Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994 to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.

Premise

The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, a hot shot surgeon with emotional issues stemming from the psychiatric condition of his wife (Kim Greist) who drowned their infant son. Adam Arkin plays Patinkin's colleague and best friend. Peter MacNicol and Hector Elizondo feature as the house counsel and director of medicine, respectively. Christine Lahti joined in the second season as a talented cardiac surgeon with a feminist chip on her shoulder who vies with Geiger for the chief of surgery position.

Reception

The pilot episode of Chicago Hope was broadcast the day before NBC's ER in a special Sunday 8pm slot. After the first week, however, the two Chicago-based hospital dramas went 'head to head' in their primetime Thursday night slot. ER was the victor: its first season proved a ratings winner. Despite receiving critical acclaim, Chicago Hope was shuffled to Thursdays, and ultimately Monday nights in 1995 in a bid for higher ratings, while ER stayed in the same time slot.