See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Archive-name: tv/er-series/show-info Posting-Frequency: monthly URL: http://www.digiserve.com/er/erdex.html ER FAQ 5.00: The Show Asterisks (*) below denotes information updated or added since the last version of the FAQ. MeMiceElfAnI Productions Copyright 1997-99 by Rose Cooper; content cannot be used without expressed written permission of the author. Last Updated: 1/9/99 by Rose "MotherFAQer" Cooper SECTION ONE: THE SHOW 1.1 What is "ER"? "ER" is a weekly one-hour television drama on NBC that takes place in the emergency room of a Chicago hospital. The show`s stories focus primarily on the staff of the ER: doctors, nurses, medical students and assorted personnel. The stories secondarily deal with the medical problems of patients. "ER" is unlike most other medical dramas in that its emphasis is often on a very fast-paced style of action, typically when a patient or patient(s) is/are rushed into the emergency room for treatment. It does share some similarities with other medical dramas, however, particularly St. Elsewhere, in that stories in the lives of the main characters are told over the course of many episodes, rather than being self-contained to one episode. [Given the general direction that Season Four veered toward, it remains to be seen whether the above will still hold true for Season Five--and beyond...] 1.2 What does "ER" stand for? [Truth, Justice, And The American Way. Oh, sorry. That`s "CCH Pounder". But I digress...] Emergency Room. Not to be confused with "OR", which is Operating Room. [Or, for that matter, "E/R", which was inoperable. But I digress again...] 1.3 When does "ER" come on television? [Note on time zone abbreviations-- "10E/9C/8M/7P" means: 10:00 Eastern 9:00 Central 8:00 Mountain 7:00 Pacific.] 1.31 American network television: "First-run" "ER" comes on Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time, 9:00 p.m. Central and Mountain time, on NBC, the National Broadcasting Company. For the specific channel in your area, check local listings. 1.311 Syndicated cable television: On Sunday, September 6, 1998, 8pm Eastern, the US version of cable channel TNT <http://tnt.turner.com/series/er> (Turner Network Television) started broadcasting "ER" reruns, beginning, appropriately, with the 2-hour pilot, "24 Hours"; it was shown again at 5pm Eastern on September 7, followed by the next episode in the series, "Day One", at the regularly scheduled 7pm Eastern rerun slot. It is supposed to be shown in consecutive order every weekday (Monday-Friday) in that time period. Watch this space, FAQ section 5 <http://digiserve.com/er/erfaq5.html>, and the ER Episode List <http://digiserve.com/er/erlist.html#tnt>, for more details. 1.32 Satellite dishes: If you have a satellite dish and live in North America, you can watch "ER" at 10E/9C/8M/7P on Satcom C1 (also called F1), transponder 8. This is the NBC East Coast feed and is unscrambled. Those times also apply to WXIA (Galaxy 4, 22) and WHDH (Spacenet 4, 2); these channels are scrambled, however, and you must have a subscription with a dealer that provides them. "ER" also airs on the subscription channel KUSA (Satcom C1, 14) at 11E/10C/9M/8P; and on the subscription channel KNBC (Spacenet 4, 6) at 1:00AM-E/12C/11M/10P. All of the above are on Thursday nights, when NBC normally airs "ER". However, for weeks when a new episode is airing, you can see an early feed on Wednesday nights. It can be seen on Telstar 401, transponder 7, at 12:00PM-E/11:00PM-C/10M/9P. This version of the show is completely commercial free, and airs the full opening and closing (full-screen credits & no voice-over announcer), as opposed to the half-screen credits and voice-over that most NBC affiliates use. If you have Ku band capability, you can also watch ER on K2, transponder 1 at 10 PM E/9C/8M/7P, and on K2, transponder 3 at 1 AM E/12 Midnight C/11M/10P. *1.33 International television [NOTE: The information here is only as good (or bad) as the international ER viewers who notify me of schedule changes, make it. I will be glad to revise it when I get those viewers' email, but unless the information can be verified through "official" sources, the listings below will stand as written]: CANADA "ER" is broadcast on the Canadian Televison Network (CTV) via affiliates throughout Canada at 10:00 pm on Thursday in all respective time zones. A French-language version of "ER" ("Salle d'urgence"), which is one season behind its English-language counterpart, is currently broadcast on the Quebec channel TQS on Sunday nights; as soon as the new episodes begin in September, it will be on Monday nights at 9:00 pm. -(Information courtesy Talitha Cumi). In Saskatchewan, CBS is rerunning ER on Saturdays and Sundays at 9:37 CST. [What a *weird* time to start]...According to a TV Times (the Canadian TV guide) schedule, this Saturday and Sunday bit will be a continuing thing. I am thrilled about this because we don't get TNT in Canada, and are missing out on the reruns during the week. -(Information courtesy Vanessa Rey). An addendum to the above, from Vanessa: "Uh-oh. I read the FAQ update today.....oops. The information on the FAQ in regards to the international ER showings in Canada is now incorrect because of the time change. Here's all I know: I am getting ER now Saturdays and Sundays. On Saturdays, we used to get ER at 5:00 P.M. Now, because of the time change we get it at 6:00 P.M. On Sundays, we get ER at 10:37, previously 9:37. When I last e-mailed you around the beginning of October, we were getting ER 9:37 on both Saturday and Sunday. This lasted for a few weeks, and then for some unknown reason, ER on Saturdays was bumped to 5:00 P.M. The Sunday time remained the same (9:37). Confusing, eh? [Nahhhh...I followed...every...word...of...thaaaaa...] Saskatchewanians (I luv that word) are the only people who do not switch their clocks back to Standard time. No one here changed their clocks on Saturday. This does affect our TV schedule. During Daylight Savings time, I get ER at 8:00 on NBC and at 9:00 on CTV, but during standard time, I get ER on both NBC and CTV at 9:00. The way I look at it, during DST, American programs on American networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) come on an hour earlier. During ST, the come on one hour later. Canadian networks stay the same all year long. So, because CBS is an American network, all their programs are an hour later here. Because Saskatchewan is the only one to whom this applies to, the above info might not be that all that important for the FAQ. You will Definitely want to check with some official sources. A good one might be the TV Times website": <http://www.tvtimesonline.com> [Thanks Vanessa. I think.] UK (SKY ONE AND CHANNEL 4) [NOTE: detailed UK-specific information is now available in the ERuk FAQ <http://freespace.virgin.net/e.griffiths/faq.html>, created and maintained by Ed Griffiths, my "UK Man On The Scene"] In England, ER can be seen on SKY One (satellite) on Thursdays at 10pm (Channel 4 is not currently showing repeats, but). According to both Katy Lindemann and Ed Griffiths, SKY One's Season Five premier "has been confirmed as 'end of October, beginning of November'." Though Ed reports "Channel 4 will not confirm schedules until 2 weeks in advance", both Ed and Katy suggest that the logical pattern should mean Season Five "will begin on Channel 4 at the beginning of January 1999"; "...as it has always gone out the first Wednesday after New Year before." [Note: "Day For Knight", the 5th Season Premiere, will be shown 7th January, 1999 on SKY .] Check the SKY and Channel 4 UK schedules on the ER Episode List <http://www.digiserve.com/er/erlist.html#uk> regularly for up-to-date timelines. -(UK schedule courtesy Katy Lindemann). In Wales, "ER" airs at 10:30 on Wednesday nights on S4C. AUSTRALIA Australian television airs "ER" on Channel 9 on Thursdays at 9:30 pm. Their second season run appears to be about five episodes behind the U.S. LATIN AMERICA Some (possibly most) Latin American countries show a "ER" dubbed in Spanish on open-air television, and an English version with Spanish subtitles on cable (Sony). [NOTE: Since I have received conflicting information from multiple sources about "ER" in Latin American countries, and this is the only agreed-upon information, this is how I will leave it]. *EUROPE *German television is currently showing the fourth season of "ER" on a channel called Pro7. It airs Wednesdays at 8:15 pm, with reruns airing Monday to Friday from 4:00-5:00. -(Information courtesy Dirk Tretner and Ayshea Halliwell) Called "Urgences" in France, the French version of "ER" is shown at the rate of two episodes a week (!) on France 2 every Sunday at 8:50 pm. This is also not the same dubbed version as the French Canadian version that airs in Canada. *The fourth season has just ended on France 2; the fifth should start September 1999. -(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini and Didier {aka Mash}). [A bit of a different take on the above]: it is written in the section International Television that the French dubbed version shown in France isn't the same shown in French Canada, but it is. The dubbing is made in France and there is only one version made in French, so that's the one we get here in Quebec. However, the title has been changed (it's called Urgences in France and Salle d'urgence in Quebec) because there was already a series called Urgence in Quebec. So the opening credits aren't exactly the same from France to French Canada, even if the dubbed version is the same. -(Information courtesy Talitha Cumi). [I understand now why