Chicago Hope

Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope cast photo
Genre	Medical Drama Serial Drama
Created by	David E. Kelley
Written by	David E. Kelley David Amann and more...
Starring	Mandy Patinkin Héctor Elizondo Vondie Curtis-Hall Barbara Hershey Christine Lahti Peter Berg Mark Harmon Thomas Gibson Rocky Carroll Adam Arkin Lauren Holly Jayne Brook E. G. Marshall
Opening theme	Theme from Chicago Hope
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	141 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Henry Bromell Bill D'Elia David E. Kelley John Tinker
Location(s)	Los Angeles, CA Chicago, IL
Cinematography	James R. Bagdonas
Running time	approx. 42–44 minutes
Production company(s)	David E. Kelley Productions 20th Television (1994-1995) 20th Century Fox Television (1995-2000)
Distributor	20th Television
Release
Original network	CBS TVGN (reruns)
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original release	September 18, 1994 – May 4, 2000
Chronology
Related shows	Picket Fences

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley.^[1] It ran on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity hospital in Chicago, Illinois.^[2]

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 his 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, Héctor 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 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, played by Ron Silver. 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 suspended 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.^[3]

Cast

Name	Portrayed by	Occupation	Season						Episodes
			1	2	3	4	5	6
Aaron Shutt	Adam Arkin	Neurosurgeon	Main						138
Phillip Watters	Hector Elizondo	Hospital Chief of Staff	Main						141
Jeffrey Geiger	Mandy Patinkin	Surgeon	Main		Guest			Main	60
Billy Kronk	Peter Berg[4]		Guest	Main					106
Dennis Hancock	Vondie Curtis-Hall		Guest	Main					104
Diane Grad	Jayne Brook		Guest	Main					103
Danny Nyland	Thomas Gibson		Main						70
Camille Schutt	Roxanne Hart	Nurse	Main						47
Alan Birch	Peter MacNicol	Hospital Attorney	Main						31
Arthur Thurmond	E.G. Marshall		Main						13
Angela Giandamenicio	Roma Maffia		Main						13
Kate Austin	Christine Lahti	Cardiac surgeon		Main					97
John Sutton	Jamey Sheridan			Main					18
Keith Wilkes	Rocky Carroll				Main				96
Jack McNeil	Mark Harmon				Main				95
Lisa Catera	Stacy Edwards					Main			44
Robert Yeats	Eric Stoltz						Main		22
Gina Simon	Carla Gugino							Main	23
Francesca Alberghetti	Barbara Hershey							Main	22
Jeremy Hanlon	Lauren Holly							Main	22
Stuart Brickman	Alan Rosenberg	Hospital Attorney						Main	16
Laurel Canyon	Monique Edwards	Nurse		Guest					16
Joseph Cacaci	Bob Bancroft					Guest			31

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.

Thomas Gibson would later star alongside Patinkin in the highly successful Criminal Minds, as well as Shemar Moore who was a guest star on Chicago Hope during Season 4. Patinkin later left the show early in its third season.

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[nb 1]	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions of households)
1st	Thursday, 10:00 p.m.	September 18, 1994	May 22, 1995	1994–1995	29	11.2[5]
2nd	Monday 10:00 p.m.	September 18, 1995	May 20, 1996	1995–1996	24	11.4[6]
3rd	Monday 10:00 p.m.	September 16, 1996	May 19, 1997	1996–1997	30	10.2[7]
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 Héctor Elizondo all guest-starred in scenes taking place in the hospital.

DVD releases

Revelation Films has released all seasons of Chicago Hope on DVD in Region 2 (UK) for the very first time.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

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 18, 2013	N/A
Season Five	24	N/A	September 16, 2013	N/A
Season Six	22	N/A	July 21, 2014	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.^[13]

On November 18, 1998, Chicago Hope became the first regular series episode to be broadcast in HDTV.^[14] The episode was entitled "The Other Cheek".

Mark Harmon's character uttered the word "shit" during a trauma. Little criticism was said about this.

