Customer Reviews

Chicago Hope

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here, in FL, it was on Discovery Health at 4 a.m.. now at 5 a.m. I started getting up at 3:30 so I wouldn't miss it (have to leave for work at 6, so I can't catch the 9 a.m. show!) and now I STILL get up at 3:30! It is better than ER and when ER beat it in ratings and drove it off, I was heartbroken! CH was ALWAYS BETTER!!!! ER is just drivel!
I wish they'd hurry up and release ALL seasons in a giant collection!

Is that why none of his shows are on DVD in America? Exactly what is keeping his stuff from being released? I'd quickly snatch up season 1 of "Chicago Hope" and the first 2-3 seasons of "Picket Fences" if they came out.

Regarding "Chicago Hope" vs "ER"...to me, if anything, they're complements to each other. "Chicago Hope" is quirky, methodical and character-driven. "ER" is grounded, fast-paced, intense and plot-driven. I've always preferred "ER", especially because I felt it was better and more satisfying for far longer("Hope" lost its appeal around season 3), but also because of the cast. While "Hope" featured better actors, the group on "ER" just came off as more likable and easier to get attached to. "Hope" also added and lost too many actors in its first couple seasons while "ER" lost just one core character in its first 4+ seasons.

With that said, the first season and a half of "Chicago Hope" is a revelation, with its wildly eccentric group of characters, often crazy plots and its ability to really tug at your heartstrings without being too corny or over-the-top. Not only is this a great cast in terms of individual performers, but they all work extremely well together. For the kind of material David E. Kelley is famous/infamous for, you need a group that can smoothly interact with each other and make the insanity seem natural. This wonderful ensemble gets the job done...nothing ever seems forced and you get the sense that these people feel genuinely comfortable in what is a surreal atmosphere.

Special mention goes out to Mandy Patinkin and his character "Jeffrey Geiger", one of the best performances and characters in tv history. Patinkin is always brilliant, managing to find the right note every time as a certifiable genius. Even when the charcter can be a total a**, Patinkin's skill and charm keep you from disliking him.

This is a great show that deserves to be on DVD. Will David E. Kelley please stop rolling around in his gigantic pile of $100 bills and get this and "Picket Fences" on DVD already!

I love this show. I TIVO it everyday, and I haven't been able to delete about 30 episodes so far, because I am afraid that they will never come out on DVD ! What is the hold up? The show first aired over 10 years ago. I'm really tempted to try to contact David E. Kelley at Boston Legal offices at A.B.C. because I can't think of anything else to do to find out what the problem is. This is one of the best shows EVER on T.V. Mandy Patinkin and Christine Lahti were BRILLIANT on this show.

Thanks for reading and if you agree, lets make some noise !!!!

KarensKids2003@aol.com

"Chicago Hope" and "ER" were contemporaneous television medical dramas. The fact that "ER" was more commercially successful despite its palpably inferior quailities on every level, explains why it is currently possible to buy DVD performances of "ER" but not of "Chicago Hope". Hopefully, this will not long endure.

The casting and, perforce, the acting performances on "Chicago Hope" were among the finest in TV history. Adam Arkin is often praised, and he was very good. But there were at least three better. Mandy Patinkin was a breed apart, and Peter Nichol and Hector Elizando were not far behind.

A few of the "Chicago Hope" episodes even rose to a somewhat poetic level, but all were interesting, captivating, and anything but conventional fare.

This is television at its finest!

I think this is one of the funniest and yet most touching tv shows I have ever seen. Mandy Patinkin is as charismatic as it gets and he even SINGS! I would love to own the dvd set, so RELEASE IT ALREADY!!!

I don't know if I am duplicating my comments but here goes. I am currently hooked on watching Chicago Hope in the Seattle area which airs on the Discovery Channel at 2&5a.m. I didn't watch it when it was on primetime so I don't know where it is in the series of it's run. This is what's going on right now so if anyone knows what year I am into watching it I'd appreciate it. A month ago or so Dr.Katara(sp?)came to the hospital as Head of Neurosurgery when the other doctor had a stroke and is interning in psych., Mark Harmon went to Vegas for a medical convention and had a gambling meltdown, the head of the hospital's son died in the ER. I love the show and think Gray's Anatomy is just gen X's version of Chicago Hope! I'd definately buy the dvd of all the years it ran if they make it available.

They were re-running CH on the Health Channel but just stopped recently. I couldn't believe it. I am begging them to put it back on the air.

Chicago Hope is the best show ever produced for TV! Great actors, high tension and most entertaining. I'm wondering why it hasn't been released by now.

This was one of the BEST shows on television. What will it take to get it released on DVD? Come on studio!

There is no comparison to ER, Chicago Hope is a entity unto itself. Supurb casting, facinating subject material both in and out of the hospital arena, and the best writing team interjecting real life with the fiction of the characters. Mandy Patinkin's singing a song (at his insane wife's wedding)from a play he was in (in real life)was priceless, any time we can hear that awesome voice is worth it. I didn't like the little lawyer guy at first, but when he was killed, I cried for days. I have nothing bad to say about any of the episodes even at the last, every one of them had something to offer the audience, laughter-sadness-amazement-anger, it was all there. The actors pulled off a great feat with this one. And now that Mandy Patinkin and Thomas Gibson are together again in another show, helps ease the loss of this - one of the greats!