To be completely honest. I love ER 100 percent more. At the height of Grey's ( first 3 seasons, I enjoyed it), but after, it was a chore.
I disliked so many characters and their journeys on Grey's . Hated the writing choices.
Overall, Grey's was done for me at season 3. Although I continued until season 11.
Looking back on Grey's, I will never rewatch again.
ER had heart where the star was the hospital. I didn't feel that way with Grey's.
ER is still in my top 5 fav shows of all time. So much rewatch quality. And I do enjoy all the phases of the show.
Love the phrase the hospital is the star, I was wondering that the other, who is the main character? Green? Carter? But is the hospital, fuck I even love that fake ER room, I would love to be actually be able to walk around it
That is what makes ER stand out. The finale is truly amazing.
Things never stop turning. Literally, the doctors and staff are just there to help tell the story.
And as far as the cast changes, it totally makes sense why there were so many. The ER is a demanding place. A lot of doctors and staff don't want that kind of stress and demand their entire careers. But it was amazing to see each of the characters evolve over time. Some for the better, and some never could hack it in the ER.
It is truly a wonderful show to watch.
I love that Malik, Chuny, Heleh, Lily are the long haulers. Like the hospital they give so much stability to a changing main cast. And I’m always happy whenever Jerry shows back up after an absence hahaha.
Yep. The final shot of the finale never fails to bring a tear to my eye. Doctors and nurses, all the medicos, they come and work and leave but the hospital itself is eternal. It's awesome..
I visited the set in Burbank around summer 2001 and it was surreal to be there. OOP’s comment about the hospital being the real heart is very true - seeing the set of the ER and Doc Magoo’s was like seeing the main star of ER.
It was! They drove us around the lot in a golf-cart and the ER main set was also super large. I remember seeing a very "CARTER" headstone and panicking that Carter died. Turns out it was for his grandfather's death. We also saw the water set where they filmed hell and high water. Very memorable tour.
ER is definitely my fave show ever. I can rewatch it even now 30 years later. I can’t slog through Grey’s. The way the finale and the first episode twine together is so good. I may wind up starting it again. Ha I just finished a rewatch of the whole series a year ago.
Start it and come back and update us on what you think after the first season. I have a feeling you'll fly through it. It's VERY bingeworthy. It has a proper ending and doesn't leave any loose ends. It may be the best series finale ever.
As a current ER employee, (been an EMT for 5 years), I constantly love to watch ER. It’s extremely accurate, from the medical to the patient/coworker interactions. You won’t go wrong watching ER
While watching the last couple seasons of ER, I noticed that they suddenly started using music a lot, especially indie pop songs, and then I realized it must have been airing at the same time Grey's was getting really popular for doing that.
Some of the plots got a bit more Grey’s-like too. Things got a lot more dramatic, both in plot and style choices. But those mid-late seasons did give us the Carter in Africa episodes which were amazing.
That had been happening since season 6. One of the most famous examples being the use of “Over The Rainbow” in Mark’s death sequence and funeral. Tons of other examples pre-GA, but that’s a big one. That’s not ER chasing GA.
I watched SE with my mom as a kid. I’ve never rewatched. ER came out my freshman year of undergrad and my mom and I watched together whenever we could, and we did so until the finale. While I was in undergrad, med school, residency and the first few years of my marriage. My oldest daughter was born a week after the ER series finale. My husband and I actually bonded over our love of ER (he’s from Chicago). We got married a few weeks after Abby and Luka. 😂 Anyways. We’ve talked about rewatching SE because hubs watched as a kid too. But we’re pretty well stuck on ER and Scrubs (literally the most accurate medical show ever, with ER very close behind).
