Chicago Hope backdrop
Soap•Drama

The Best Episodes of Chicago Hope Season 1

Every episode of Chicago Hope Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Chicago Hope Season 1!

Binge this in 22h 0m•Peaking at 8.3/10

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity

Airs on
CBS
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons6

All123456

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 10 - The Quarantine
    8.3/10(58 votes)

    S1:E10

    Tensions run high as hard truths ring out when Jeffrey, Danny, Camille, Maggie, Aaron, Arthur and Phillip are quarantined in an empty operating room after a possible exposure to Ebola; Jeffrey and Danny perform an emergency bypass after Arthur has a massive heart attack; Aaron and Camille reconcile.

    Director:Thomas Schlamme
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 22 - Songs from the Cuckoo Birds
    8.2/10(39 votes)

    S1:E22

    Following Dr. Joseph's witnessing of Dr. Geiger's actions, the medical board suspends him until his case can be reviewed. However, there is some disagreement among the hospital's staff as to whether or not the suspension is in their best interests.

    Director:Michael Dinner
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 6 - Shutt Down
    8.1/10(34 votes)

    S1:E6

    Aaron, the staff, and the patients are caught in the crossfire when Antoine Metcalf, a gangbanger and career criminal, follows his latest victim into the E.R. to finish off the job he started, and sprays a room with automatic gunfire before hospital security shoots him down; Karen joins the staff, and successfully teams with Paula to remove hematomas that are preventing Marcus Lavelle from walking, but the trauma of witnessing his mother's being injured in the E.R. shooting leaves the little boy afflicted with hysterical paralysis and still unable to move although the surgery has left him physically fine; reluctantly operating on the shooter, Aaron jokes about how easy and perhaps appropriate it might be to cause Metcalf's death through a surgical hiccup, a remark which comes back to haunt him later when Metcalf dies soon after surgery and his family sues Aaron and the hospital for failure to provide adequate care; Arthur engages in a little ex parte communication to put in a good word

    Directors:Steve Miner, Michael Nankin
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 7 - Genevieve and Fat Boy
    8.0/10(34 votes)

    S1:E7

    After Karen begins having seizures, Aaron discovers that she is terminally ill from the multiple brain metastases of a melanoma; Jeffrey resents having to perform surgery on a mobster about to enter the witness protection program; when the residents attempt to pull a practical joke on Jeffrey, they unwittingly provide comfort to a dying Karen.

    Director:Oz Scott
    Writer:Michael Nankin

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 8 - Death Be Proud
    8.0/10(44 votes)

    S1:E8

    Jeffrey strongly objects when his old nemesis is hired into the plastic surgery department, but they are able to set aside their differences to bring some peace to the mother of a young girl who dies during surgery; a nurse impedes Aaron's plan to allow Karen to die peacefully.

    Director:Michael Schultz
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 9 - Heartbreak
    8.0/10(32 votes)

    S1:E9

    Camille has an innocent and unavoidable mishap in the operating room during a heart transplant on the rabbi who performed her wedding ceremony to Aaron, and blames herself when the rabbi dies later, even though her mishap had nothing to do with his death; an inexperienced new nurse stands up to Arthur; wracked with guilt, Camille reveals the operating room mishap to the rabbi's widow, and only Alan's ingenuity in demanding an autopsy keeps the hospital from a major lawsuit; Aaron and Camille have it out over his lack of emotional support after the rabbi's death, and each of them admit to the hurt caused by their divorce.

    Director:Bill D'Elia
    Writer:Michael Nankin

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 BEST Episodes of Chicago Hope

    READ
  7. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 15 - Life Support
    8.0/10(36 votes)

    S1:E15

    When the gun belonging to a critically wounded police officer drops out of his holster in the E.R., the distraught brother of a man waiting for a donor heart picks up the weapon and threatens the staff unless his brother receives an immediate transplant; as Aaron and Danny operate on the wounded officer, one of the exploding bullets with which he was shot goes off and severs two of Danny's fingers; Geri performs a successful reattachment, but Danny may be facing the end of his career as a surgeon.

