Shark Bytes

I agree that the black doctor suddenly being gay was a shark jump. Remember, they had this white female doctor in love with him and she said something like, "I know you're dying to kiss me like I'm dying to kiss you." He just stood there and looked at her. The next thing you know, they made him gay. This was a typical thing on television in the nineties. It was probably a way of neutralizing the threat of interracial loving, since there was usually one black person in every cast, and they didn't want to hire more or pair them with a white person. Also, back then they wouldn't fully explore a gay person's romantic life either, so it was like they were a neutered or one dimensional person. Luckily, things have changed. I think they deliberately destroyed this show. Maybe the salaries were too high like the Practice. David Kelley wrote that too; he probably gets bored and ruins hit shows. Ally McBeal got ridiculous too.

The shows started to die when whole episodes centered on Christine Lahti's character's sex life (boring!) and... (yawn) her endless marital problems. Hmmmm a flawed character who also has marital problems = JTS

I remember when the older black doctor was on the balcony with another doctor at the end of an episode and they are chatting about something. Then he tells the other doctor that he is gay. Just out of the blue. And that was the total story line about his being gay. Nothing else ever said about it again. Kind of said everything about the haphazard mess that was this shows trademark.

McNichol and Patinkin leaving...that was a killer. "This is not respect!"

One of the best TV moments ever...when the Eel destroyed an opposing lawyer in court by reminding him of the Bucky Dent incident...I'm a Red Sox fan and I almost died laughing.

I have to say the Season 5 finale was the end for me. The magic was gone when Berg, Brook, Curtis-Hall, and Lahti (and Mae Whitman, too) walked out the door. I really didn't get attached to the others who left. In looking at the writing credits, David Kelley had not really written an episode since early Season 2 and he came back to write the show back into it's original format with House Council (Rosenberg - Marg Helgenberger's husband) and Patinkin. Both good actors, and I like David Kelley, but....tough thing to do when the show had a loyal following and morphed into something else. Some of the people who came in Season 6 were clearly bad choices (Hershey and Holly specifically). Funny thing is Kelley may have succeeded if Roxanne Hart and another former cast member (like Jamey Sheridan, or Roma Maffia) were to return along with Patinkin. It ended up being almost like a "new show". They weren't able to recover the fans they lost, or get enough new fans to save the show. It didn't last much longer than that. Another poster paraphrased what Patinkin said in his comeback episode..."Let's just say Bye, Bye. I'll leave before anybody cries".

When Christine Lahti's slutty character came on the show AND when Mandy Patinkin left.

Season four, which began with the ER being shot up once again. While this show did have some quality episodes, such as Cabin Fever, to me the characters started to become dull. I hated the plot twist after Aaron's anneurism, and never liked the idea of him becoming a psychiatrist. Lease-A-Catera was annoying. Afterwards plot holes, and major continuity snafus started popping up, and the show became difficult to watch.

When Mandy Patinkin sang "Don't Cry For ME Argentina" because his looney wife thought she was Eva Peron....
I love Mandy and his beautiful voice- but that was SOOOOOOOO over the top just to get the Evita reference in there....

The end of Season 5 was a suprise, but I liked Geiger and I liked the fact he came back. It would have been nice to keep Christine Lahti, Peter Berg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, etc and still add Patinkin. Barbara Hershey wasn't the right fit....and Lauren Holly-Carrey...what were you thinking? I like Alan Rosenberg and the members of the cast who stayed (Elizando, Arkin, Harmon, Carroll, etc.) but this "shake up" wasn't enough to save the series. If Roxanne Hart, Jamey Sheridan, and Thomas Gibson came back with Patinkin, the "shake up" might have worked. Gibson was doing Dharma and Greg (so that might not be a reality). Reuniting William Hurt, Christine Lahti, Adam Arkin, and Mandy Patinkin (cast from the movie "The Doctor") would have extended the series a couple of years (Season 8, or 9 - Finale not out of the question).

It started to go downhill ever so gradually from Season 1. I was still interested even through Season 5....Shutt became a shrink....Hancock grew the dreadlocks and had personal revelations....It's almost like they were trying to stir up too much at once....then they blew out over half the cast at the end of Season 5. Lahti, Berg, Curtis-Hall, and Brook for Patinkin, Hershey, Holly, and Rosenberg wasn't an even trade. Even though stuff got weird, I had devoloped a rapport with those characters. After Season 5 it was time to say "How about Bye Bye. You're Gone Chicago Hope. I'll leave before anybody cries"

Oh it had to be the headless baby episode - from there on what was the point?

This show arguably had the best theme song but the producers stupidly changed it to a E.R like theme song for some stupid reason. This was a mistake not only because the theme was beautiful but because the theme gave CH a unique image. That theme was really powerful and haunting. This show was always deep I would really it jumped the shark around the 4th season.

Chicago Hope JTS when Alan Birch, the "eel", was killed. He was a diverse and interesting character that gave the show its main appeal. I don't think I will watch another episode. Without Birch, the show has no soul.

CH jumped when the writers had the "brilliant" idea to fire 2/3 of the cast in one fateful episode. Gone was the sexually charged character of Christine Lahti and other good supporting characters. And you make a physically impaired neurosurgeon do surgery again? If it had been a real hospital it would have jumped the shark via malpractice lawsuit!!

Ultimately, for me, it was when they killed off Alan Birch (P. MacNicol’s character). True, Birch had his quirky moments, don’t get me wrong, BUT he also showed a caring, concerned, determined, and dedicated side (especially when he ripped Aldrich a new one in the episode where Jeremy Piven guest-starred in season 1, and where he was put in jail for it in the same episode) that made me like his character the most. I remember watching the original episode in 1995 where he was killed off. As someone above had previously stated above, I was hoping that the doctors would save him, but I knew when Geiger was told “Jeffrey, he’s gone,” that was the end of Alan Birch, and that was the ultimate jump for me. It jumped back a slight bit with the addition of Jack McNeil (Mark Harmon), but it was never the same without Alan Birch. The last season marked the second jump by firing those well-known Doctors (some of whom were nearly original cast members, like Vondie Curtis-Hall, Jayne Brook, Peter Berg) and replacing them with those ditsy Doctors. Ever notice how when a David E. Kelley show undergoes a major cast change, like the one underwent here, it usually marks the end for that show? See “The Practice” and “Boston Public.” Perhaps even “Ally McBeal.”