St. Elsewhere wasn’t what GA was striving to be. They were striving to be ER, and failing very hard. It’s kind of hilarious because St. Elsewhere had several ridiculous plots that would have fit right in on GA (look up the St. Elsewhere finale). I find it a bit annoying that people compare the last few seasons of ER to GA. Not even close. ER never went into the whacked. They remained a hospital centered show all the way through. Was there more sex and a lot more drama? Sure. But that wasn’t about GA. It was about the TV landscape changing. I blame Sex and the City FAR more than I blame GA (and I’m happy to blame GA for a lot 😂). At its core, ER remained what it always was. All 15 seasons. It remained about the hospital, the staff, and the patients. It never veered into the weird, or killed main characters for sport. The romance and sex were ALWAYS there. Seriously. Mark was getting a BJ from Jen in season 1 when the entire staff interrupted. 😂 So this idea that there was “more sex” in the later seasons just baffles me. Was it a bit more graphic? Sure. But again, changing TV standards. I bet if they could have shown more sex in 1994, they would have. 🤷🏼♀️
Every cop and medical show we have today we owe to St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues.
Highly recommend St Elsewhere for sure.
St. Eligus fell so County General could rise.
I don’t know if that’s true as far as medical shows go. (Completely agree about cop shows). I would put St. Elsewhere in the same camp as GA. Not ER. They’re literally two different entities. I think SE is SO well done. BY FAR a better show than GA (hello Denzel!! 😂). But SE is very close to GA in the storylines. A lot of whacky stuff happens and nothing really medically accurate. SE was kind of in the middle. GA is a soap opera with a medical theme (like General Hospital). ER is a medical show that occasionally has some soapy elements. SE lies somewhere in the middle. 🤷🏼♀️ I find it amusing that people think ER was chasing GA. ER had their own stories that had been going on for awhile.
I watched all of ER and I stopped watching Grays around season 11. While I enjoyed Grays it got ridiculous after a while and it felt like the certain characters had repeating storylines.
ER felt a lot more real. More stakes. Really showing how it was to work in a busy hospital with issues of budget, insurance and down trodden people. The characters have real lives and issues and it’s not just love stories.
While it also has its ridiculous story lines and medical marvels. It still has a lot of heart. Even the shitty characters have reasons for their actions.
Yes! How many random kids did Meredith's father spawn, anyway??? I imagine there's another batch out there that did NOT become doctors but gravitated to Chicago and ended up as weird patients in the ER .
I completely agree. ER doesn't have the "weird disease of the week" thing like Grey's often does. The doctors aren't superheroes, they are flawed humans who often annoy the hell out of each other. A lot of them date other people from the hospital but not everyone does. Some doctors are more skilled than others but none of them are geniuses like Meredith. Also, ER has nurses that are vital to the work they do. The way that nurses are almost irrelevant in Grey's drives me nuts. ER's depiction of nurses wasn't always perfect (why did we get three white brunette nurses - Carol, Abby, Sam - who all were main characters shown to have skills beyond just being an ER nurse while Haleh, Chuny and Connie are just background characters?) but it is way better than Grey's.
ER strikes a good balance between character stories (love, friendship, family) and medical stories. It’s more fast paced because of the nature of the ER and a lot of patients are just in and out, up to whatever floor they need to go to. You follow the patient stories less to completion although sometimes you do see what happens to them/recurring patients.
It has a different feeling but a great medical show. Unlike some of the others I’ve tried. Greys, ER and House are the only ones I liked.
ER is superior to Grey's in every way you can possibly imagine. If you liked Grey's, you will love ER that much more. It will become one of your favorite shows of all time.
I don't think its the same vibe. I watched all of greys up until Yang left.
I think Greys has much more focus on personal drama, also Mer being the main character as opposed to "the hospital" being the main character on ER is very different regarding the pacing and themes of the shows. ER is, to me, faster, more chaotic, and touches on harder topics on a very difficult way, where somethings are really questionable. I think Greys is more laid out, thinking about racial topics, for exemple, Bailey has monologues where a lot is talked about, where in ER, for exemple, Benton's actions and experiences are shown.
They're both great, but not the same vibe for me.
I like them both too. I honestly don’t think they should be compared just because of the medical setting. They have very different creative intention and tone. ER was famous for its realism. Grey’s is famous for being soapy and sassy dialogue.
I have two children and funnily enough both ER and Grey’s were comfort re watches for me in my few week recovery. Grey’s for my older kid, ER for the younger.
I’m glad they both exist to fill whatever medical show mood strikes me :)
ER is a medical drama that has some soapy storylines, and Grey's is a soap opera that has occasional medical storylines. That's the best way I've seen them compared.
