ER, to this day, remains one of the finest television dramas out there. With a terrific cast of actors and interesting characters, the hospital-set series was incredible in its earlier years. A number of fans believe Season Eight is the end of the show's “golden age”, because it featured the departure of Anthony Edwards, one of the finest members of the cast. ***

I won't lie, by the time ER reached its eighth season, the show was definitely past its prime, nowhere near the level of quality set by the first few seasons. The writers attempted to recapture some of the show's former glory by bringing back Sherry Stringfield, but even bringing her back doesn't make this season comparable to those first few. But despite all the issues, it remained a gripping drama, and there's no reason fans shouldn't add this set to their DVD collection. ---

Image And Sound:

Warner Bros. has done an excellent job porting this series to the DVD format. The eighth season continues this reign of excellence, with a picture that is almost always crystal clear, and excellent audio quality. As far as transferring the series to DVD goes, Warner has done a great job on every season of the show they have released so far. The eighth is no exception.

Many TV shows ported to DVD will put a bunch of extras on the first season's DVD, and then have absolutely nothing on the later season. But Warner has certainly been kinder to ER than a lot of companies have been to the shows they port to DVD. Extras in the eighth season are a gag reel and outtakes/unaired scenes. The latter is a great extra, something I wish more DVD on TV sets had. The gag reel is nothing special, it delivers what it promises - nothing less, nothing more (although I admit I'm not quite as amused by these as some viewers.) Interviews with cast and crew, or commentary with the stars would have been nice, but this late in the series, I'm impressed Warner is including any extras at all.

Final Words: