Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series created by David E. Kelley that originally aired for six seasons on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000, with a total of 141 episodes. The series is set in a fictional private charitable hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Overview The show's ensemble cast originally starred Mandy Patinkin as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, a hot-shot surgeon with emotional issues stemming from the psychiatric condition of his wife (played by Kim Greist), who drowned their infant son. Adam Arkin plays Dr. Aaron Shutt, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and Geiger's best friend. Thomas Gibson 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, often clashed with Nyland and was known for his back-to-basics and rough demeanor. He was good friends with Peter Berg's character, Dr. Billy Kronk. Kronk was known for his cowboyish demeanor and to be very cocky, as shown 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, and Héctor Elizondo feature as the hospital's in-house attorneys and chief of staff, respectively. Christine Lahti joined in the second season as Dr. Kate Austin, a talented heart surgeon with a chip on her shoulder, vying with Geiger for the chief of surgery position. She was shown fighting in a custody battle with her malicious ex-husband and businessman, Tommy Wilmette, played by Ron Silver. 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 was suspended because she and her daughter go AWOL on a trip to New Zealand for three months. In Season 3, the doctors wanted Wilmette to sell the hospital and the doctors would run it. The doctors believed that Wilmette did not know how to run a hospital and cut too many costs that involved patient care. Wilmette later met Senator Kennedy at the White House to talk about Healthcare Reform. In Season 2, Geiger resigned 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 rejoined the doctors at the end of Season 5 when he became Chairman of the Board and fired 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's character, Dr. Gina Simon.
Episodes
Chicago Hope ran six seasons, airing a total of 141 episodes.
Crossovers
Mandy Patinkin and Héctor Elizondo brought their Chicago Hope characters to Picket Fences on November 11, 1994 ("Rebels with Causes"). In return, Fyvush Finkel appeared as his Picket Fences character on Chicago Hope ("Small Sacrifices").
Mandy Patinkin 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.
Chicago Hope characters crossed over to Early Edition early in that show's run. Rocky Carroll, Jayne Brook, and Héctor Elizondo all guest-starred in scenes taking place in the hospital.
Additionally, Chicago Hope is in the Tommy Westphall Universe.
Characters
NamePortrayed byOccupationSeason 1 2 3 4 5 6 Aaron Shutt Adam Arkin Neurosurgeon colspan="6" Phillip Watters Héctor Elizondo Hospital Chief of Staff colspan="6" Jeffrey Geiger Mandy Patinkin Cardiac Surgeon colspan="2" colspan="3" colspan="1" Danny Nyland Thomas Gibson E.R. surgeon, chief of trauma colspan="3" colspan="3" Camille Shutt Roxanne Hart Nurse colspan="2" colspan="4" Alan Birch Peter MacNicol Hospital Attorney colspan="2" colspan="4" Arthur Thurmond E. G. Marshall colspan="5" Angela Giandamenicio Roma Maffia colspan="5" Billy Kronk Peter Berg E.R. Doctor colspan="4" Dennis Hancock Vondie Curtis-Hall Clinic Physician colspan="4" Diane Grad Jayne Brook Internal Med/Research Scientist colspan="4" Kate Austin Christine Lahti Cardiac surgeon colspan="4" John Sutton Jamey Sheridan OB/GYN colspan="4" Keith Wilkes Rocky Carroll E.R. Doctor colspan="2" colspan="4" Jack McNeil Mark Harmon Orthopedic Surgeon colspan="2" colspan="4" Lisa Catera Stacy Edwards Neurosurgeon colspan="3" colspan="2" Robert Yeats Eric Stoltz colspan="4" Gina Simon Carla Gugino Neurosurgeon colspan="5" Francesca Alberghetti Barbara Hershey Cardiac Surgeon colspan="5" Jeremy Hanlon Lauren Holly Plastic Surgeon colspan="5" Stuart Brickman Alan Rosenberg Hospital Attorney colspan="5"
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 area of Los Angeles. 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.CEA: Digital America – HDTV The episode was entitled "The Other Cheek".
Mark Harmon's character uttered the word "shit" during a trauma. Little criticism was made, although it did inspire the South Park episode It Hits the Fan.
Broadcast
Domestic reruns Reruns of Chicago Hope aired on Pop (then the TV Guide Network) from 2010 to 2012. OWN also aired reruns of Chicago Hope on a semi-regular basis.
International In the UK and Ireland, Sky One broadcast the full series prime-time slots. BBC One broadcast from July 1995 who only screened the first 4 series, which was show in August 2000 repeats have been screened by ITV3 and Zone Romantica.
It was also shown on In Australia, the series originally aired on the Seven Network. 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, starting from October 1998 ended from July 2002. As of November 2013, it was airing on British channel True Entertainment. In New Zealand, the series originally aired on TV2, now TVNZ 2.
Home media Revelation Films released all 6 seasons on DVD in the UK.
DVD Name Ep# Release dates Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Season One 22 March 5, 2012 Season Two 23 July 23, 2012 Season Three 26 November 5, 2012 Season Four 24 March 18, 2013 Season Five 24 September 16, 2013 Season Six 22 July 21, 2014 The Complete Collection 141 December 14, 2015
Reception The pilot episode of Chicago Hope aired the day before NBC'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 drama, Brooklyn South, on Mondays. In 1999, both Kelley and Patinkin returned, with a revamped cast now including Barbara Hershey and Lauren Holly, but excluding Lahti, Peter Berg, Jayne Brook, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Stacy Edwards. CBS also moved the show back to Thursday nights, against NBC's Frasier and ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The show was canceled in May 2000.
In 2008, former co-stars Rocky Carroll (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 Carroll remains 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.
Thomas Gibson would later star alongside Patinkin in the highly successful Criminal Minds, as well as Shemar Moore 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.
Season TimeslotTimes listed are Eastern Time Season premiere Season finale TV season Ranking Viewers(in millionsof households) 1st Sunday, 10:00 p.m.(episodes 1 & 9)Thursday, 10:00 p.m.(episodes 2-8)Monday, 10:00 p.m.(episodes 10-22) September 18, 1994 May 22, 1995 1994–1995 29 11.2 2nd Monday 10:00 p.m. September 18, 1995 May 20, 1996 1995–1996 24 11.4 3rd Monday 10:00 p.m. September 16, 1996 May 19, 1997 1996–1997 30 10.2 4th Wednesday 10:00 p.m. October 1, 1997 May 13, 1998 1997–1998 39 8.9 5th Wednesday 10:00 p.m. September 30, 1998 May 19, 1999 1998–1999 73 9.9 6th Thursday 9:00 p.m. September 23, 1999 May 4, 2000 1999–2000 62 9.4
Awards and nominations Over its six seasons, Chicago Hope was nominated for many accolades and won several, including seven Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards.
Emmy awards