    Director:Lou Antonio
    Writers:John Tinker, David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 18 - Informed Consent
    8.0/10(36 votes)

    S1:E18

    Dr. Kronk's feelings towards his girlfriend undergo changes when he find out about her past. Geiger's heart patient develops an aneurysm which would take him off the heart recipient list unless highly experimental methods are tried. Meanwhile, Dr. Hancock's ejection from his clinic leads to bringing the HMO provider into the courtroom.

    Director:Bill D'Elia
    Writers:John Tinker, David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 21 - Full Moon
    8.0/10(34 votes)

    S1:E21

    A troubled Dr. Geiger seeks a blessing from his institutionalized ex-wife so he can continue his relationship with Dr. Infante. A dying AIDS patient hopes Hancock can arrange a surgical procedure that would allow him to see one more sunrise.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 2 - Over the Rainbow
    7.9/10(49 votes)

    S1:E2

    Jeffrey runs afoul of the trustees when a grieving husband has second thoughts after allowing him to test an artificial heart on the body of the man's newly deceased wife; Alan comes to the rescue when a patient's HMO refuses to cover Aaron's operating on her very complicated and potentially fatal brain tumor; Jeffrey visits his wife Laurie, a straitjacketed patient in a mental hospital who apologizes for drowning their son Joey; Arthur's refusal to remove his wagging finger from Jeffrey's face during an argument leaves him with a bitten digit, and enables Jeffrey to diagnose the curable medical condition that's causing Arthur's resting tremor.

    Director:Michael Dinner
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 3 - Food Chains
    7.9/10(38 votes)

    S1:E3

    Arthur nearly fires Danny for failing to adhere to triage protocol, thereby delaying the treatment of a critically injured prostitute with AIDS; Phillip becomes the acting chief of staff after Hackett suffers a fatal heart attack during a little afternoon delight with Angela in the MRI room; Jeffrey and Arthur argue over the future of a baboon with the potential to prolong the life of Jeffrey's patient with heart failure and Arthur's patient with AIDS.

    Director:Jeremy Kagan
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 13 - Small Sacrifices
    7.9/10(35 votes)

    S1:E13

    Billy Kronk, a hotshot young surgeon and recreational hockey player, arrives in the E.R. with a critically ill teammate and immediately takes charge, steamrollering over Phillip; Alan deflects a suit by Nabbott, but not before bristling at Harold's ""toad"" routine in court and being thrown into jail for contempt; Billy convinces a psychotic mugger with a history of pica who has bitten off the finger of a concert flautist during a robbery to submit to an endoscopy to retrieve the digit; as Geri successfully completes the reattachment, Billy and Phillip discover a second finger in the thief's digestive tract, and realize that the musician has been given a digit belonging to yet another of the mugger's victims.

    Director:David Hugh Jones
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 5 - You Gotta Have Heart
    7.8/10(35 votes)

    S1:E5

    Phillip's religious beliefs and Jeffrey's grief over the death of his son put them on opposite sides of whether to convince a young mother to remove her infant from life support so that her daughter's organs can be donated to save the life of another baby; Karen deflects a flirtation from Jeffrey, but romantic sparks fly between her and Aaron.

    Director:Tim Hunter
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 11 - Love and Hope
    7.8/10(43 votes)

    S1:E11

    The staff has its hands full when a man suffering from the after-effects of taking amyl nitrite suffers one complication after another, thereby necessitating multiple surgeries, and Alan takes one for the team right on the nose when he strains credulity in attempting to put the patient's situation in the best possible light; Geri and Jeffrey make peace; Camille contemplates having some plastic surgery after Aaron suffers from performance anxiety on their first post-reconciliation date; Jeffrey agrees to help Laurie put on the Institute's Christmas concert, but the preparations for the event begin to overwhelm her and put additional strain on her already fragile state; Danny and Maggie can't keep their hands off each other; Jeffrey confesses his despair about Laurie's condition and its effect on his life to Camille.

    Director:Michael Dinner
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 12 - Great White Hope
    7.8/10(32 votes)

    S1:E12

    Phillip is unable to save a promising young boxer who succumbs to the fatal effects of steroids his father gave him to enhance his performance in the ring; a pregnant young teenager carrying a baby with a heart defect seeks Alan's help when she is unable to find adoptive parents for her infant; Aaron fires Angela after his tax audit reveals that she's been embezzling money from his pension plan.

