Er 12/11/03 (1 Viewer)

[WillG]

Well, The episode is not even over yet, but I am dissapointed. For one, I am tired of the "Carter in Africa" episodes. Pretty dull if you ask me. It also seems to be just a little bit anti "certain side of the fence" which I am growing tired of as well.

Carter is going to be a daddy.

 

[Richard Gilmore]

The Africa sequences are sooooo sloowwww. This is not the er I know and love. It just seems like a setup to pound some political beliefs to me. Split it off as a separate series if you want, but leave my er alone. The only thing that kept me watching was Tandie...

 

[Patrick Sun]

I liked this episode. It gaves us a recap of Carter and Makemba and how their new romance blossomed in the face of 3rd world conditions. I tend to tune out on a lot of the administration bashing and concentrate on the microstories unfolding.

The dichotomy between Carter and Makemba was interesting as far as character revelations. Carter has always been focused on the micro-level of medicine, while Makemba's focus is on the macro-level of medicine. Carter's outburst from the frustration of not being able to find a quick and easy solution to a complex problem was fitting for him.

I thought it was also telling that Carter didn't consider Romano a friend, but Carter does have a lot of support (in contrast) by what the ER folks send him in time for Christmas. There's probably a lesson there somewhere.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

I think Carter had a grudging respect for Romano and while not a friend a little bit more than a colleague...consequently that would have been hard to explain to Makemba

 

[MattBu]

Mark me down as someone so bored that he would rather watch the re-runs of the West Wing on Bravo than the Africa slop which is flat out confusing as I didn't watch ER last season. I furthermore don't think that the ER team is talented enough to pull off a show which takes place in not only multiple locations, but multiple time frames. I believe that they threw this episode out there for everyone that's a carter fan. Though I find Noah Wyle much more likeable with a beard. Thandie Newton grew on me as I flipped back and forth to the episode, but in HD most of the scenes inside the hospital in Africa were SO blurry, I suppose to show heat. Give me shots of Winter in Chicago ANY time.

Hopefully they use the baby subplot to write Wyle off the show.

 

[Mike Slade]

but in HD most of the scenes inside the hospital in Africa were SO blurry

To my knowledge, ER was not broadcast in HD last night.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Last night's episode was an episode to show what's been happening to Carter right before he shows up in Chicago with his pregnant girlfriend. This was not an episode to appeal to Carter fans because Carter is returning (Noah was on his paternity leave he got when he became a dad in real life recently).

 

[BrianShort]

I guess I'm a fan of the Africa episodes. I've enjoyed all of them. I think the show might have gone a tad to far with it's agenda, but not enough that I was really put off by it. Certainly not as bad as something like John Q.

Does anyone know if Thandie Newton will be somewhat of a regular?

Brian

 

[MattBu]

This was not an episode to appeal to Carter fans

In your opinion. To me as someone that finds Carters story SO boring this episode is pointless. So if it's not for people that like Carter, and it's not for people that hate Carter, who was it for?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Fans of the show itself, and reintegrating its lead character back after a 6-8 week absence.

 

[Brent Bridgeman]

To my knowledge, ER was not broadcast in HD last night.

That's what I was going to ask about. I've only had HD for about 2.5 weeks now, and I noticed it was windowboxed last night. Does this happen often? I was disappointed that it wasn't HD. Maybe it was high "resolution" like "24" last night (although "24" fills the whole screen).

But, definitely not one of my favorite episodes. Why couldn't they have sent Romano to Africa to wreak havoc instead of squashing him like a bug? They need to stick to the ER and Chicago.

 

[Steven L]

It seems they're setting Carter up to have a noble reason to leave the show – move to Africa to be with his child and the woman he loves and to use his fortune to help those in need.

 

[MattBu]

To my knowledge, ER was not broadcast in HD last night.

It was windowboxed, but it looked about 30 times better than my garbage digital cable analog NBC.

 

[Mike Slade]

That's what I was going to ask about. I've only had HD for about 2.5 weeks now, and I noticed it was windowboxed last night. Does this happen often? I was disappointed that it wasn't HD. Maybe it was high "resolution" like "24" last night (although "24" fills the whole screen).

Although I don't know the reason it wasn't HD, I don't think this happens too often. Not on a nationwide level like last night anyway. However because my local station has failed to flip the HD switch on previous episodes of ER, this was my 3rd straight non-HD ER.

 

[John Lloyd]

There have been problems with ER not being in HDTV a few times before. Generally I think this occurs when there is inadequate time for the production company to produce the HD master. Perhaps they were still editing the episode after their deadline.

 

[John_Lee]

I had no problem with the Admin bashing as it was credibly coming from those who would be doing the bashing. I didn't see it so much espousing a viewpoint as portraying what Carter would be encountering as a 'merican in that setting.
I also thought it was interesting to see Carter, who had grown about as much as he could in the ER setting, learning how little he still knew about medicine. I'd liken it to Sidney taking her SD6 outline to the CIA and them putting it in the little corner of the full outline it occupied.

 

[WillG]

"

had no problem with the Admin bashing as it was credibly coming from those who would be doing the bashing.

Well at least they didn't have Carter going off on an anti war tirade when that part came up. I would have given up had that happened. But they made it clear he voted for "The other guy

 

[Mark C.]

Was it er or West Wing? Maybe the writers have swapped shows.

 

[Don Black]

Well, I think they had to re-introduce Carter into the fold somehow. The Africa storylines are slow simply because they are painfully true.

to the other guy.

 

[Stacy Huff]

"It seems they're setting Carter up to have a noble reason to leave the show – move to Africa to be with his child and the woman he loves and to use his fortune to help those in need."

Don't forget, this is ER. Carter, his baby, and his woman will all succumb to HIV. Nobody leaves happy.