All of those storylines — Pratt's brother, Abby's brother, Paul Nathan — helped keep ER grounded in a sense of reality the audience could relate to. Carter's fight for medical detectors in the hospital was the first real sign of a deep social conscience that would lead him to Africa and eventually away from the ER. I found it interesting, watching season nine, that Carter found it so easy to pull away from Abby as she struggled with her own demons, but has real trouble acknowledging his struggle to reconcile his background as a child of wealth with his need to help others. At season's end, he and Dr. Kovac decide to travel to Africa to help people there.

The other wonderful development during the ninth season of ER was the emotional growth of Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes). Though it was revealed she was a lesbian and had a partnership with EMT Sandy Lopez (Lisa Vidal), her personal life wasn't touched on very much. Things changed this season, when Weaver became pregnant and miscarried the baby. One of the more emotional scenes of the year has the usually iron-willed Weaver emotionally talking with her partner about how to move on. Also, with Weaver getting a new promotion in part because of Romano's accident, she learns more about balancing a lot of different responsibilities and the sacrifices that have to be made to make everything work effectively.

As solid as the ninth season was, I don't know what the creative team at ER was thinking when they decided Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) should impulsively marry an EMT. There was really nothing in her character that suggested she would do that, and besides, the guy was just so loutish; it just made no sense.

Dr. Lewis's impulsive marriage aside, season nine of ER was a strong one. The series' creative team made up for some significant cast losses by infusing some wonderfully woven story arcs with talented actors that brought a lot to the material. My diagnosis: ER hadn't jumped the shark, yet.

The Complete Ninth Season was shot in widescreen and the DVD transfer is in a matted widescreen format. Audio is available in Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound. Subtitles are available in English, both dialogue-only and a more complicated set for the hearing impaired, as well as French, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese.

The special features on ER - The Complete Ninth Season are pretty much the same as the last few sets: deleted scenes (a whopping seventeen in this release!) and a gag reel that is incorrectly labeled as part of disc three (it's on disc six.)

Gag Reel (6:46) - Your basic flubs and mishaps from filming.

Outpatient Outtakes - Spread across the six discs are these deleted scenes. The visual quality of the scenes has improved dramatically from earlier seasons, as has the content included. With over seventeen episodes included in this feature, you get a good sense of just how much work hits the cutting room floor.