''Chicago Hope'' is an American

medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

, created by

David E. Kelley David Edward Kelley (born April 4, 1956) is an American television writer, producer, and former attorney, known as the creator of '' Doogie Howser, M.D.'', '' Picket Fences'', ''Chicago Hope'', ''The Practice'', '' Ally McBeal'', ''Boston Publi ...

. It originally aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private

charitable hospital A charitable hospital, or charity hospital, is a non-profit hospital that provides treatment for poor and uninsured people who can't purchase treatment. An example would be St. Jude Children's Hospital that provides assistance to children and funds ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Overview

The show starred

Mandy Patinkin Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...

as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, a hot-shot

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

with emotional issues stemming from the psychiatric condition of his wife (played by

Kim Greist Kimberley Bret Greist (born May 12, 1958) is a retired American actress and model, best known for her roles in films throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Biography Greist was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the daughter of Norma M. (née Abtey) and E ...

), who drowned their infant son.

Adam Arkin Adam Arkin (born August 19, 1956) is an American actor and director. He is known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on '' Chicago Hope''. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony (Best Actor, 1991, ''I Hate Hamlet'') as well ...

plays Dr. Aaron Shutt, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and Geiger's best friend.

Thomas Gibson Thomas Ellis Gibson (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his television roles as Daniel Nyland on ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–1997), Greg Montgomery on ''Dharma & Greg'' (1997–2002) and Aaron Hotchner on ''C ...

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 Roscoe "Rocky" Carroll (born July 8, 1963) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles as Joey Emerson on the Fox comedy-drama '' Roc'' (1991–94), as Dr. Keith Wilkes on the CBS medical drama ''Chicago Hope'', and as NCIS Dir ...

, often clashed with Nyland and was known for his back-to-basics and rough demeanor. He was good friends with

Peter Berg Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), the action comedy ''The Rundown'' (2003), the sports drama '' Friday Night Lig ...

'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,

Alan Rosenberg Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1950) is an American actor. Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his character Eli Levinson which appeared in both the series '' Civil Wars'' and the popular '' L.A. Law''. From 2005 to 2009, he was president of the ...

, and

Héctor Elizondo Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American character actor. He is known for playing Phillip Watters in the television series ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–2000) and Ed Alzate in the television series '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021) ...

feature as the hospital's in-house attorneys and chief of staff, respectively.

Christine Lahti Christine Ann Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film '' Swing Shift''. Her other film roles include '' ...And Justice for All'' (19 ...

joined in the second season as Dr. Kate Austin, a talented

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

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 Ronald Arthur Silver (July 2, 1946 – March 15, 2009) was an American actor/activist, director, producer, and radio host. As an actor, he portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded a Tony in 1988 for Best Actor ...

. 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 New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. 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 loses his ability to operate after suffering from a brain aneurysm. In Season 6, Shutt returns to Neurosurgery and works alongside

Carla Gugino Carla Gugino (; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After appearing in ''Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989) and ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles as Ingrid Cortez in the ''Spy Kids'' trilogy (2001� ...

's character, Dr. Gina Simon.

Episodes

''Chicago Hope'' ran six seasons, airing a total of 141 episodes.

Crossovers

Fyvush Finkel Philip "Fyvush" Finkel ( yi, פֿײַוויש פֿינקעל; October 9, 1922 – August 14, 2016) was an American actor known as a star of Yiddish theater and for his role as lawyer Douglas Wambaugh on the television series ''Picket Fences'', ...

and

Kathy Baker } Katherine Whitton Baker (born June 8, 1950) is an American actress. Baker began her career in theater and made her screen debut in the 1983 drama film '' The Right Stuff''. She received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Suppor ...

appeared as their ''

Picket Fences ''Picket Fences'' is an American family drama television series about the residents of the town of Rome, Wisconsin, created and produced by David E. Kelley. The show initially ran from September 18, 1992, to June 26, 1996, on the CBS televis ...

'' characters in the first season. Likewise,

and

brought their ''Chicago Hope'' characters to ''Picket Fences'' that year. Both

and

Lauren Holly Lauren Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an American actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series ''Picket Fences'', NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series '' NCIS'', Dr. Betty Rogers on '' Motiv ...

had previously appeared on ''Picket Fences'' as a lawyer and as a deputy sheriff, respectively.

appears in an uncredited role as Geiger in a 1995 episode of NBC's '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. ''Chicago Hope'' producer John Tinker shot this footage as a favor to his '' St. Elsewhere'' colleague

Tom Fontana Tom Fontana (born September 12, 1951) is an American screenwriter, writer, and television producer. Fontana worked on NBC's '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' and created HBO's ''Oz.'' Early life and education Fontana was born on the west si ...

