ER gets new lease of life on Hulu, and people can't seem to get enough of the medical drama
NBC medical drama 'ER' flatlined on television screens nine years ago to the collective regret of many.We mourned its loss for years, tried to bargain for its return with no avail, as the show wasn’t even available in any legal streaming sites. Now Hulu has breathed second life into the show that bid its goodbye in 2009. Say hello to Dr. Doug Ross aka George Clooney. Hulu started streaming the series in January to viewers' pleasure, who if possible would have intravenously consumed the show when it made its debut 25 years ago. After all, it is the show that made us believe doctors can be cute too after the whole Doogie Howser debacle of the 80s.
Hulu has just made it easier for us to witness the miracles unleashed by the doctors in green scrubs. The audience seem to be devouring the series to their hearts content, considering the number of them tuning in to watch the medical drama for the second time.
According to E! News, more than two months since its release, ER is still the most watched show on Hulu. It’s not just the old audience scratching their nostalgic itch, but the show is bringing in a younger demographic that seems to be equally vested in the show that’s been out of service for nine years.
The vice president of acquisitions, Hulu, Lisa Holme said the response to the show has been baffling to say the least. In response to the staggering numbers she told E! News, "It has surpassed expectations for sure, both from a consumption perspective, but even more so from the zeitgeist that it has kind of picked up. We've launched other big, iconic shows on Hulu, from Seinfeld to Golden Girls to Will & Grace and others, and those have had their moments of excitement, but ER has been, I think, bigger and more sustained than we necessarily thought it was going to be. I think there was even more pent-up demand and nostalgia than we anticipated."
Hulu has always had its sights on this iconic show and were vying to get their hooks on the show for a while. Holme concurs that she always expected the show to do well, considering it was one of the greatest shows ever made.
"There's a big population of people who probably saw a lot of episodes of it. Even as massive as the audience was when it was initially airing, probably relatively few people have actually watched every single episode because that is sort of an experience that streaming has enabled, that if a show like ER has never been on streaming it was never possible," Holme told E! News. "We pay close attention to that sort of first time on streaming, best shows ever and we got a lot of them."