ERThis repeat of the season premiere made me recall three distinctive things: 1) It was the first episode without Noah Wyle in the opening credits, and I remember not missing him that horribly, only because they had been downplaying Carter's importance and not featuring him as much as they usually did towards the end of last season.2) It was the first episode with Dominic Janes as the new Alex (Sam's son). I found out literally the night after I wrote about Oliver Davis being replaced in the role exactly why it was done: Per ER's former casting director Sara Isaacson, they loved Oliver, but they got tired of working around his Rodney schedule, so they recast him. Poof! New Alex. 3) This was Linda Cardellini's best episode this season. She
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Remember when there was a new Darren on Bewitched? How about when Chris on The Partridge Family changed? Then there was a new Steven on Dynasty and, of course, a new Becky on Roseanne (and then back to the old). Now we have a new Alex on ER. Alex, just to remind you, is Samantha's diabetic son, and he's now being played by Dominic Janes. Maybe Oliver Davis had to do full-time work on Rodney? Anyway, I noticed it right away, even though at first they were using clever camera work so he was only seen from far away. I laughed when the detective told Sam (after Alex's photo was distributed): "Nobody recognized your son." Of course they didn't; he's being played by someone else. Glad for Sam's sake that she finally found him and that he's OK. But her journey getting to the missing Alex included a scene that brought back nasty memories for me. I must admit that I once fell asleep at the wheel — not a pretty time in my history.
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