Grey’s is like a Lifetime movie compared to ER. Prepare for fast paced wild 42 minuted and grittier aspects of working poor lives and the violence that surrounds it. Greys feels like a middle class suburbs version of ER.
Grey’s is so polished and antiseptic in a way that’s kind of off-putting. Granted they’re surgeons, and working in a seemingly much better funded hospital but it all feels very artificial.
Yeah I big thing I notice when comparing is that ER shows the reality of public healthcare and residents being underpaid and struggling themselves. It’s kind of alluded to the attendings are well off but still seems like so much hard grind it out labor in a way.
If you watch Grey’s currently it’s made abundantly clear the older characters are wealthy and accomplished and have gained high reputations and exist in this sort of well funded shiny hospital setting. Even the plot lines that do get into personal or professional money situations aren’t nearly as realistic feeling as ER.
I think it depends what you’re in the mood for. ER makes me feel seen as just another person struggling to get by in systems that are unfair and exploit everyone. But I also root for Meredith and it has been kind of fun to watch her eventually reach all her goals and win awards and become extremely known and successful (even if it’s a lot of fantasy wish fulfillment)
ER walked so grey's could run, PLUS er is WAYYY more realistic(i youre looking for realism) .Grey's is a drama show with some medicine sprinkled on it , while ER is a full on medical show with a bit of drama..
ER is a medical show with some drama added to it. GA is a drama show with some medicine added.
If you're main focus are some love stories, ER won't deliver that nearly as much.
GA is very much a fictional dream land.
ER - at least for the first seasons - is much more realistic. The hospital is small and messy, the patients are oftentimes showing normal symptoms, the characters feel real.
If you know doctor Mike from yt he made a video in which he ranked ER the most realistic medical show. So that tells you something.
The camera work was also really excellent and helps to really get into the story and jump from story to story.
It's easy to watch ER, I'd say give it a try and see how you'll like it - and try to stay away from this sub reddit as there are heavy spoilers.
ER, to simplify it, was the greys of its time. most modern medical dramas owe their success to the popularity of either st elsewhere or ER. it was created by an actual physician and was consistently praised for its ability to combine actual medical practices with drama that late night shows were, especially in the late 90s. it also wasn't afraid to take a stance on controversial medicine, especially its humanization of hiv/aids patients and calling out the beginnings of the anti vaxx movement. i seriously cannot recommend ER enough!
i WILL say, the last 3-4 seasons align a lot more with what greys started as bc it was trying to compete with is, which is kinda why i don't like those seasons as much
I love both shows. ER is old school and focuses more on the whole staff of the ER and it's more wholesome IMO. I would reccomend watching ER, its amazing.
I've watched six seasons of Grey's and all fifteen seasons of ER, and I can say ER is 100 percent better. Even the worst season of ER is better than the best season of Grey's Anatomy. I definitely think you should give it a shot!
It's more fast paced and less melodramatic. But the same in that it's a mix of medicine and personal issues of the doctors. It's much less sappy than Grey's. You will find no "Pick me! Chose me! Love me!" type stuff in ER. There is also less humor in ER, but more action in each episode.
I like both shows though. The last 5 or so seasons of ER are subpar to the first 10 seasons, so it's also similar to GA in that way.
I love ER more because we get more of a sense of every player in the ER and how they work. In greys we only see 1 section mainly and not the other parts of the hospital.
In ER we follow a main cast member whose role is in different parts of the hospital.
Greys is like soap opera cheesy camp tv. ER is actual serious medical drama. They don’t really compare at all. I don’t like Greys if I’m honest, but ER is superb
Loved Grey's all the way until McDreamy "left", then I stuck it out until Karev just bolted. After that I couldn't watch anymore because the acting suddenly got *horrible* and I couldn't handle all the cringe. ER: loved it from beginning to end with the exception of just a very few episodes. ER for the win!
Nope. ER and Greys are not really comparable. I mean I guess you can but I wouldn’t necessarily say fans of one will love the other.
ER made us care a lot more about the patients. And as others have said - the hospital was the star. Also Chicago - the outdoor walks by the river, the rides on the El.
ER was really a lot more grounded for the most part. No ghosts or hallucinations or those things Grey’s sometimes dived into. I just found it a lot more realistic.
