The ER Theme

It was thirty years ago today, on September 19 1994, that ER debuted. While I loved the pilot episode, "24 Hours," at the time I did not realize how significant the show would be in my life. I didn't even realize how significant the show would be after I had watched it for some time and it had become one of my favourite shows then on the air. I certainly did not realize that one day I would get to know the pretty Mexican American nurse on the show and she would become both my dearest friend and a woman I deeply loved. My dearest Vanessa Marquez was on the first three seasons of ER. Even back then, Nurse Wendy Goldman was my favourite character on ER, and I would miss her when she was no longer on the show. Anyway, for those of you interested in a history of the show, I wrote one on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. You can read it here.

For a time ER was one of the best shows on the air. It was a fast -paced, realistic medical drama that did not shy away from using medical jargon without any explanation and the show could be graphic. Among other things, ER introduced the now common TV trope of episodes centred around a mass casualty event. The show was also not afraid to take risks. It was one of the first shows to include a regular character who was infected with HIV. It was also not afraid to tackle difficult subjects and to even kill off major characters. Sadly, ER would eventually drift away from being a fast-paced, realistic medical drama into a much more more typical medical soap opera. With several years of its debut, it was no longer the show it once was. I stopped watching it after about the fifth or sixth season.

Even as ER was on its way down, it still had one of the best ever theme songs. The theme was written by James Newton Howard, who had scored such films as Dune (1984) and The Prince of Tides (1992). It would be used until 2006-2009, when a new theme was introduced. Perhaps because of the continued popularity of the original theme, it returned for the final season of ER.