. ''Chicago Hope'' characters crossed over to ''

Early Edition ''Early Edition'' is an American fantasy comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996, to May 27, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each ''Chicago Sun-Times'' ...

'' early in that show's run.

Jayne Brook Jayne Brook (born Jane Anderson) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Dr. Diane Grad on the medical drama ''Chicago Hope'', as a series regular for five of the show's six seasons, and Mary Ann Mitchell on ''The District'' from 200 ...

, and

all guest-starred in scenes taking place in the hospital.

Characters

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 Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

area of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Three of the cast (Harmon, Carroll and Holly) would later go on to star together in '' NCIS''.

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

Broadcast

Domestic reruns

Reruns of ''Chicago Hope'' aired on Pop from 2010 to 2012. OWN also aired reruns of Chicago Hope on a semi-regular basis.

International

In the UK, seasons 1 and 2 originally aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. More recently, all seasons of the show have been shown on ITV3. Starting on September 3, 2007, it began airing on

Zone Romantica Zone Romantica (formerly ''Romantica'') was a European TV channel that launched in 1998. The channel broadcast a mixture of telenovelas, music and entertainment from all over the world, but mainly from Latin America. The channel was available 24 ...

in the UK and Ireland. It was also shown on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

in the UK and Ireland in its prime time slots. In Australia, the series originally aired on The

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. In Germany the first seasons were shown in the 1990s. In Hungary, the series aired on Viasat3.
In Indonesia, the series originally aired on

RCTI RCTI (''Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia'') is a West Jakarta-based Indonesian free-to-air television network. It is best known for its soap operas, celebrity bulletins, news, and sports programmes. It was first launched in 1989, origina ...

, starting from October 1998 ended from July 2002. As of November 2013 it is airing on UK Freeview/Freesat/Sky/Eutelsat 28A/Virgin Media/WightFibre television channel True Entertainment.

Home media

Revelation Films Revelation Films is a British film and television production and distribution company delivering visual entertainment via cinema, television and digital platforms. Tony Carne founded Revelation Films in 1992 as a video and television production ...

has released all 6 seasons of ''Chicago Hope'' on DVD in Region 2 (UK) for the very first time.

Reception

The

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

episode of ''Chicago Hope'' was broadcast the day before

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' ER'' in a special Sunday, 8p.m. time slot. After the first week, however, the two Chicago-based hospital dramas went "head to head" in their primetime 10p.m. Thursday night slot. ''ER'' was the victor: its first season proved a ratings winner. Despite receiving critical acclaim, ''Chicago Hope'' was shifted to 9p.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 10p.m. in 1997 to make room for the

Steven Bochco Steven Ronald Bochco Masterson (December 16, 1943 – April 1, 2018) was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, including ''Hill Street Blues'', ''L.A. Law'', ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', ''Cop Rock'' ...

drama,''

Brooklyn South ''Brooklyn South'' is an American ensemble police drama television series that aired on CBS for one season from September 22, 1997, to April 27, 1998. It was aired during the 1997–98 television season. The series was co-created by Steven Boc ...

'', on Mondays. In 1999, both Kelley and Patinkin returned, with a revamped cast now including

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...

and

, but excluding Lahti,

Vondie Curtis-Hall Vondie Curtis-Hall is an American actor, screenwriter, film director, and television director. As an actor, he is known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama ''Chicago Hope'' created by David E. Kelley and as Ben Urich in the ...

, and

Stacy Edwards Stacy Edwards (born March 4, 1965) is an American actress. She appeared in a number of B movies before her breakthrough role in the 1997 black comedy film '' In the Company of Men'', for which she received Independent Spirit Award for Best Female ...

. CBS also moved the show back to Thursday nights, against NBC's ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...

'' and ABC's ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and ...

''. The show was canceled in May 2000. In 2007, former co-stars

(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. Harmon would depart in 2021. 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) and Stacy Edwards have also guest starred on ''NCIS'' as well.

would later star alongside Patinkin in the highly successful ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...

'', as well as

Shemar Moore Shemar Franklin Moore (born April 20, 1970) is an American actor. His notable roles include Malcolm Winters on ''The Young and the Restless'' (1994–2005), Derek Morgan on ''Criminal Minds'' (2005–2016), and the lead role of Sergeant II Dani ...

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

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

.''

Awards and nominations

Over its six seasons, ''Chicago Hope'' was nominated for many accolades and won several, including seven

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s and a

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

Emmy awards

Golden Globe Awards

Screen Actors Guild Award

Other awards

Notes

References

External links

Official Website
* * {{GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series 1994 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings 1990s American workplace drama television series 2000s American workplace drama television series 1990s American medical television series 2000s American medical television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Fictional hospitals Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Chicago Television series created by David E. Kelley