Chicago Hope Information

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran on CBS from September 28, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Premise

The show starred Mandy Patinkin as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, a hot-shot surgeon with emotional issues stemming from the psychiatric condition of his wife (played by Kim Greist), who drowned their infant son. Adam Arkin plays Dr. Aaron Shutt, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and Dr. Geiger's best friend. Thomas Gibson played Dr. Daniel Nyland, a promiscuous ER doctor and trauma surgeon who was later suspended due to him having an affair with a patient's family member and later was injured in a car crash. Dr. Keith Wilkes played by Rocky Carroll, often clashed with Nyland and was known for his back-to-basics and rough demeanor. He was good friends with Peter Berg's character, Dr. Billy Kronk. Kronk was known for his cowboyish demeanor and known to be very cocky, as showed in an episode where he cuts off a man's injured leg with a chainsaw in a scene where Kronk helps out at an accident site. Peter MacNicol, Hector Elizondo and Alan Rosenberg feature as the hospital's in-house attorney and chief of staff, respectively. Christine Lahti joined in the second season as a talented cardiac surgeon with a feminist chip on her shoulder, vying with Geiger for the chief of surgery position. She was known fighting in a custody battle with her malicious ex-husband and businessman, Tommy Wilmette. Mr. Wilmette did everything he could to get Austin to lose custody of their daughter. He purchased the hospital at the end of Season 2. Dr. Austin is suspened because she and her daughter go AWOL on a trip to New Zealand. Mr. Wilmette was upset because it took him three months to find his ex-wife and daughter. In Season 3, the doctors want Mr. Wilmette to sell the hospital and the doctors would run it. The doctors viewed that Wilmette didn't know how to run a hospital and cut too many costs that involved patient care. Mr. Wilmette later met with Senator Kennedy at the White House to talk about Healthcare Reform. In Season 2, Geiger resigns from Chicago Hope after trying to save Alan Birch from a deadly gunshot wound to his heart.

Geiger adopted Birch's baby daughter. Geiger later rejoins the doctors at the end of Season 5 when he becomes Chairman of the Board and fires half of the doctors. In Season 4, Dr. Shutt became a psychiatrist and temporarily lost his ability to operate after suffering from a brain aneurysm. In Season 6, Shutt returns to Neurosurgery and works alongside Carla Gugino's character, Dr. Gina Simon.

Cast

Actor	Character	Seasons
Patinkin, MandyMandy Patinkin	Geiger, JeffreyDr. Jeffrey Geiger	1"2, 6 (Guest Appearances in 3-5)
Lahti, ChristineChristine Lahti	Austin, KateDr. Kate Austin	2"5
Arkin, AdamAdam Arkin	Shutt, Aaron Dr. Aaron Shutt
Berg, PeterPeter Berg	Dr. Billy Kronk	1"5
Brook, JayneJayne Brook	Grad, DianeDr. Diane Grad	1"5
Carroll, RockyRocky Carroll	Wilkes, KeithDr. Keith Wilkes	3"6
Curtis-Hall, VondieVondie Curtis-Hall	Hancock, DennisDr. Dennis Hancock	1"5
Edwards, StacyStacy Edwards	Catera, LisaDr. Lisa Catera	4"5
Elizondo, HectorHector Elizondo	Watters, PhilipDr. Philip Watters
Gibson, ThomasThomas Gibson	Nyland, DannyDr. Danny Nyland	1"3
Gugino, CarlaCarla Gugino	Simon, GinaDr. Gina Simon	6
Harmon, MarkMark Harmon	McNeil, JackDr. Jack McNeil	3"6
Hart, RoxanneRoxanne Hart	Schutt, CamilleNurse Camille Schutt	1"2
Hershey, BarbaraBarbara Hershey	Alberghetti, FrancescaDr. Francesca Alberghetti	6
Holly, LaurenLauren Holly	Hanlon, JeremyDr. Jeremy Hanlon	6
MacNicol, PeterPeter MacNicol	Birch, AlanAlan Birch	1"2
Maffia, RomaRoma Maffia	Giandamenicio, AngelaAngela Giandamenicio	1
Marshall, E.G.E.G. Marshall	Thurmond, ArthurDr. Arthur Thurmond	1
Rosenberg, AlanAlan Rosenberg	Brickman, StuartStuart Brickman	6
Sheridan, JameyJamey Sheridan	Sutton, JohnDr. John Sutton	2
Stoltz, EricEric Stoltz	Yeats, RobertDr. Robert Yeats	5
Edwards, Monique Monique Edwards	Canyon, LaurelNurse Laurel Canyon	2"6

Reception

The pilot episode of Chicago Hope was broadcast the day before NBC's ER in a special Sunday, 8 p.m. time slot. After the first week, however, the two Chicago-based hospital dramas went "head to head" in their primetime 10 p.m. Thursday night slot. ER was the victor: its first season proved a ratings winner. Despite receiving critical acclaim, Chicago Hope was shifted to 9 p.m. Thursdays, and ultimately to Monday nights in 1995 in a bid for higher ratings, while ER remained in its time slot.

