I hate Doug Ross

Wait…what?

Miss Ma’am, are you talking about a character that launched actor George Clooney, then known mostly for playing a sorta hot guy on The Facts of Life, into the A-list 30 years ago?

Yes, that is exactly who I am talking about.

Okay, so some context: my daughter and I have been obsessed with The Pitt, so when The Pitt’s sourcecode ancestor ER finally became available on Netflix, we have been watching an episode a night of the mid-90s medical drama for the past few weeks. And so far, it’s been great! We love that some of the storylines have found their evolved Pokemon forms in The Pitt (like the Civil War reenactor = Fort Pitt Museum bayoneteers). We love the throughline that Carter is ER’s Whitaker and if the original plan for The Pitt to be an ER reboot came true, what could we have had from Carter’s evolution from cutie pie student to grizzled and depressed attending? We like the focus on the medical cases, the way they don’t spoonfeed information to the audience, and we love watching medical technology evolve over the seasons. I find myself liking ‘difficult’ characters too like Benton and Dr. Weaver.

(Look, I actually watched ER back in the 90s when it was airing on Channel 5 but I was like, 15? Maybe? And I don’t remember much of it, so watching it now feels like new).

There are some stuff that I dislike. I cannot stand Chloe, Dr. Susan Lewis’ irresponsible sister who eventually abandons her daughter for Susan to care for. I hate the workplace hookups. It’s so weird that the show’s writers ship married people with singles on the show — like Jeanie and Dr. Benton, and at a certain point Doug harasses Dr. Greene — WHO IS VERY MUCH MARRIED — about hooking up with his good friend Susan.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO DOUG FRICKING ROSS.

He’s the emergency pediatrician and he’s portrayed as the passionate, flawed yet brilliant doctor who cares so much about his patients. Surely we, the viewers, will forgive him for his little transgressions here and there?

No. He is an actively toxic manchild who throws tantrums because he cannot manage his emotions properly, sleeps with his co-workers and engages in emotional blackmail, and is tolerated and enabled by the most “likeable” characters, like his boss, Dr. Greene, and Dr. Lewis. Effectively the writers are telling us that if these relatable folks like him, hey, we can forgive him too!

Not only does he continuously flirt with ENGAGED Charge Nurse Carol, whose overdose, by the way, in ER’s pilot episode is hinted at as having to do with their affair, he sleeps with a student doctor in season 2. This is after he pushes aggressive therapy to a terminally ill child without informing the child’s mother (played by Lucy Liu LOL) of all the treatment options. He changes a child’s pulse ox reading directly contradicting a nurse’s earlier notes on the chart to avoid having to move him to another urgent care center covered by the child’s HMO — which means insurance won’t cover his treatment — and refuses to apologize over it when called out by Dr. Greene (the attending physician WHO ALSO REFUSES TO REPORT HIM FOR SLEEPING WITH A STUDENT).

And this is only in the first two seasons! Whenever I type in “I hate Doug Ross” on Google I keep getting Reddit results of the worse things he does in later seasons.

So my question now is why. Why was George Clooney the breakout star of ER while playing the most awful guy? Why did the ER writers reward his character with that John Wayne AF episode where he rescues a child from a storm drain? (And why does that heroic episode lead to the next one where Doug is the asshole of all assholes to Greene, Morgenstern and the pedia attending I can’t be bothered to remember?) Why were were viewers falling all over themselves with crushes on Doug? Were we all bulls in the 90s and just attracted to the red flag parade? Was Clooney really that hot in the 90s for the show’s writing to give him this much of a runway?

I kind of wish I could time travel back in the 90s to understand Doug Ross’ appeal. Again, I was a teen and not the 34-year-old TV doctor’s target market. So I want to go back and read the women’s magazines pieces and watch the E! and Inside Edition features. Was anti-authority, “charming rascal” (but man that head tilt Clooney does gets old pretty quick), daddy issues-plagued Doug really the “I can fix him!” guy women wanted — or is that just what the monoculture sold?

And why does Doug irk me so much?

Part of ER’s appeal is that all the characters are so recognizably flawed. There’s Greene who could grow a backbone or three, as well as Susan who lets her sister (seriously Chloe seems to be developmentally undiagnosed or something) walk all over her, Weaver who is brilliant but can’t help herself from publicly shaming Lewis; Benton who is harsh but smart and a striver and whose obsession with surgical knots seems like stimming; Hathaway, empathetic and capable and so weak for bad men. So why do Doug’s flaws consistently bug me?

(An aside: The Pitt improves on this by focusing more on the problem-solving and less on the personalities, but still letting each character have their moments so we get to know them as well as the ER cast).

I think it has to do with where we are in the zeitgeist right now and the slow realization that men’s problems are not things for their partners to coddle and solve. Doug seems to externalize everything without doing the interior work that leads to real growth. And look where we are: Researchers have identified “mankeeping” — the emotional support women perform in heterosexual relationships (and I mean support as in functioning as the guy’s always-on-call therapist) as a reason why women are opting out of dating. This article talks about how marriage becomes less attractive as women attain more economic power. The cultural message seems to be: as women are more able to address their own needs via financial means, economic empowerment and social ties, they are asking for men who bring more to the table than sex and money. Not being a drag on a woman’s time and energy at the very top of that table list.

So what do you think? Have you rewatched ER lately? Do you think a character like Doug would still get the traction today that Clooney got in the 90s? And is sad, depressed but ultra capable Dr. Robby the 2020s’ answer to Doug Ross?