    Director:Claudia Weill
    Writer:John Tinker

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 19 - Internal Affairs
    7.8/10(44 votes)

    S1:E19

    Dr. Kronk makes a rushed decision to rescue a man by amputating his leg with a chainsaw, only to discover later that the man is a place kicker. A friend of Aaron's with Parkinson's disease comes to him for an operation...bringing his own donor material. A ex-nurse is admitted into the hospital and is given special treatment by Dr. Nyland, whom she used to date.

    Director:Michael Dinner
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 20 - The Virus
    7.8/10(38 votes)

    S1:E20

    When the Board of Health closes the hospital doors after several patients die from a deadly staph infection, the staff scrambles to find the source of the infection; Jeffrey and Geri help each other work through feelings of grief, loss, and guilt.

    Director:Unknown
    Writers:John Tinker, David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 1 - Pilot
    7.7/10(59 votes)

    S1:E1

    Camille serves Aaron with divorce papers; Phillip benches Arthur from further surgery when Arthur's resting tremor begins to endanger patients; Aaron removes a brain tumor from an elderly patient; Jeffrey and Aaron separate conjoined twins.

    Director:Michael Pressman
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  19. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 14 - Cutting Edges
    7.7/10(36 votes)

    S1:E14

    Laurie asks Jeffrey for a divorce so that she can marry Gilbert Weeks, a lawyer who is also a patient at the Institute; spurred by this news, Jeffrey suggests that Aaron perform an experimental procedure which may cure Laurie's schizophrenia; fearful that Laurie will no longer love him if she is cured, Gilbert goes to court to stop the procedure, citing Jeffrey's conflict of interest and contesting his guardianship of Laurie; although she is torn between the two men that she loves, Laurie decides that her future is with Gilbert and declines the surgery; Billy becomes a member of the staff, and agrees to do a consultation on Tamara, a teenaged patient of an old friend, Dr. Dennis Hancock; after Tamara is diagnosed with breast cancer and refuses to have a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery despite warnings from Billy and Geri that she will die without the surgery, Dennis uses just the right approach to change her mind and allay her fears of disfigurement.

    Director:Mark Tinker
    Writers:David E. Kelley, Toni Graphia

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  20. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 17 - Growth Pains
    7.7/10(39 votes)

    S1:E17

    An explosion sends a dry cleaner to the ER. Dr. Kadalski is pressured to change his unorthodox methods when he treats a man who compulsively pulls out his hair. A fearful Birch lets off steam at Jeffrey as baby Alicia's condition worsens.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  21. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 16 - Freeze Outs
    7.5/10(42 votes)

    S1:E16

    The staff works to save a young boy who was submerged in a frozen lake for several hours; Jeffrey and Geri have a little digestive mishap on their way to pursuing a relationship; Dennis fights to get an experimental treatment for a patient with AIDS, and finds an unexpected ally in Alan.

    Director:Dennis Dugan
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  22. Chicago Hope Season 1 Episode 4 - With the Greatest of Ease
    7.4/10(35 votes)

    S1:E4

    Jeffrey tells Nadine about Laurie's schizophrenia and the death of his son; Aaron and Camille grieve about their impending divorce; several members of a family of trapeze artists are brought into the hospital in critical condition after a devastating accident during a circus performance; one of Aaron's former patients reveals his bigotry when he refuses to allow Nadine to remove his diseased gall bladder and insists that Aaron or another Jewish surgeon perform the procedure; Jeffrey exhibits signs of a meltdown when, in the space of a few hours, outrageous conduct in a nightclub gets him mistakenly arrested for soliciting a prostitute and he vandalizes the car of a man who stole his parking space; Phillip incorrectly attributes Aaron's angry outburst at one patient minutes after losing another young patient in surgery to tensions with Camille, and threatens to fire Camille if there's a recurrence.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writer:David E. Kelley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Season 1 Ratings Summary

"The Quarantine" is the best rated episode of "Chicago Hope" season 1. It scored 8.3/10 based on 58 votes. Directed by Thomas Schlamme and written by David E. Kelley, it aired on 1/2/1995. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Songs from the Cuckoo Birds".