Awards and nominations

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	Result
1995	Outstanding Drama Series		Nominated
	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin	Won
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo	Nominated
	Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series	Lou Antonio for "Life Support"	Nominated
	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Series	Tim Suhrstedt for the episode "Over The Rainbow"	Won
	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a Series - Single Camera Production	Lori Jane Coleman for "Pilot"	Nominated
		Randy Roberts for "Quarentine"	Nominated
	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series	David Kirschner, Robert Appere, and Kenneth R. Burton for "Internal Affairs"	Nominated
	Outstanding Main Title Theme Music	Mark Isham	Nominated
1996	Outstanding Drama Series		Nominated
	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Casting for a Series	Debi Manwiller	Won
	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo	Nominated
	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Drama Series	Jeremy Kagan for the episode "Leave Of Absence"	Won
	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Richard Pryor	Nominated
		Michael Jeter	Nominated
		Rip Torn	Nominated
	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Carol Kane	Nominated
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series	Kenneth Zunder for "Leave of Absence"	Nominated
	Outstanding Editing for a Series - Single Camera Production	Jim Stewart for "Leave of Absence"	Nominated
	Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series	Mary Ann Valdes, Dione Taylor for "Right to Life"	Nominated
	Outstanding Makeup for a Series	Norman T. Leavitt, Coree Lear, Bari Dreiband-Burman, & Thomas R. Burman for "Quiet Riot"	Nominated
	Outstanding Main Title Theme Music	Mark Isham	Nominated
	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series	Russell C. Fager, R. Russell Smith, Greg Orloff for "Quiet Riot"	Nominated
1997	Outstanding Drama Series		Nominated
	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Héctor Elizondo	Won
		Adam Arkin	Nominated
	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Alan Arkin	Nominated
	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Isabella Rossellini	Nominated
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series - Single Camera Production	James R. Bagdonas for "A Time To Kill"	Nominated
	Outstanding Editing for a Series - Single Camera Production	Alec Smight, Mark C. Baldwin, Augie Hess for "Days of the Rope"	Nominated
	Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series		Nominated
1998	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Won
	Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series	Bill D'Elia for "Brain Salad Surgery"	Nominated
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo	Nominated
	Outstanding Editing for a Series - Single Camera Production	Alec Smight for "Brain Salad Surgery"	Nominated
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series - Single Camera Production	James R. Bagdonas for "Brain Salad Surgery"	Nominated
	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series	Russell C. Fager, R. Russell Smith, and William Freesh for the episode "Brain Salad Surgery"	Won
1999	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated
	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin	Nominated
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series - Single Camera Production	James R. Bagdonas for "Home Is Where The Heartache Is"	Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Result
1995	Best TV-Series - Drama		Nominated
	Best Actor in a Television Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin	Nominated
1996	Best TV-Series - Drama		Nominated
1997	Best TV-Series - Drama		Nominated
	Best Actress in a Television Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated
1998	Best TV-Series - Drama		Nominated
	Best Actress in a Television Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Won

Screen Actors Guild Award

Year	Award	Recipient	Result
1995	Outstanding Performance by an Emsemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin	Nominated
		Hector Elizondo	Nominated
1996	Outstanding Performance by an Emsemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated
1997	Outstanding Performance by an Emsemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated
1998	Outstanding Performance by an Emsemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated
1999	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti	Nominated

Other Awards

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Work	Result
1998	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role	Hector Elizondo		Nominated
1999		Outstanding Drama Series			Nominated
		Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role	Hector Elizondo		Nominated
2000		Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo		Won
1998	American Choreography Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Television - Episodic	Kenny Ortega		Won
1995	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television	Lori Jane Coleman	"Pilot"	Won
1996			Alec Smight	"Love and Hope"	Nominated
			Randy Roberts	"Quarentine"	Nominated
1997			Randy Robets	"Transplanted Affection"	Won
1999			Alec Smight	"Gun With The Wind"	Nominated
1995	American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series	Tim Suhrstedt		Nominated
1996			Kenneth Zunder	"Leave of Absence"	Nominated
1997			James R. Bagdonas	"Time to Kill"	Nominated
1998			James R. Bagdonas	"Hope Against Hope"	Nominated
1995	Casting Society of America	Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic	Steve Jacobs		Nominated
1996			Debi Manwiller		Nominated
1997			Debi Manwiller		Nominated
1997	Cinema Audio Society Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Series	Greg Orloff, R. Russell Smith, Russell C. Fager	"Quiet Riot"	Nominated
1998			R. Russell Smith, William Freesh, Russell C. Fager	"Brain Salad Surgery"	Won
1999			R. Russell Smith, William Freesh, Russell C. Fager	"100 and One Damnations"	Nominated
1995	Directors Guild of America Award	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series'	Michael Pressman	"Pilot"	Nominated
1997	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding TV Drama Series			Won
1999		Outstanding TV Drama Series			Won
2001		Outstanding TV Individual Episode (In a Series Without A Regular Gay Character)		"Boys Will Be Girls"	Nominated
1997	Satellite Awards	Best Television Series- Drama			Nominated
		Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama	Christine Lahti		Won
		Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama	Hector Elizondo		Nominated
1999	YoungStar Award	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama TV Series	Mae Whitman		Nominated

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 October 1998 ended from August 2001. As of November 2013 it is airing on UK Freeview/Freesat/Sky/Eutelsat 28A/Virgin Media/WightFibre television channel True Entertainment.

Reruns

Reruns of Chicago Hope aired on TVGN from 2010 to 2012.

Notes

1. Times listed are Eastern time

References

1. Warrick, Pamela (1995-04-03). "Some say the exciting plots of 'Chicago Hope' lack medical accuracy. But the drama's creator says caution is exercised-and that people know too much to be fooled. : False Hope? - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
2. HOWARD ROSENBERG (1994-09-17). "TV Reviews : 'Chicago Hope' a Medical Melodrama - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
3. Howard Rosenberg (1994-10-13). "'ER' vs. 'Hope': Which Medicine Is Easier to Swallow? - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
4. White, Tom (1995-04-08). "Peter Berg: A Man of Action and Words : Television: His dual life as actor and screenwriter has put him in a state of enjoyable overload. He's on 'Chicago Hope' and has a production deal for his screenplay. - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
5. "TV Ratings > 1900's". Classic TVHits.com. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
6. "TV Ratings > 1900's". Classic TVHits.com. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
7. "TV Ratings > 1900's". Classic TVHits.com. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
8. "Chicago Hope- Season 1". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
9. "Chicago Hope- Season 2". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
10. "Chicago Hope- Season 3". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
11. "Chicago Hope- Season 4". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
12. "Chicago Hope- Season 6". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
13. Blowen, Michae l (March 12, 1995). "Television censors use situational standards". Baltimore Sun. Boston Globe. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
14. CEA: Digital America – HDTV Archived October 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

• Chicago Hope at the Internet Movie Database
• Chicago Hope at TV.com