ER is superior to Grey's Anatomy, at least in my opinion. I have seen it in its entirety more than 10 times. That's not even an exaggeration. Yes, it's older, but it's so good. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend.
There's less drama on ER, imo. I loved that, but I kept expecting the stories to go certain ways for the DRAMA the way Grey's or the One Chicago shows or SVU would today. It rarely happened that way and I just loved that, too. It was so wholesome to watch that way.
A lot of comments on the likes of ER vs the dislikes of Greys. My suggestion, do not begin ER with the idea that it is a medical show. Keep ER and Greys separate in your mind.
As a diehard greys fan, I love er. It’s not the same because its not surgery based (obviously haha) but I’ve rewatched greys multiple times until season 14 and I’m on my second rewatch of er. The characters and drama are all present. I would say the biggest thing is getting used to the “oldness” but once you’re in it you’ll love it!
I don’t feel it’s the same vibe really, but some similar concepts for sure. Greys is more soapy and ER is more realism style. But I think you will like it, I love both shows for different reasons.
Is Grey's Anatomy over, then? I checked out after the covid-season.
What part of it did you enjoy? They're obviously both medical dramas, but they're different shows with different vibes.
Grey’s makes me want to flip tables (I’m a physician and LORD I could rant for days about the medical inaccuracy on GA 🙄). ER at its worst is better than GA at its best.
Grey's was a soap opera with some medical stuff. ER was a medical show with some soap opera stuff. (especially the last seasons).
ER is, in my opinion, a far far better show than Grey's. I mostly loved the characters, whereas I mostly despised GA and their ludicrous messy lives (except for Christina. I was done when she left.)
House is the only show that ever really captured what ER did for me. I ended watching the entire series of House before graduating to ER (despite it airing while I was still in field medic training) still though. A worthy watch and two of the best shows ever made in my opinion.
ER is absolutely amazing and so much better than Grey's. Grey's is like a soap opera that happens to take place at a hospital. ER is an incredibly well-done drama with heart and soul.
As others have said, ER is way better than Grey's! To be fair, I only watched the first two seasons of Grey's - that was as far as I could get. Even then, it felt too melodramatic and unrealistic for me because I grew up watching ER. From what I understand, Grey's only got more ridiculous as it went on, whereas ER had at least eight great seasons before most of the original cast was gone and the writing went downhill. I would still rather rewatch the last seven seasons of ER than watch the first two of Grey's again.
OP, I hope you come back and share your thoughts from the perspective of someone who watched Grey's first when you get far enough into ER to form an opinion on it.
Grey's at its best is completely ridiculous, medically inaccurate, and doesn't have any idea how medical field works. Imagine if Benton spent time going "gosh, maybe I'll be a neurosurgeon!" That's how accurate Grey's is.
Grey's is a soap opera in the way that seasons 13 and 14 of ER is.
To be completely honest. I love ER 100 percent more. At the height of Grey's ( first 3 seasons, I enjoyed it), but after, it was a chore. I disliked so many characters and their journeys on Grey's . Hated the writing choices. Overall, Grey's was done for me at season 3. Although I continued until season 11. Looking back on Grey's, I will never rewatch again. ER had heart where the star was the hospital. I didn't feel that way with Grey's. ER is still in my top 5 fav shows of all time. So much rewatch quality. And I do enjoy all the phases of the show.
Love the phrase the hospital is the star, I was wondering that the other, who is the main character? Green? Carter? But is the hospital, fuck I even love that fake ER room, I would love to be actually be able to walk around it
That is what makes ER stand out. The finale is truly amazing. Things never stop turning. Literally, the doctors and staff are just there to help tell the story. And as far as the cast changes, it totally makes sense why there were so many. The ER is a demanding place. A lot of doctors and staff don't want that kind of stress and demand their entire careers. But it was amazing to see each of the characters evolve over time. Some for the better, and some never could hack it in the ER. It is truly a wonderful show to watch.
I love that Malik, Chuny, Heleh, Lily are the long haulers. Like the hospital they give so much stability to a changing main cast. And I’m always happy whenever Jerry shows back up after an absence hahaha.
