I think it's really cool that ER has finally brought things up in newer episodes from earlier this season. The funny thing is, both things I noticed have come from "The Peace Of Wild Things". In "Be Still My Heart," Mrs. Connelly reappears (previously shown in "TPOWT" as the wife of the old man who died after the nursing home fire) and in "Viable Options", the diabetic kid, Eddie Bernero reappears. It's about time they finally started showing some continuity. Now if they would just show some reprucussions of characters' actions. I recently started watching re-run episodes (currently up to "A Miracle Happens Here" on the local CBS affiliate on Saturday nights. Now, while ER is still pretty good now, in the older days, it was better. There were more continuous story lines/reprucussions, and better character defintion--AND LESS PEOPLE IN THE MAIN CAST! With so many people in the cast, there is very little chance to flesh any of them out. We have, several new characters and we know a miniscule amount about them. This show could be so much better. I'm not saying it ain't good now, heck, I am a HUGE fan. But so many improvements could be made. Does anybody else agree???

-- cat (jcartersgirl@hotmail.com), April 10, 2000

Answers

I agree and I am pretty sure most others do to. The thing about the "old" ER is that the characters celebrated being with each other, and their personalities compliment each other so well. Carol, Doug, Carter, Mark, Susan, Benton, Jeanne, and all of the nurses. After seeing Noah Wyle on Leno and thinking back to all of their personalities, they go so well together. And since they did, we are reluctant to accept others. I am really starting to like Malucchi, he fits in, and I'm sure the others will too, it's just that those main people worked so well together, with their different but similar humor and ways of dealing with things. Now it seems like the characters are becoming very inconsistent (as many have reported). Carter is not the anxious, open doctor anymore, Carol is not as happy and delightful as she used to be (she is still delightful, but we never get to see it like we did when she was with Doug, or, and not to be a traitor, but I've noticed with Shep too...she was cute and happy with him, but she belonged with Doug), Mark is arguing with people instead of being supportive, Benton is NOT being a jerk (though that could be good), Doug, Jeanne, and Susan are gone! The nurses have even smaller parts, at least Randi is back a bit more, but where's Jerry?

So that's what I have to say, thanks for reading.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), April 10, 2000.

I've probably said it before, but it's all WRITING, WRITING, WRITING! In the older epi's, it's as though the writers had a plan: "We want to get Susan and Mark together, but Mark's gonna have to work through X, Y, and Z first..." --that kind of thing. Now it's like..."I'm all out of ideas...Hey! Maybe Lucy could be on Ritalin! Let's throw Mark and Elizabeth together and see what happens!" Whereas once they seemed to have a rough plan for the characters and storyarcs, now they seem to be working on the fly.

-- nancy (ntc72@mailcity.com), April 11, 2000.

Elaine, I couldn't have said it better myself!! You touched on every point I would've made, so I'm not going to try. :-) I just wanted to add that I don't consider it being a traitor to have enjoyed Carol with Shep, in my view he was an instrumental factor in helping to reunite her with Doug. JMHO.

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), April 11, 2000.

I don't think that the characters are being inconsistant. ER has been running for six years now and in six years people develop and change they cannot stay the same forever however much we wish they would.

-- laura (lwillett@bun.com), April 12, 2000.

Regarding continuity: I just want to say that it can be hard for writers to keep it. It seems the simplest thing in the world, but I'm working on my second novel and constantly have to go back to my notes or a previous chapter to clarify something that seemed so strong at the moment I wrote it. And I'll still laugh at stupid things I messed up when I go into the rewrite/editing stage. I'd say six years of information regarding so many characters is hard to keep up with. It bothers me, but I also understand when things don't always seem the most logical direction for a character to go.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), April 12, 2000.

Wanted to clarify: while I said that consistency and continuity can be difficult, I also believe them to be extremely important.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), April 12, 2000.

Has anyone ever read a book where each chapter is written by a different author? The characters are violently jerked from one personality and motivation to another, and the plot lurches down the highway like a big heavy car whose steering mechanism has gone out. Well... remind you of anything?

-- Felicity (felicity08@juno.com), April 13, 2000.

I agree to a point. I too liked the old ER for most of the same reasons mainly the way the characters worked together and how there were not so many of them. Do you remeber when they all met over Doc Magoo's after their shifts and Carol anounced the date Tag and her had set for their wedding. Peter even had a smile on his face. How I miss those epis. Now the only people at Doc's is Carol and Luka.

-- bridgette (bridgette713@html.com), April 18, 2000.