Chicago Hope remained in the Monday slot and performed well, with ratings peaking at 11.9, with a 20 share. In the second season, however, Kelley and Patinkin decided to leave the show. The show was moved to Wednesdays at 10 p.m. in 1997 to make room for the Steven Bochco drama, Brooklyn South, on Mondays. In 1999, both Kelley and Patinkin returned, with a revamped cast now including Barbara Hershey and Lauren Holly, but excluding Lahti, Peter Berg, Jayne Brook, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Stacy Edwards. CBS also moved the show back to Thursday nights, against NBC's Frasier and ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The show was canceled in May 2000.

In 2007, former co-stars Rocky Carroll (Dr. Keith Wilkes); Mark Harmon (Dr. Jack McNeil) and Lauren Holly (Dr. Jeremy Hanlon) worked together on the series NCIS. Holly left the show after three seasons, while Harmon and Carroll remain with the cast today. In addition, Carroll has a recurring role as his NCIS character, Director Leon Vance, on that series's spin off, NCIS: Los Angeles. Jayne Brook (Dr. Diane Grad) has guest starred on NCIS as well.

Nielsen ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Chicago Hope.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1st	Thursday, 10:00 p.m.	September 18, 1994	May 22, 1995	1994"1995	29	11.2
2nd	Monday 10:00 p.m.	September 18, 1995	May 20, 1996	1995"1996	24	11.4
3rd	Monday 10:00 p.m.	September 16, 1996	May 19, 1997	1996"1997	30	10.2
4th	Wednesday 10:00 p.m.	October 1, 1997	May 13, 1998	1997"1998	39	8.9
5th	Wednesday 10:00 p.m.	September 30, 1998	May 19, 1999	1998"1999	73	9.9
6th	Thursday 9:00 p.m.	September 23, 1999	May 4, 2000	1999"2000	62	9.4

Production

With the exception of some infrequent on-location scenes, the vast majority of Chicago Hope was filmed on sound stages at the studios of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, located in the Century City area of Los Angeles.

Episodes

Chicago Hope aired for six straight seasons and 141 episodes.

Crossovers

Fyvush Finkel and Kathy Baker appeared as their Picket Fences characters in the first season. Likewise, Mandy Patinkin and Hector Elizondo brought their Chicago Hope characters to Picket Fences that year. Both Adam Arkin and Lauren Holly had previously appeared on Picket Fences as a lawyer and as a deputy sheriff, respectively.

Mandy Patinkin appears in an uncredited role as Geiger in a 1994 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Chicago Hope producer John Tinker shot this footage as a favor to his St. Elsewhere colleague Tom Fontana.

Chicago Hope characters crossed over to Early Edition early in that show's run. Rocky Carroll, Jayne Brook, and Hector Elizondo all guest-starred in scenes taking place in the hospital.

DVD releases

Revelation Films has released the first three seasons of Chicago Hope on DVD in Region 2 (UK) for the very first time. Season 4 will be released on March 11, 2013, season 5 on July 22, 2013 and season 6 on November 18, 2013.

DVD Name	Ep#	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season One	22	N/A	March 5, 2012	N/A
Season Two	23	N/A	July 23, 2012	N/A
Season Three	26	N/A	November 5, 2012	N/A
Season Four	24	N/A	March 11, 2013	N/A
Season Five	24	N/A	July 22, 2013	N/A
Season Six	22	N/A	November 18, 2013	N/A

Firsts

The series broke a network television taboo by showing a teenager's breast after her character underwent reconstructive surgery. This was generally seen as relevant to the subject matter and went relatively uncriticized.

On November 18, 1998, Chicago Hope became the first regular series episode to be broadcast in HDTV. The episode was entitled "The Other Cheek".

Awards

Over its six seasons, Chicago Hope was nominated for many accolades and won several, including seven Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe.

Emmy awards

Year	Award	Recipient
1995	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin
1995	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Series	Tim Suhrstedt for the episode "Over The Rainbow"
1996	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Casting for a Series	Debi Manwiller
1996	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Drama Series	Jeremy Kagan for the episode "Leave Of Absence"
1997	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo
1998	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
1998	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series	Russell C. Fager, R. Russell Smith, and William Freesh for the episode "Brain Salad Surgery"

International airings

In the UK, seasons 1 and 2 originally aired on BBC One. More recently, all seasons of the show have been shown on ITV3. Starting on September 3, 2007, it began airing on Zone Romantica in the UK and Ireland. In Australia, the series originally aired on The Seven Network. In Germany the first seasons were shown in the 1990s. In Hungary, the series aired on Viasat3.In Indonesian,the series originally aired on RCTI,Starting From January 1999 Ended From August 2001

In popular culture

• The "South Park" episode "It Hits the Fan" lampoons the controversy over the show using the word "shit", with a plotline that concerns the controversy that erupts when a network TV show announces it will use the word. The episode then goes on to use the word "shit" 162 times in its 30 minute running time.
• In the Early Edition episode "The Choice", as Gary picks up a hurt girl, a bystander (Eddie Jemison) tells him not to and asks "Don't you ever watch Chicago Hope?" The girl in the episode was played by Mae Whitman.
• Episode 5 of Season 3, "Liar Liar", took a nod to its rival medical series, ER, when a publicist hired by the hospital creates a promotional video that looks and sounds almost exactly like the opening credits of ER, but with "ER" replaced by "CH" and minus the actors' names.
• The show also appears once on Ally McBeal in the episode "Love's Illusions" when Ling Woo turns on the television and says "uh! Chicago Hope" after a failed attempt at sexual intercourse with Richard Fish.