Chicago Hope

 ( 1994 American Television Series Debuts ) 

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.

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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.

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

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Crossovers Fyvush Finkel and Kathy Baker appeared as their Picket Fences characters in the first season. Likewise, Mandy Patinkin and Héctor Elizondo brought their Chicago Hope characters to Picket Fences that year. Both Adam Arkin and Lauren Holly had previously appeared on Picket Fences as a lawyer and a deputy sheriff, respectively.

Mandy Patinkin appears in an uncredited role as Geiger in a 1995 episode of NBC's . 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.

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Characters

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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.

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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.

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Broadcast

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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.

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International In the UK, seasons 1 and 2 originally aired on BBC One. More recently, all seasons of the show have been shown on ITV3. Starting on September 3, 2007, it began airing on Zone Romantica in the UK and Ireland. It was also shown on Sky One in the UK and Ireland in its prime-time slots. 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.

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Home media Revelation Films released all 6 seasons on DVD in the UK.

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

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Reception The television pilot 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 Nielsen 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, . 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.

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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.

1st	Thursday, 10:00 p.m.	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

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Awards and nominations Over its six seasons, Chicago Hope was nominated for many accolades and won several, including seven and a Golden Globe Awards.

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Emmy awards

1995	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series	Lou Antonio for "Life Support"
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series	Tim Suhrstedt for the episode "Over The Rainbow"
	Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production	Lori Jane Coleman for "Pilot"
		Randy Roberts for "The Quarantine"
	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series	David Kirschner, Robert Appere, and Kenneth R. Burton for "Internal Affairs"
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music	Mark Isham
1996	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Series	Debi Manwiller
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo
	Priimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series	Jeremy Kagan for the episode "Leave Of Absence"
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Richard Pryor
		Michael Jeter
		Rip Torn
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Carol Kane
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series	Kenneth Zunder for "Leave of Absence"
	Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production	Jim Stewart for "Leave of Absence"
	Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series	Mary Ann Valdes, Dione Taylor for "Right to Life"
	Outstanding Makeup for a Series	Norman T. Leavitt, Coree Lear, Bari Dreiband-Burman, & Thomas R. Burman for "Quiet Riot"
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music	Mark Isham
	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series	Russell C. Fager, R. Russell Smith, Greg Orloff for "Quiet Riot"
1997	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Héctor Elizondo
		Adam Arkin
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Alan Arkin
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Isabella Rossellini
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series – Single Camera Production	James R. Bagdonas for "A Time To Kill"
	Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production	Alec Smight, Mark C. Baldwin, Augie Hess for "Days of the Rope"
	Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series
1998	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series	Bill D'Elia for "Brain Salad Surgery"
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo
	Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production	Alec Smight for "Brain Salad Surgery"
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series – Single Camera Production	James R. Bagdonas for "Brain Salad Surgery"
	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series	Russell C. Fager, R. Russell Smith, and William Freesh for the episode "Brain Salad Surgery"
1999	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin
	Outstanding Cinematography for a Series – Single Camera Production	James R. Bagdonas for "Home Is Where The Heartache Is"

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Golden Globe Awards

1995	Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama	Mandy Patinkin
1996	Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama
1997	Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama	Christine Lahti
1998	Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama	Christine Lahti

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Screen Actors Guild Award

1995	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series	Mandy Patinkin
		Hector Elizondo
1996	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
1997	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
1998	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti
1999	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Christine Lahti

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Other awards

1998		Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role	Hector Elizondo
1999		Outstanding Drama Series
		Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role	Hector Elizondo
2000		Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	Hector Elizondo
1998	American Choreography Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Television – Episodic	Kenny Ortega
1995	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television	Lori Jane Coleman	"Pilot"
1996	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television	Alec Smight	"Love and Hope"
			Randy Roberts	"The Quarantine"
1997	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television	Randy Roberts	"Transplanted Affection"
1999	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television	Alec Smight	"Gun With The Wind"
1995	American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series	Tim Suhrstedt
1996	American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series	Kenneth Zunder	"Leave of Absence"
1997	American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series	James R. Bagdonas	"Time to Kill"
1998	American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series	James R. Bagdonas	"Hope Against Hope"
1995	Casting Society of America	Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic	Steve Jacobs
1996	Casting Society of America	Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic	Debi Manwiller
1997	Casting Society of America	Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic	Debi Manwiller
1997	Cinema Audio Society Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Series	Greg Orloff, R. Russell Smith, Russell C. Fager	"Quiet Riot"
1998	Cinema Audio Society Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Series	R. Russell Smith, William Freesh, Russell C. Fager	"Brain Salad Surgery"
1999	Cinema Audio Society Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Series	R. Russell Smith, William Freesh, Russell C. Fager	"100 and One Damnations"
1995	Directors Guild of America Award	Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series	Michael Pressman	"Pilot"
1997	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding TV Drama Series
1999	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding TV Drama Series
2001	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding TV Individual Episode (In a Series Without A Regular Gay Character)		"Boys Will Be Girls"
1997	Satellite Awards	Satellite Award for Best Television Series – Drama
		Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama	Christine Lahti
		Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama	Hector Elizondo
1999	YoungStar Award	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama TV Series	Mae Whitman

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Notes

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External links

• Official Website

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