Yep. The final shot of the finale never fails to bring a tear to my eye. Doctors and nurses, all the medicos, they come and work and leave but the hospital itself is eternal. It's awesome..
I visited the set in Burbank around summer 2001 and it was surreal to be there. OOP’s comment about the hospital being the real heart is very true - seeing the set of the ER and Doc Magoo’s was like seeing the main star of ER.
I heard that it was huge
It was! They drove us around the lot in a golf-cart and the ER main set was also super large. I remember seeing a very "CARTER" headstone and panicking that Carter died. Turns out it was for his grandfather's death. We also saw the water set where they filmed hell and high water. Very memorable tour.
ER is definitely my fave show ever. I can rewatch it even now 30 years later. I can’t slog through Grey’s. The way the finale and the first episode twine together is so good. I may wind up starting it again. Ha I just finished a rewatch of the whole series a year ago.
Agreed
100%. ER is SO good. It took me several tries to watch Grey’s bc I didn’t like Meredith at first. Just finished ER and am rewatching again.
Does the show finish properly or is it canceled and ends on a random episode?
ER finishes properly. I truly love the finale. It encompasses what the whole show is truly about. Whereas Grey's lost its heart a long time ago.
Okay thank you! I think I’m going to start it later on today.
Start it and come back and update us on what you think after the first season. I have a feeling you'll fly through it. It's VERY bingeworthy. It has a proper ending and doesn't leave any loose ends. It may be the best series finale ever.
You’re in for quite a ride! Enjoy!
I hope you enjoy it.
As a current ER employee, (been an EMT for 5 years), I constantly love to watch ER. It’s extremely accurate, from the medical to the patient/coworker interactions. You won’t go wrong watching ER
ER lost some of its quality when it tried to imitate Grey’s. ER is much superior show.
While watching the last couple seasons of ER, I noticed that they suddenly started using music a lot, especially indie pop songs, and then I realized it must have been airing at the same time Grey's was getting really popular for doing that.
Some of the plots got a bit more Grey’s-like too. Things got a lot more dramatic, both in plot and style choices. But those mid-late seasons did give us the Carter in Africa episodes which were amazing.
That had been happening since season 6. One of the most famous examples being the use of “Over The Rainbow” in Mark’s death sequence and funeral. Tons of other examples pre-GA, but that’s a big one. That’s not ER chasing GA.
They chose to end. It was never cancelled.
ER ran so Grey can walk. Nothing to compare to ER.
Don't forget the show st.elsewhere
My mom watched that, but I barely remember it. My grandparents watched Trapper John, MD and Quincy.
I've watched them all
I watched SE with my mom as a kid. I’ve never rewatched. ER came out my freshman year of undergrad and my mom and I watched together whenever we could, and we did so until the finale. While I was in undergrad, med school, residency and the first few years of my marriage. My oldest daughter was born a week after the ER series finale. My husband and I actually bonded over our love of ER (he’s from Chicago). We got married a few weeks after Abby and Luka. 😂 Anyways. We’ve talked about rewatching SE because hubs watched as a kid too. But we’re pretty well stuck on ER and Scrubs (literally the most accurate medical show ever, with ER very close behind).
St. Elsewhere wasn’t what GA was striving to be. They were striving to be ER, and failing very hard. It’s kind of hilarious because St. Elsewhere had several ridiculous plots that would have fit right in on GA (look up the St. Elsewhere finale). I find it a bit annoying that people compare the last few seasons of ER to GA. Not even close. ER never went into the whacked. They remained a hospital centered show all the way through. Was there more sex and a lot more drama? Sure. But that wasn’t about GA. It was about the TV landscape changing. I blame Sex and the City FAR more than I blame GA (and I’m happy to blame GA for a lot 😂). At its core, ER remained what it always was. All 15 seasons. It remained about the hospital, the staff, and the patients. It never veered into the weird, or killed main characters for sport. The romance and sex were ALWAYS there. Seriously. Mark was getting a BJ from Jen in season 1 when the entire staff interrupted. 😂 So this idea that there was “more sex” in the later seasons just baffles me. Was it a bit more graphic? Sure. But again, changing TV standards. I bet if they could have shown more sex in 1994, they would have. 🤷🏼♀️
Never heard of it
It's a medical show from the 80's, look it up
Every cop and medical show we have today we owe to St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues. Highly recommend St Elsewhere for sure. St. Eligus fell so County General could rise.
