Now that ‘ER’ is reaching a whole new audience through streaming and re-runs, it’s obvious to many people that it was really ahead of its time.

For a show that started in the early ’90s, it managed to deal with a surprising range of issues in a progressive way, unlike most other TV dramas of the time. Subjects like race, sexuality, HIV, disability and even transgender issues have all been dealt with on ‘ER’, without resorting to stereotypes or simply being covered ‘just for the sake of it’. It also taught us that doctors and nurses in inner-city hospitals don’t have the kind of glamorous lives that other TV shows might have implied.

In this episode of the podcast, we talk through the many ways that ‘ER’ was a progressive show, and why it still holds up all these years later.

Show Notes

https://www.glamour.com/story/er-is-a-hit-again