Vintage ER Episode Discussion: "24 Hours" {September 19, 1994}
 

Since the season is over, at least for now, I'm kicking off a 'Vintage ER Episode Discussion' series to keep the board active and give everyone a chance to relive the glory days. I've started with the pilot, "24 Hours", since we're at an end of sorts with "Atonement", it only seemed fitting to go back to where it all started. Next week, it'll be a different classic episode. I will post clips when I can find them, as well as a link to a full summary to refresh people's memories or inform new viewers. So, without any further, ado...

"24 Hours" - Complete episode summary at ER Headquarters.

*A Few Clips*

Mark tells Carter there are 2 kinds of doctors

Benton's famous fist-pump from the credits

Carter starts an IV for the first time; on Frank, erm, police officer guy


Discuss. Memories of watching it, impressions, reactions, scene you remember most, anything you want that pertains to the episode. :)

~Ash

God, I haven't watched the pilot in so long! ER had one of the strongest pilot episodes I've ever seen for a drama and the actors already seemed masters of their craft at working with the Steadicam and rattling off all the medical dialogue.

That first image of Carter standing at the admin desk with combed hair and a newly-ironed labcoat still sticks in my mind. :D As does the image of Carol being brought in on the gurney with the entire ER staff watching. :eek:

Looking back, it's crazy to see Benton as the eager resident who can't get his peers to take him seriously or give him interesting surgeries.

Hmm... I might go watch the pilot now. :gone:

:nod: I know. Carter as a med student just cracks me up. And Mark and Susan, and all the rest of the old guard. There are some things that just stay with you. The pilot was some of the strongest, best acted, most well written 2 hours of TV I've ever seen. No medical drama since has ever beaten it, IMO.

~Ash

I love the pilot. I've watched it again only a few days ago... one of the best episodes ever. Carter... :lmao:
And Carol, I can't believe she wasn't supposed to be a regular!! Can you imagine ER without Doug and Carol?? :eek:
Greene's sppech to Carter is one of my favourite moments ever. I'm gonna be a doctor in 2 years, and I gotta tell you, Greene's words are just so true!! :clap:

Lovin' this vintage ER idea Ash! :thumbs_up:

Mine too. I'm so glad the writer's remembered it 8 years down the road when they had Carter give the same speech to Gallant when he felt sick during a trauma.

:woot: Good for you, Val! :) All that time on the Scrubs board and I never realised you were studying to be a doctor. :lol: :blush:

*shudder*

And by the way, where have you been lately?? *taps foot*

Isn't it weird they "used" Frank twice? First as a patient and then as Frank? :lol:

:innocent: I've been scarce around fanforum lately, but as soon as school gets off my back, I'll be back. :nod:

Yeah. :lol: I sometimes forget the actor has been there since the beginning.

I'm always stunned by Carol's behaviour when she's ending her shift. She's so...normal to everyone, like Doug said, she was laughing and joking with everyone... Why do you think she did it?

The suicide attempt? My opinion is Doug broke her heart and so she jumped into a relationship with Tag when she wasn't over Doug. Tag and her mother seemed to be making decisions for her and I think she agreed to marry Tag to make them both happy. As time went on, she felt more and more trapped and her Plan B (Doug) was unreliable, so she saw death as the only way out. I'm sure there were more factors that built-up over a long time. She said to Doug in Season 3's Night Shift, "I just didn't think much of myself back then," so I'm guessing she lacked the courage to live her own live her own way and the result was she felt it would be easier to escape entirely.

No , I don't want to think about it .

when they are working an Carol and Doug just stands there. breaks my heart.

And herself. I really think she wanted to love Tag .From her standpoint he was perfect :he loved her , he was reliable and faithful. And safe (and very ,very boring ). Carol has a tendency to go for safety whenever she hits a rough spot with Doug. First Tag and then St Luka

By the way , I love this vintage episode thing

I was several years late seeing the pilot, but when I did finally see it I was just blown away. Amazing writing, amazing acting all around the board. Like yall've said, no other show's pilot has ever come close.

As for Carol, I don't know why she did it. But I don't think there's ever any one event that drives a person to suicide. One event may be the match that lights the fuse, but just that. You never know what's going on in a person's head. It's probably everything yall've said in combination with other factors we don't know about.

I couldn't imagine the show without her or without D/C. Just too much for my little brain to wrap around, lol.

Julianna Margulies said she'd always wanted the writers to revisit Carol's suicide attempt to explain why she did it, but John Wells wanted to focus more on Carol becoming more confident and not on her reliving a painful time in her life. :shrug: I don't know. I remember reading a fanfic where Carol's dad committed suicide and that was one of the things which prompted her to do it as well.

Wasn't the pilot filmed in an actual abandoned hospital? They couldn't build a set big enough, so they had to actually go on location until the show was commissioned and they could build a proper set. :lol:

Yeah that's true, it's said in the s1 extras. :nod:
(OT:Scrubs is still set in a real, abandoned hospital. ;))

Carol did become more confident, just look at her speech in s1 finale, after Tag left her at the altar! :)
And, about Tag, do you guys recall, after the wedding's been called off, Carol and Doug laughing about him? Carol says something like "God, he was dull..." :lmao:

That's what I love about Doug . He could always make her laugh

Wasn't there some sort of dialogue before the Tag=dull statement ?
Something like this

C:Fly-fishing and bowling and his glorious days playing football in college
D: Fly-fishing and bowling ?
C: dull comment


And during the pilot shooting gang members tried to get help from the catering crew

Yeah there was, really funny!! :lmao: