Missus has been into New Amsterdam, a medical drama set in NY. Kept reminding me of a similar but better show I watched years ago. So, I recently acquired *ahem* all 15 seasons of ER, and binged season one in a day and a half.
Remembered watching it way back when, and remembered Dr. Benton as being a complete prick. This time however, for the first half or so of season one he was not the most approachable guy but he was pretty happy-go-lucky in his attitude most of the time. However as soon as his mother required around the clock care, he turned into the real dickface motherf**ker I remembered from years ago.
His progression and complete turn to the dark side shows some damn good writing imo. There is some sloppy stuff there, particularly the young female student doctor who botches one procedure, then up and quits, never to be seen again. They had a 5 minute scene where Dr. Carter tries to convince her to stay on, and that was it.
There was a Top Gun reunion later in the season too, with Goose, Jester and Slider all in the same episode, in fact possibly in the same scene/shot.