Scott was hesitant on trying to keep up with international TV...] Iceland's RUV (National Television) shows "Bradavaktin" (ER) on Wednesdays at 10pm. The fourth season started on January 25. -(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini). *Ireland`s RTE 1 shows "ER" on Sundays at 9:30 pm. TV3 Norway shows ER (called "Akutten") on Mondays at 9:30pm, starting from early 1998 with the fourth season, one episode per week. Now TV3 is showing reruns on Sunday late-afternoons -(Information courtesy Vala Olafs). TV3 Sweden <http://www.tv3.se> shows ER [called "Cityakuten"] reruns every weekday. New episodes (the middle of season 4) will start week 48. -(Information courtesy Johanna Theng). TV3 Denmark shows "Skadestuen" on Mondays too, at 8 pm, and as its scandinavian counterpart it will start on 1998 with the fourth season. Now it is showing reruns on Fridays at 10:30 pm. -(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini). In Spain, "ER" is shown in TVE1 on Mondays at 9:45. TVE1 is currently wrapping up broadcast of the first season. Portugal is currently showing the third season of ER, which started on October 16th, on its main state channel, Radiotelevisao Portuguesa (RTP)-Channel 1. The Portuguese title is "Servico de Urgencia", all programs are subtitled and aired every Friday at about midnight. -(Information courtesy Isabel Fajardo). Polish television is showing the fourth season of this excellent show on a channel called Polsat. It airs Wednesdays at 9:00pm. -(Information courtesy Adas, "Polish fan of ER", and Agnieszka). In Finland, MTV3 will show the fourth season beginning Thursday 7th May, with no reruns. The fourth season finale should come out in early October. -(Information courtesy Simo Heiskanen). In Switzerland, "ER" is broadcast on two of the four national television stations. TSR (French-Swiss) shows two consecutive episodes of ER every Sunday at 8:00 pm. Schwiez 4 (German-Swiss) shows one episode on Mondays at 7:55pm. (Schwiez 4 is about a season behind TSR.) Italy's RAIDUE is now showing season four, showing two episodes of ER per week on Thursdays at 8:50pm. It's called "E.R.: Medici in Prima Linea" ("E.R.: Frontline Doctors") and they show two episodes concurrently -(Information courtesy Antonello Migliorini and Federico "faith" RUSSO). Belgium`s Flemish-language channel VTM shows "ER" on Thursdays at 10:15pm. A Walloon (French-language) channel there recently ceased showing ER on Wednesdays at 9:00pm. *"In Holland ER (subtitled) is broadcasted every Friday evening, at 22.00h. It broadcasted by the AVRO (broadcasting company) on Dutch channel 1 (called 'Nederland 1' in dutch). There are no more repeats on Sunday, unfortunately. We are one season behind of you, so season 4 is now being shown." -(Information courtesy Tim Dijkema). "ER" is shown in Slovenia on POP TV, and airs every Friday at 8:00 pm. "In Russia, 'ER' is currently shown on NTV channel at 22.45 four times a week (they promise to show 2nd and 3rd season; 1st has been shown a year ago)." -(Information courtesy Mikhail E. Veselov). JAPAN Japan`s NHK began showing "ER" in April `96. It airs every Monday at 11:00 pm. ELSEWHERE In the Philipines, "ER" is shown on Saturdays at 8:00 pm. The episodes there are roughly three months behind. In Hong Kong, "ER" airs every Tuesday at 9:30pm -(Information courtesy Karen Lee). In Israel, "ER" airs Sundays at 9:10pm on cable channel 3. -(Information courtesy Shlomi Codish, MD). In Taiwan, the CTS Channel shows "ER" on Sundays at 4:30pm. Singapore television airs "ER" every Tuesday at 9:30pm and is currently broadcasting the fourth season. -(Information courtesy Corrine Hoo) In Kuwait, "ER" can be viewed on the ORBIT Sattelite Network <http://www.orbit.net> on the channel "America Plus", which is currently broadcasting the third season.. -(Information courtesy Fares) 1.4 Who produces the show? Created by: Michael Crichton Executive producers: Michael Crichton, John Wells, Lydia Woodward Co-executive producer: Carol Flint Supervising producer: Paul Manning Co-producers: Neal Baer, Wendy Spence, Lance Gentile Produced by: Christopher Chulack Staff writers: Jason Cahill and Samantha Corbin Unit production manager: Michael Salamunovich Medical consultant: Lance Gentile Technical Advisor: Dr. Joe Sachs and Dr. Fred Einesman Director of photography: Richard Thorpe Film editors: Randy Morgan, Jacque Toberen, Kevin Casey Production design: Ivo Cristante Produced by: Constant c Productions and Amblin Television in association with Warner Bros. Television (from the show`s web page) -- Rose "MotherFAQer" Cooper, Keeper Of The Mostly New And Somewhat Improved ER FAQ EMAIL: erfaq@digiserve.com ICQ: 7760005 http://www.digiserve.com/er/ http://manetheren.cl.msu.edu/~bambam/ User Contributions:
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