Well, since last fall, NBC has not let up on reminding me that this is ER‘s final season. Every week since, there have been ads promising “an episode you can’t miss!” I’ve missed every one of them.
The show was enjoyable when it first started back in the fall of 1994. I watched for a few seasons completely fascinated by the intense medical drama they portrayed. But the show flatlined for me over a decade ago when it slipped down the slope of soap opera land.
This is a musty Must See TV ink and gouache illustration from the Illustration Guy Archives drawn during the second season of ER in 1995. Thought it should be trotted out as NBC mourns the death of their show this Thursday. I was out of college for only a year, and was trying to drum up caricature work while living in South Carolina. It turned out okay for what I was capable of at the time. I loved putting all the silly stuff on the shelves in the background.
That second season of ER they introduced Christine Elise (in case you are wondering who that first blonde is). She was introduced as a love interest for Noah Wylie, even having a part in the opening credits, so I thought she’d last. Turns out she was only on for 17 episodes. Next to Noah is George Clooney whose likeness could’ve been better. Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle, Sherry Stringfield, and Julianna Margulies round out the bunch.
Since moving to California, I have been to the Warner Bros. lot many times and visited the indoor set once with my cousin’s husband Dr. Scott Ries and daughter Grace. Even though I hadn’t followed the show in years, it was fun to see that make-believe set which looked VERY real. Scott was giddy – as a doctor himself, the visit must have held a little more significance. It was fun to see the actual room that inspired this piece so many years before.