiful series.
Anyway, scroll forward to the present day and guess what? I was bought the complete box set of ER for Christmas by my wonderful son and his girlfriend – yay! All fifteen series of it. All 331 episodes. All 93 discs.
All. That. Distraction.
It’s been long enough since the last watch through that most of the detail has been forgotten (you know what my memory is like!) so I’m almost coming at this fresh and it’s as good as ever, if not better. I’m trying to limit myself, I really am, but it’s difficult when Greene, Ross, Lewis, Carter, Hathaway and Benton are oh so close and ready to entertain me. It really is a case of just one more… but how will that get the writing done?
How about you? Is there any series that has completely captured your attention so that you want to watch it again, and again? Do let me know any of your TV obsessions as they might remind me of other series I’ve enjoyed.
Pam and I both oved the comedy series “frasier” which was so witty and full of unusual comments and psychological insights. As the grandson of a famous psychologist I find that aspect of medicine fascinating, and the writers as you would expect, writing ABOUT psychologists have done their homework very well. My son gave us the box set too! The development of the longterm plot and the warming of the characters was one of the things that kept us watching, as was the anticipation of being able to guess the outcome of each episode using one’s knowledge of the basic nature of each personality, and the formula of the plotting mechanism. Nevertheless, the detail of how Frasier was going to have his plans thwarted every time was never quite as expected, and the dry wittiness of the conversation was always a pleasure.
Ken P
Oh yes, Ken, I absolutely loved Frasier too! I thought the characters were terrific and loved his brother, Niles, and father, Marty, particularly.
Although I haven’t watched any of these more than once: ER, Grey’s Anatomy, This is Us, A Million Little Things (my current obsession), Shameless (raunchy and hilarious and one we’re rewatching because the hubs didn’t watch the first 2 seasons), Orange is the New Black.
And own on DVD and haven’t watched more than once: Game of Thrones (even have a dog named after the actress who played Arya), and Battlestar Galactica (the remake with Katee Sackoff as Starbuck)
I’ve only seen Grey’s Anatomy and Shameless out of this list, Jeanne, (other than ER, of course!) but liked both of those. I’ll add some of your other choices to my to-be-watched list. I think I’ve watched Game of Thrones more than once, actually. At least some of the seasons as we’d re-watch the previous one when a new one was about to launch.
House is a huge favourite, I remember seeing a couple of series on tv back in the ‘90s but loads of it now available on Netflix. However, there is one multi-series that I found on iplayer last year that I absolutely loved, in fact might start watching it again if available: Last Tango in Halifax. I had seen trailers for it over several years but had never been tempted, so a complete surprise when it swept me away.
Thinking about it makes we want to get the knitting out and sit down right now ……….
I’ve never seen House, but would probably like it, however I’ve seen Last Tango in Halifax and hope you succumbed to the temptation to sit down for another watch, and get some knitting done too.
We too watched the box set of Frasier, having enjoyed the series for many years. We missed out on The West Wing when it was first broadcast, but four years ago we saw the first episode via a freebie disc that came with a Sunday newspaper. We were so impressed we immediately bought the box set, and loved the whole thing. In celebration of Biden’s victory, we’re watching it again. It’s still absolutely brilliant!
We discovered Line of Duty years after everyone else. Looking forward to the next series.
Oooh, yes! The West Wing! I loved that years ago and have forgotten it sufficiently to make it another good one to re-watch. Thanks for the reminder!
You’re very welcome! Thanks to Claire for mentioning the excellent series, House, which has just reminded me of another series I loved and would like to watch again – Mad Men.
I missed Mad Men too. I shall have to try and catch up on it sometime.
Georgia I never saw ER … maybe I can find it on Netflix. I will start with the George Clooney episodes I was so very hung up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The writing was witty and clever and the characters (my favorite was Spike) and storylines really pulled me in.
I hope you enjoy it if you do watch it, Cindy. I’m thoroughly enjoying the Clooney episodes again! I never saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer though. Maybe I shall have to hunt that down one day
What a thoughtful present from your son and his girlfriend!
My most recent favourite series is The Last Kingdom.
Like you, I don’t watch more than an hour or perhaps two of of TV a day, and not even every day.
My favourite all time series belongs to my childhood/early teen years, Star Trek. I still watch it on Netflix occasionally!
I remember being impressed by Rich man Poor man, too. The final episode was epic! I vividly remember hugging my best friend and crying as the main character dies.
Upstairs Downstairs, The Forsyte Saga, Poldark and Jane Eyre, of course;) are also unforgettable, but it’s never the same when you watch them years later, at least not for me. I’ve grown impatient and hungry for action and thrills. I find them slow and dull now.
It was thoughtful! And well remembered. I’d obviously made some comment to it at some point over the year and they’d remembered.
I’ve never heard of The Last Kingdom or Rich Man Poor Man but I certainly remember Star Trek! I think the thing with ER is that it is fast paced so there is no time to get bored. I also like action and thrills!
My series obsession is definitely Heartland! It’s set in Alberta, Canada, and the main character is a girl who works with abused and abandoned horses. I started watching it when it came on TV sometime around 2007, and after they switched it to a cable channel that I didn’t receive, I bought the first few seasons on DVD. Now it’s on Netflix and I binge watched all of it over the last few months. I think we’re supposed to be getting new episodes today, so I can’t wait to get off work and go find out for sure!
I’ve never heard of Heartland, Kim, but it sounds wonderful. I shall keep a look out for it. I hope those new episodes have arrived and you can indulge yourself!
I’ve been rewatching ER too on All 4. I love the way it doesn’t condescend or over-explain, just throws you into the story. It also looks fantastic – I think it was one of the first TV shows to be recorded on film.
Oh yay! A fellow fan 😀 I agree on all counts, Kate. The last disc I watched (at the end of season 2) was some of the background stuff, how they filmed it etc, and it was so interesting. It’s written and filmed at such a pace it’s really astonishing they can manage to get it all done.
[…] written about my obsession with ER before HERE but I have loved having this series to watch this year. I’ve only just started series 4 so plenty […]