The Addiction Known as the ER Drama Genre

I’ve always wondered why ER dramas are so enticing to people.

Take ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ for example. My wife is obsessed with the show and always has to have her Thursday night free so that she doesn’t miss the latest and greatest on Grey’s. In fact, these past few weeks have been a bit rough for her as Grey’s has seemed to go on a holiday hiatus or something.

And its not only Grey’s that is successful and earning their network huge bucks. ‘ER’ was a huge hit when it was around, and ‘Private Practice’, which airs right after Grey’s, has also done quite well as well. In fact, the only recent drama of this ER genre that hasn’t done well is ‘Off the Map,’ for who knows what reasons.

This all begs the question, why are we in love with all the gore, soap opera romances, and stress that these shows are week in and week out?

I’ve decided to brainstorm a few possible reasons, but let me know if I’m way off base or if you have other insights to lend by commenting to this post.

Good Looking Men

First of all, I don’t think I’m really going out on a limb by saying that a majority of the people who watch these ER dramas are women. As such, ABC and other networks have, very cunningly, decided to cast some handsome looking men in their lead roles.

I mean, you’ve got Patrick Swayze on Grey’s who every women professes their love to, that ripped black guy on Private Practice who always seems to have his shirt off in bed, and plenty of other men who were gifted with good looks.

Better yet, if you watch these shows, you may notice something peculiar – the women are not nearly as good looking as the men?! This is a truthful statement. If you don’t believe me, go check out an episode for yourself.

Feel-Good Moments and Messages

Now, ER dramas are not the only shows that try to portray heart-warming acts of service on a consistent basis. Heck, even Modern Family has some sort of moral theme that they always bring out at the end of the show.

But ER dramas tend to bring out these messages really well. I mean, every one of these shows kind of follows the same pattern. Each episode normally follows a number of different story lines, each more stressful than the last, while mixing in a ton of protagonists and antagonists as they do so.

This makes for 48-minutes of craziness which often leaves people on the “edge of their seat.” But somehow, at the end, everything is always resolved! Not only that, but all the various solutions are always tied together into one “feel-good message” that just melts your heart….or something like that.

I must admit, although I do not enjoy watching these shows, they are very good at helping people to relate to their make believe worlds of stress, frustration, and ultimately, triumph.

The Action

Lastly, people like action and suspense. And somehow, you get these elements in ER dramas. Now, this isn’t the type of action that involves car chases, epic gun fights, or sword-wielding heroes, but its still the type of action that will keep you glued to your TV set.

After all, its hard to take your eyes off of a dramatic surgery, transplant, or procedure that may save someone’s life – whether its real or being acted out on a set.

Last Thought

In ending, I guess its not hard to see why people love ER dramas. I mean, who doesn’t like a show packed with drama, action, suspense, good looking people, and a feel-good message at the end?

That being said, I still can’t lower my standards to watch one of these shows anytime in the near future. But at least I know why other people do!