Critic Reviews

This season's best series. ... It's extremely well-written, and the operating scenes are so realistic that you may cover your eyes. It's life-and-death drama but leavened with a little dark humor. And it works. [17 Sep 1994]

An engrossing, emotional drama full of intriguing characters. [15 Sep 1994]

In its pilot episode, Chicago Hope looked smart but trite — Trapper John, M.D. with book-learnin'. ... [But David E.] Kelley's writing in [the second] episode is worth any number of Picket Fences.

Intelligent, fleet, emotionally complex and lightly dusted with Kelley's celebrated sense of the absurd, this is the best hospital show since St. Elsewhere.

The characters in "Hope" are slightly more interesting [than those in "ER"]. Even though they are working in a high-powered hospital and have God-like powers, you can see what's going on behind their masks beyond their eyes. [18 Sep 1994]

By telling one or two stories well, from beginning to end, "Chicago Hope" gets a tighter grip on the viewer's emotions [than "ER"]. [22 Sep 1994]

It is exciting and involving; its leads are charismatic; and most of all, it feels fresh. [18 Sep 1994]

Like St. Elsewhere grafted onto L.A. Law, this is in the slick but endangered tradition of ensemble dramas showing heroes on the cutting edge of their vocation while personal lives entangle and unravel. [16 Sep 1994]

Attains often-sublime lucidity by its second episode. [16 Sep 1994]

With Chicago Hope, Kelley demonstrates again that he can create memorable characters quickly and plunge them into arresting situations. [17 Sep 1994]