Subj : Re: Canon City
To   : alt.tv.er
From : Dropping The Helicopter
Date : Sat Sep 24 2005 23:26:24

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.er

npardue@indiana.edu wrote:
> Dropping The Helicopter wrote:
>>>> That was
>>> the main thing that struck me about the eppy -- it didn't 'feel' like
>>> any previous season; neither like the generally crappy stuff we've been
>>> fed the past two seasons, nor did it feel like 'classic ER.'  The
>>> question is, do I like this new style of ER, and I can't answer that
>>> yet, because I haven't decided. In each storyline there were things I
>>> liked a lot, and things I didn't like at all.
>>>
>> In all seriousness, I didn't get a new feel at all.  In fact I got the
>> exact opposite:
>>
>> - The road trip was an almost verbatim ripoff of the Doug/Mark one in
>> season (whenever).
>> - We've seen the exact same "New Residents Are Idiots" stuff in each and
>> every season.  In fact, I believe that they used mostly stock footage in
>> the premiere for that, and simply spliced in footage of Howie Mandel
>> from "St. Elsewhere" for the scenes with Neela.
>> - They even dredged up the "Day in the life" episode(s).  Well, in this
>> one I guess I do have to hand it to them: they covered *THREE* shifts!
>> Yawn.
> 
> 
> Yeah, they've done similar themes before.  But still, the whole sense
> of it was different to me.  It's something you really can't explain ...
> like if they removed our familiar characters and plugged new ones into
> the scenario, we wouldn't know it was ER.

Hmm, I just didn't catch it.  Unless you count the general devolution of 
the series; there's definitely the shift there from "show you want to 
watch" to "show of which you want to find some small morsel left to enjoy".

>  (And while they've done road
> trips before, [not only Doug/Mark is S4, but Abby/Carter in S7), they
> were very different in intent -- those were both two friends making a
> relatively short drive to a known destination and using the time to
> cement relationships.)
> 

Yeah, but this one was too.  Until they get there and she dumps him.

> 
>>> I found the Sam/Luka storyline very watchable (or, maybe it was just
>>> that Luka was exceptionally watchable...), though it did peter out at
>>> the end. And, of course, they never explained a few rather important
>>> points ... like how Alex made it all the way to Colorado without anyone
>>> wondering who this kid was. Sam did the franctic mom thing well.
>> Yes, but it made little sense to me, and (dare I say it?) broke my
>> suspension of disbelief (there, I did it, I used a theatre term about as
>> far away from anything theatre as possible, and I will not apologize!).
>>   "Oh my God, my bratty kid ran away again!  I'm in such a complete
>> tizzy that I'll hit a deer and nearly kill me and a guy that should by
>> all rights have cut my sweet ass loose seasons ago, AND THEN TRY TO
>> DRIVE OFF IN HIS WRECKED CAR.  THEN I WILL TRY TO ***HITCHHIKE*** TO
>> COLORADO."
> 
> My feelings about it were rather mixed.  I agree that her reaction was
> a little (or maybe more than a little) OTT. But as a mom I know that
> parental reactions to our kids being in danger are not always rational.
>  Some parents become very calm, others flip out.  Sam flipped out.

Yeah but it seemed to be a break in character to me, which is something 
we simply have never seen happen on ER.  I just don't recall her ever 
showing any tendency for "OMGOMGOMG!!  I'm in a total tizzy because Alex 
is out of my sight!  Stand back, I'm about to completely flip out!" 
What really was over the top for me was the Iowa deal:

Cop: "They're faxing a photo over now..."
Sam: "ELECTRONS TRAVELING IN WIRE IS SIMPLY NOT FAST ENOUGH!  WE MUST 
DRIVE TWO HUNDRED MILES INSTEAD!!!"
Luka: "I will go with you even though doing so makes absolutely no sense 
even to mothers who are completely flipping out."

Huh?  Wait two seconds for the fax, case closed.

> (And
> I thought the atelope scene was very well written and played AND
> directed.

Agreed, except for the antelope not being dead / maybe dead / don't 
know.  I saw no movement.  Small nit to pick I know.

>  (And, while hithiking from McCook Nebraska or whereever the
> hell they were wasn't real bright ....  at least it meant they weren't
> DRIVING anymore and putting every other car on the road in danger!
> 

AH!  Very good point! ;-)

>>> A few other minor glitches/questions.
>>> How probable was it for the kid in the Davenport hospital to have been
>>> Alex.  Could he really have ended up in a diabetic coma THAT fast? He
>>> left the previous evening; it's now early the next morning.
>>>
>> How probable was it that a helicopter would fall on Romano?
> 
> At least that fits in with the laws of physics. Large, heavy things
> fall and tend to squash people who are standing underneith when they
> hit the ground.

True.

> But this one doesn't fit the laws of
> medicine/physiology.

There's still medicine and/or physiology and/or theatrical integrity on ER?

> A kid doesn't go from "well-controlled diabetes"
> to "diabetec coma so severe that, 5+ hours later the patient is still
> comotose and unable to give his name" after less than 12 hours.

True enough.

>>> Along with recasting Alex, they also aged him a bit. IIRC, he was 9
>>> when he joined the show early S10 (October 2003). It's now just under 2
>>> years later and he's 12.
>>>
>> That's in TV years though, every show does that.
> 
> ER pretends to run in 'real time.'  They shouldn't be able to do that.

Well, you'll get no real argument from me.  My point there was, if that 
was the worst of ER's problems....

> (Esp. since there was no real reason to.  Sam could be just as franctic
> about a runaway 11 year old.)
> 

I think we can probably chalk it up to sloppiness / 
just-don't-give-a-shit-anymore-iness.  It would take the least of us, 
what, two seconds to put all the characters' ages into an Excel 
spreadsheet, put the show's "assumed to occur on date" in one cell, and 
automatically have it calculate out how old every character is, to the 
exact second?

What a tragedy this show has become.

.