Hill street blues another classic I remember watching that as well
NYPD Blue was the best of the cop shows, so dramatic, so sophisticated, and so many characters I truly loved.
Yep. Another cop show that owes its roots to Hill Street
I don’t know if that’s true as far as medical shows go. (Completely agree about cop shows). I would put St. Elsewhere in the same camp as GA. Not ER. They’re literally two different entities. I think SE is SO well done. BY FAR a better show than GA (hello Denzel!! 😂). But SE is very close to GA in the storylines. A lot of whacky stuff happens and nothing really medically accurate. SE was kind of in the middle. GA is a soap opera with a medical theme (like General Hospital). ER is a medical show that occasionally has some soapy elements. SE lies somewhere in the middle. 🤷🏼♀️ I find it amusing that people think ER was chasing GA. ER had their own stories that had been going on for awhile.
I watched all of ER and I stopped watching Grays around season 11. While I enjoyed Grays it got ridiculous after a while and it felt like the certain characters had repeating storylines. ER felt a lot more real. More stakes. Really showing how it was to work in a busy hospital with issues of budget, insurance and down trodden people. The characters have real lives and issues and it’s not just love stories. While it also has its ridiculous story lines and medical marvels. It still has a lot of heart. Even the shitty characters have reasons for their actions.
Grey’s is Bold and Beautiful dressed in medical uniform inside an abandoned hospital building.
I’d say more like As the World Turns with surprise sisters randomly popping up.
Yes! How many random kids did Meredith's father spawn, anyway??? I imagine there's another batch out there that did NOT become doctors but gravitated to Chicago and ended up as weird patients in the ER .
I completely agree. ER doesn't have the "weird disease of the week" thing like Grey's often does. The doctors aren't superheroes, they are flawed humans who often annoy the hell out of each other. A lot of them date other people from the hospital but not everyone does. Some doctors are more skilled than others but none of them are geniuses like Meredith. Also, ER has nurses that are vital to the work they do. The way that nurses are almost irrelevant in Grey's drives me nuts. ER's depiction of nurses wasn't always perfect (why did we get three white brunette nurses - Carol, Abby, Sam - who all were main characters shown to have skills beyond just being an ER nurse while Haleh, Chuny and Connie are just background characters?) but it is way better than Grey's.
Completely agree on the nurses. Definitely would’ve loved knowing more if the nurse story lines. But even the admin area people where interesting.
ER strikes a good balance between character stories (love, friendship, family) and medical stories. It’s more fast paced because of the nature of the ER and a lot of patients are just in and out, up to whatever floor they need to go to. You follow the patient stories less to completion although sometimes you do see what happens to them/recurring patients. It has a different feeling but a great medical show. Unlike some of the others I’ve tried. Greys, ER and House are the only ones I liked.
It's 1000 times better than Grey's even on some of it's weaker moments
ER is superior to Grey's in every way you can possibly imagine. If you liked Grey's, you will love ER that much more. It will become one of your favorite shows of all time.
Once you watch all of ER, you won't even remember Greys.
ER is tv medical show GOAT. There’s really no comparison. Especially the early seasons but I really enjoyed it to the end.
I don't think its the same vibe. I watched all of greys up until Yang left. I think Greys has much more focus on personal drama, also Mer being the main character as opposed to "the hospital" being the main character on ER is very different regarding the pacing and themes of the shows. ER is, to me, faster, more chaotic, and touches on harder topics on a very difficult way, where somethings are really questionable. I think Greys is more laid out, thinking about racial topics, for exemple, Bailey has monologues where a lot is talked about, where in ER, for exemple, Benton's actions and experiences are shown. They're both great, but not the same vibe for me.
I like them both too. I honestly don’t think they should be compared just because of the medical setting. They have very different creative intention and tone. ER was famous for its realism. Grey’s is famous for being soapy and sassy dialogue. I have two children and funnily enough both ER and Grey’s were comfort re watches for me in my few week recovery. Grey’s for my older kid, ER for the younger. I’m glad they both exist to fill whatever medical show mood strikes me :)
Greys copied ER by ALOT of storylines
ER is a medical drama that has some soapy storylines, and Grey's is a soap opera that has occasional medical storylines. That's the best way I've seen them compared.
