‘ER’ flat-lined years before its planned exit

By BERTRAM RANTIN - brantin@thestate.com

Creators of the NBC series “ER” finally have faced up to a reality many of its bedside characters have avoided throughout the show’s history.

Executives announced this week that the once-hit drama will end its 15-year run next season. But the truth is, there hasn’t been a pulse there for years.

Make that seven or so years, to be specific.

To be sure, “ER” once was a standard-bearer for appointment television, providing a clever blend of high-paced emergency-room heroics with just enough interaction between the characters’ professional and personal lives. I, for one, was among those who wouldn’t have dreamed of missing an episode during the show’s earlier days.

But as original cast members begin exiting one by one, the hospital drama started to lose its way, with one drawn-out personal story after another and far too many overdone plotlines. I mean, isn’t the ER exciting enough without cars crashing through walls, toxic chemicals escaping into the hospital or gunmen holding doctors and patients hostage? Get real.

And despite hanging on to its original name, the show essentially evolved into “E.R. — The Next Generation,” as doctors and nurses were wheeled in and out of County General nearly as rapidly as its patients.

Carter and Abby. Abby and Luka. Luka and Sam.

Many of the newer actors were talented enough, but it became increasingly difficult for viewers to invest in a new character (and their baggage) practically every season.

Mercifully, it all will end next February, after the first of six new spring episodes airs tonight. Producers have indicated they might bring back some of the original cast members for the final show. But apart from Noah Wyle (Carter), would any of the others even be recognized (or appreciated) by most current viewers?

The decision to finally “call it” at the ER is a relief. Let the suffering end. The time of death for this show has long come and gone.