ER Goes Green, Badly

Wow.

Just watched the 'green' episode of ER - the one that aired in NBC/Universal's ridiculous GREEN WEEK.

What a pitiful, forced, badly written attempt at subliminal propaganda.

From a tie-dyed hippie sing-a-long (I swear the guy was actually wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt) to not-so-subtle lines discussing the inconvenience of truth, to the product placement storyline featuring one of the doctor's new itty-bitty car, this episode stunk.

Part of the reason the Writers' Guild is out on strike right now is because they're being forced to write commercials like this into their story lines 1) without a share of the money earned by such commercial placement, and 2) without regard to how crippling said placement may be to a storyline.

And while this may not have been product placement in its purest sense, there's no doubt the massages were forced into the hour. No characters came out and said "Mmm McDonald's - I'm lovin' it." But I suppose it's hard to work "I'm Al Gore and I used to be the next president of the United States." into many plots.

This episode of ER was shameful. This show used to be a strong, forceful energetic being. Now the show is like an exotic dancer who's past her prime. Just going through the motions for the tips.

If I were the writer who created Abby Lockhart, I'd consider suing for literal defamation of character.

Elsewhere in GREEN WEEK, Al Gore's appearance on 30 ROCK was a great self-parody, akin to the treatment he gets over on SOUTH PARK. At least the guy who used to be the next president of the united States has a sense of humor about himself.