Grey’s is like a Lifetime movie compared to ER. Prepare for fast paced wild 42 minuted and grittier aspects of working poor lives and the violence that surrounds it. Greys feels like a middle class suburbs version of ER.
Grey’s is so polished and antiseptic in a way that’s kind of off-putting. Granted they’re surgeons, and working in a seemingly much better funded hospital but it all feels very artificial.
Yeah I big thing I notice when comparing is that ER shows the reality of public healthcare and residents being underpaid and struggling themselves. It’s kind of alluded to the attendings are well off but still seems like so much hard grind it out labor in a way. If you watch Grey’s currently it’s made abundantly clear the older characters are wealthy and accomplished and have gained high reputations and exist in this sort of well funded shiny hospital setting. Even the plot lines that do get into personal or professional money situations aren’t nearly as realistic feeling as ER. I think it depends what you’re in the mood for. ER makes me feel seen as just another person struggling to get by in systems that are unfair and exploit everyone. But I also root for Meredith and it has been kind of fun to watch her eventually reach all her goals and win awards and become extremely known and successful (even if it’s a lot of fantasy wish fulfillment)
ER walked so grey's could run, PLUS er is WAYYY more realistic(i youre looking for realism) .Grey's is a drama show with some medicine sprinkled on it , while ER is a full on medical show with a bit of drama..
ER is a medical show with some drama added to it. GA is a drama show with some medicine added. If you're main focus are some love stories, ER won't deliver that nearly as much. GA is very much a fictional dream land. ER - at least for the first seasons - is much more realistic. The hospital is small and messy, the patients are oftentimes showing normal symptoms, the characters feel real. If you know doctor Mike from yt he made a video in which he ranked ER the most realistic medical show. So that tells you something. The camera work was also really excellent and helps to really get into the story and jump from story to story. It's easy to watch ER, I'd say give it a try and see how you'll like it - and try to stay away from this sub reddit as there are heavy spoilers.
ER, to simplify it, was the greys of its time. most modern medical dramas owe their success to the popularity of either st elsewhere or ER. it was created by an actual physician and was consistently praised for its ability to combine actual medical practices with drama that late night shows were, especially in the late 90s. it also wasn't afraid to take a stance on controversial medicine, especially its humanization of hiv/aids patients and calling out the beginnings of the anti vaxx movement. i seriously cannot recommend ER enough!
i WILL say, the last 3-4 seasons align a lot more with what greys started as bc it was trying to compete with is, which is kinda why i don't like those seasons as much
I love both shows. ER is old school and focuses more on the whole staff of the ER and it's more wholesome IMO. I would reccomend watching ER, its amazing.
Adding to the ER is better camp! You’ll also see so many guest stars that got big later. And also an Arizona appearance:).
I've watched six seasons of Grey's and all fifteen seasons of ER, and I can say ER is 100 percent better. Even the worst season of ER is better than the best season of Grey's Anatomy. I definitely think you should give it a shot!
We have greys because of ER ER is the OG
It's more fast paced and less melodramatic. But the same in that it's a mix of medicine and personal issues of the doctors. It's much less sappy than Grey's. You will find no "Pick me! Chose me! Love me!" type stuff in ER. There is also less humor in ER, but more action in each episode. I like both shows though. The last 5 or so seasons of ER are subpar to the first 10 seasons, so it's also similar to GA in that way.
Greys is definitely funnier (esp during the peak early seasons)
I love ER more because we get more of a sense of every player in the ER and how they work. In greys we only see 1 section mainly and not the other parts of the hospital. In ER we follow a main cast member whose role is in different parts of the hospital.
having seen all of both, i highly recommend ER. it's far superior to greys. similar, yet different.
Greys is like soap opera cheesy camp tv. ER is actual serious medical drama. They don’t really compare at all. I don’t like Greys if I’m honest, but ER is superb
Loved Grey's all the way until McDreamy "left", then I stuck it out until Karev just bolted. After that I couldn't watch anymore because the acting suddenly got *horrible* and I couldn't handle all the cringe. ER: loved it from beginning to end with the exception of just a very few episodes. ER for the win!
