Chicago Hope
McNeil and Pray
TV Flash files “McNeil and Pray” as hour 106 of 141 in the TV Flash guide — Chicago Hope (1994–2000) on CBS, season 5, episode 11, aired 1998-12-16, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E11: listed hour 106 of 141 in the Chicago Hope guide, hour 11 of 24 in season 5. It aired 1998-12-16 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Gun with the Wind” (S05E10). Next is “Adventures in Babysitting” (S05E12).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A girl on the basketball team which Jack coaches sustains a serious injury during a game, leaving him to feel guilty; Drs. Austin and Yeats work together on a case of a man with heart disease and Alzheimer's, and disagree on a course of treatment that causes Kate a lot of agitation; Keith reluctantly agrees to let his son see Aaron to talk about the shooting, but is actively hostile to therapy... for either of them; Dr. Catera's assistant tries to spread holiday cheer a little too vigorously.
Viewer FAQ
Where does McNeil and Pray sit in the Chicago Hope guide?
S05E11 is listed hour 106 of 141 — hour 11 of 24 in season 5, season 5 episode 11.
When did Chicago Hope S05E11 air?
McNeil and Pray aired 1998-12-16 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…