Chicago Hope
Hello Goodbye
TV Flash files “Hello Goodbye” as a desk essential hour — Chicago Hope (1994–2000) on CBS, season 2, episode 1, aired 1995-09-18, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E01: listed hour 23 of 141 in the Chicago Hope guide, first listed hour of season 2. It aired 1995-09-18 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Songs from the Cuckoo Birds” (S01E22). Next is “Rise from the Dead” (S02E02).
Essential hour: “Hello Goodbye”. Hello Goodbye: network arms race elevating craft even when the other show won the ratings.

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Jeffrey is distinctly unpopular with his fellow surgeons in the wake of his psychological problems. Jeffrey operates on one of Hancock's patients. Nyland performs the wrong operation on a patient. Birch offends everyone in his parenting class by offering unsolicited advice. Shutt's father brings a patient to Chicago Hope in the hopes Aaron will operate on her. Dr. Kronk participates in a charity bachelor auction, where he's 'purchased' by Dr. Kate Austin, new CT surgeon at the hospital.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Hello Goodbye sit in the Chicago Hope guide?
S02E01 is listed hour 23 of 141 — first listed hour of season 2, season 2 episode 1.
When did Chicago Hope S02E01 air?
Hello Goodbye aired 1995-09-18 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is this just ER on the other network?
Same season debut, opposite temperature: more speeches than sprinting, ethics and ego as the engine, CBS prestige white coats versus NBC trauma velocity.
In the series
Why this series still plays
ER’s rival hospital across the dial: prestige white coats, Mandy Patinkin’s intensity, and David E. Kelley’s medical ethics machine. A network arms race that elevated craft even when the other show won the ratings. Nineties doctor drama with more speeches than sprinting — surgical soaps, ego collisions, and the satisfaction of a well-argued diagnosis after midnight.
The work, first: prestige white coats, Mandy Patinkin's intensity, medical ethics as the actual sprint — CBS's answer in the mid-1990s hospital arms race. David E. Kelley created *Chicago Hope* (1994–2000) and debuted it the same season as *ER* in a famous faceoff: classier, talkier counterweight to trauma velocity. Adam Arkin, Héctor Elizondo, later Mark Harmon and Christine Lahti. Surgeons at a top Chicago hospital clash over ethics, ego, and impossible cases. Nineties doctor drama with more speeches than…
Filed against
- Mandy Patinkin as Jeffrey Geiger
Mandy Patinkin’s Jeffrey Geiger brought intensity to Chicago Hope’s prestige white coats — ER’s rival across the dial, David E. Kelley’s ethics machine — then counselled a decade of wars as Saul on Homeland. Nineties doctor speeches;…
- Adam Arkin as Aaron Shutt
Adam Arkin’s Aaron Shutt worked Chicago Hope’s prestige white coats — ER’s rival across the dial, David E. Kelley’s medical ethics machine, nineties doctor drama with more speeches than sprinting. A network arms race that elevated craft…
- Héctor Elizondo as Phillip Watters
Héctor Elizondo's Phillip Watters ran Chicago Hope as prestige white-coat gravity — ER's rival hospital across the dial, Mandy Patinkin's intensity, David E. Kelley's medical-ethics machine. A network arms race that elevated craft even…
- Mark Harmon as Jack McNeil
Mark Harmon’s Jack McNeil worked Chicago Hope’s ethics-machine hospital — prestige coats, nineties doctor drama with more speeches than sprinting — then became NCIS’s quiet ratings titan as the squad-room still point. Kelley rival hour;…
- Christine Lahti as Kathryn Austin
Christine Lahti played Kathryn Austin on Chicago Hope — ER's rival hospital across the dial, prestige white coats, Mandy Patinkin's intensity, David E. Kelley's medical ethics machine. A network arms race that elevated craft even when the…