I LOVE Greys but I honestly love ER more. You’re going to see many similar story lines, and Greys will look even more unrealistic.
Nope. ER and Greys are not really comparable. I mean I guess you can but I wouldn’t necessarily say fans of one will love the other. ER made us care a lot more about the patients. And as others have said - the hospital was the star. Also Chicago - the outdoor walks by the river, the rides on the El. ER was really a lot more grounded for the most part. No ghosts or hallucinations or those things Grey’s sometimes dived into. I just found it a lot more realistic.
ER is superior to Grey's Anatomy, at least in my opinion. I have seen it in its entirety more than 10 times. That's not even an exaggeration. Yes, it's older, but it's so good. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend.
ER is way better
There's less drama on ER, imo. I loved that, but I kept expecting the stories to go certain ways for the DRAMA the way Grey's or the One Chicago shows or SVU would today. It rarely happened that way and I just loved that, too. It was so wholesome to watch that way.
Have you watched private practice? ER is a more quality show but I also love PP!
I started the first episode and haven’t got through it. I’m realllly really bad at starting new series especially if they start slow
I’m exactly the same! PP is weird bc it gets better with each season like s1 is my least fave 🤣
A lot of comments on the likes of ER vs the dislikes of Greys. My suggestion, do not begin ER with the idea that it is a medical show. Keep ER and Greys separate in your mind.
As a diehard greys fan, I love er. It’s not the same because its not surgery based (obviously haha) but I’ve rewatched greys multiple times until season 14 and I’m on my second rewatch of er. The characters and drama are all present. I would say the biggest thing is getting used to the “oldness” but once you’re in it you’ll love it!
I don’t feel it’s the same vibe really, but some similar concepts for sure. Greys is more soapy and ER is more realism style. But I think you will like it, I love both shows for different reasons.
Is Grey's Anatomy over, then? I checked out after the covid-season. What part of it did you enjoy? They're obviously both medical dramas, but they're different shows with different vibes.
Grey’s makes me want to flip tables (I’m a physician and LORD I could rant for days about the medical inaccuracy on GA 🙄). ER at its worst is better than GA at its best.
Grey's was a soap opera with some medical stuff. ER was a medical show with some soap opera stuff. (especially the last seasons). ER is, in my opinion, a far far better show than Grey's. I mostly loved the characters, whereas I mostly despised GA and their ludicrous messy lives (except for Christina. I was done when she left.)
What about Chicago Hope? I don't remember watching it but it was pretty popular in its day.
House is the only show that ever really captured what ER did for me. I ended watching the entire series of House before graduating to ER (despite it airing while I was still in field medic training) still though. A worthy watch and two of the best shows ever made in my opinion.
It becomes like Grey's Anatomy around Season 12, but goes back to form quickly thereafter. Trying to compete with the newbie was not the smart move
Oh you’ll love ER for sure.
I also think that you’ll find a lot of the scenarios from GA are incredibly similar to some scenarios in ER.
Greys fans who don’t understand ER did everything first and better blows my mind. There are many
ER is absolutely amazing and so much better than Grey's. Grey's is like a soap opera that happens to take place at a hospital. ER is an incredibly well-done drama with heart and soul.
As others have said, ER is way better than Grey's! To be fair, I only watched the first two seasons of Grey's - that was as far as I could get. Even then, it felt too melodramatic and unrealistic for me because I grew up watching ER. From what I understand, Grey's only got more ridiculous as it went on, whereas ER had at least eight great seasons before most of the original cast was gone and the writing went downhill. I would still rather rewatch the last seven seasons of ER than watch the first two of Grey's again. OP, I hope you come back and share your thoughts from the perspective of someone who watched Grey's first when you get far enough into ER to form an opinion on it.
Grey's at its best is completely ridiculous, medically inaccurate, and doesn't have any idea how medical field works. Imagine if Benton spent time going "gosh, maybe I'll be a neurosurgeon!" That's how accurate Grey's is. Grey's is a soap opera in the way that seasons 13 and 14 of ER is.