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This is the opportunity to go back and re-experience the first 25 episodes that started it all. Seeing Noah Wylie as the wet-behind-the-ears medical student, John Carter, stumbling around under the abrasive direction of Eriq LaSalle’s, Dr. Benton. Watching and remembering how the romance started as a slow burn between George Clooney’s Dr. Ross and Julianna Margulies’ Nurse Hathaway.
Regular fans of the show will be just as pleased as the occasional viewer of Michael Crichton’s emergency room drama. It will be like looking at your high school yearbook on the eve of your ten-year high school reunion. Was Dr. John Carter really that timid when he first started? It’s hard to fathom that Nurse Hathaway attempted suicide. Yet these memories and many others come flooding back when watching the episodes again—and this time around viewers don’t have to sit through the commercial breaks.
It’s also funny to see some of the past guest stars who graced the show with a guest appearance. George Clooney’s mother, the late Rosemary Clooney, made a guest appearance in Episode 3. And not only did he make a guest appearance, but Quentin Tarantino also directed an episode. William H. Macy seemed more like a regular than a guest, but it was certainly a pleasure to become re-acquainted with his character.
The four-disc set includes all 25 episodes, four featurettes, three commentary tracks, outtakes and deleted scenes, and hidden bonus materials. There are two exclusive documentaries on the DVD that cover the making of the pilot and the making of season one. The First Year Intern Handbook is an interactive feature that provides complete character profiles, 45 “patient” histories of various guest stars, and a medical terminology glossary.
GRADE: A (Show) A+ (DVD)
