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The Best Episodes of Chicago Hope

Every episode of Chicago Hope ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Chicago Hope!

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,...
Genres:SoapDrama
Network:CBS

Best Episodes Summary

"Brain Salad Surgery" is the best rated episode of "Chicago Hope". It scored 8.4/10 based on 63 votes. Directed by Bill D'Elia and written by Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich, it aired on 10/15/1997. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Waging Bull".

  • Brain Salad Surgery
    8.4/1063 votes
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    #1 - Brain Salad Surgery

    Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 10/15/1997

    Dr. Shutt views his life as a musical after he collapses from an aneurism.

    Director: Bill D'Elia

    Writer: Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich

  • Waging Bull
    8.4/1033 votes
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    #2 - Waging Bull

    Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 3/18/1998

    Dr. McNeil attends a medical convention in Las Vegas, believing he can control his gambling addiction. After the son of a close friend dies, McNeil begins gambling again. Watters, Shutt, and Wilkes are forced to share a room in the hotel, when it is overbooked for the convention.

    Director: Bill D'Elia

    Writer: N/A

  • The Day of the Rope
    8.3/1043 votes
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    #3 - The Day of the Rope

    Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 1/20/1997

    White supremacists on the run following a failed assassanation attempt against the President hole up in a grocery store with an injured member and demand a doctor from Chicago Hope to treat him.

    Director: Stephen Cragg

    Writer: John Tinker, Peter Berg

  • Physician, Heal Thyself
    8.3/1032 votes
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    #4 - Physician, Heal Thyself

    Season 4 Episode 24 - Aired 5/13/1998

    As Dr. Wilkes takes his son to school gunfire errupts. The victims are brought to Chicago Hope and Wilkes finds himself having to deal with his sons post-tramatic distress. Kronk also finds himself viewing the situation in a new light, due to the recent arrival of his daughter. The situation also brings back memories of his son to Dr. Watters. Catera had to operate on the shooter, and feels conflicting emotions. Dr. McNeil pops the question to Dr. Catera. Austin is still turmoiled over the incident at the cabin.

    Director: Lou Antonio

    Writer: N/A

  • Liver, Hold the Mushrooms
    8.2/1022 votes
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    #5 - Liver, Hold the Mushrooms

    Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 3/11/1998

    A family eats poisonous mushrooms and the mother and two sons must receive a liver transplant. A donor is found for the mother and the father is a match for the two sons. The father decides to have a live donor transplant, but is told by Kronk that only one of his children can receive the organ. Austin and Cacaci have to attend a sensitivity seminar, which only makes Austin worse. With Shutt's help a patient remembers a sexual abuse that happened during childhood, but the parent vehemently deny it ever happening. Drs. Grad and Kronk get kicked out of lamaze class.

    Director: Kenny Ortega

    Writer: N/A

  • Heartbreak
    8.1/1063 votes
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    #6 - Heartbreak

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 1/1/1995

    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

  • A Day in the Life
    8.1/1038 votes
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    #7 - A Day in the Life

    Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/1996

    Austin's cystic-fibrosis patient is just one of four patients needing transplants who have to wait in fear and hope when a potential donor appears but is prematurely pronounces dead and entered into the donor system by the inexperienced Eggert.

    Director: Bill D'Elia

    Writer: Sara B. Cooper

  • Hope Against Hope
    8.1/1029 votes
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    #8 - Hope Against Hope

    Season 3 Episode 26 - Aired 5/19/1997

    Jeffrey Geiger drops by Chicago Hope to announce that he has bought a controlling interest in the hospital, and to perform a deicate heart operation on one of Kate's patients. Kronk is forced to take over caring for his father, who's afflicted with Alzheimers. Aaron and Jack ponder the meaning of religion and God when several people claim to be seeing an image of the Virgin Mary in the hospital lobby. Wilkes takes action concerning his future.

    Director: Bill D'Elia

    Writer: John Tinker

  • One Hundred and One Damnations
    8.1/1029 votes
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    #9 - One Hundred and One Damnations

    Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/1998

    The hospital prepares for the Doctor of the Year party, and several old friends drop by. Watters goes into a virus-induced coma and gets some words of wisdom from Alan Birch. Camille Shutt returns for the party and Aaron discovers he still has feeling for her. Dr. Nyland returns to the hospital and reveals that he has really changed his life. Geiger also visits the hospital.

    Director: Michael Pressman

    Writer: John Tinker, Barbara Hall

  • Boys Will Be Girls
    8.1/1026 votes
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    #10 - Boys Will Be Girls

    Season 6 Episode 13 - Aired 2/3/2000

    A teenager is forced to live his life as a girl after the slip of a knife, and McNeil goes to court to try to help.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Painful Cuts
    8.1/1036 votes
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    #11 - Painful Cuts

    Season 6 Episode 15 - Aired 2/17/2000

    Keith discovers a heart murmer while giving Alicia a physical. Jeremy performs an appendectomy on Siamese twins.

    Director: Peter Medak

    Writer: N/A

  • Cold Hearts
    8.1/1046 votes
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    #12 - Cold Hearts

    Season 6 Episode 17 - Aired 3/30/2000

    Shutt and Simon invent a procedure and use it to save the life of a girl. McNeil treat a wrestler who's been using steroids.

    Director: Robert Berlinger

    Writer: N/A

  • Everybody's Special at Chicago Hope
    8.1/1038 votes
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    #13 - Everybody's Special at Chicago Hope

    Season 6 Episode 21 - Aired 4/27/2000

    Shutt's patient wakes up after being in a coma after 15 years. A man is denied health coverage, after saving Miller's life.

    Director: Mark Harmon

    Writer: Marjorie David

  • Full Moon
    8.0/1037 votes
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    #14 - Full Moon

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 5/15/1995

    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: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Leave of Absence
    8.0/1047 votes
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    #15 - Leave of Absence

    Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 11/13/1995

    Geiger's bravado is put to the test when hospital counsel Alan Birch is shot by street thugs. Meanwhile, Grad agonizes over not being able to help Alan and Watters regrets his recent harsh words with the lawyer.

    Director: Jeremy Kagan

    Writer: David E. Kelley

  • Verdicts
    8.0/1036 votes
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    #16 - Verdicts

    Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 1/13/1997

    A hit-and-run victim escapes serious injury but her infant twins face a desperate crisis. Hancock faces testifying in court against his brother-in-law. Patient Linda Fortin's heart continues to grow weaker as her pregnancy progresses, endangering herself and her baby.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: David Amann

  • Growing Pains
    8.0/1027 votes
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    #17 - Growing Pains

    Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 3/10/1997

    Aaron and Phillip announce that they are buying the hospital from Wilmette, although their plans for keping the solvent do not please any of their colleagues. An HMO lawyer obsessed with ""patient responsibilty"" holds the reins on some lucrative coronary-bypass business. A patient with private insurance receives test after test for all of his petty complaints.

    Director: Jim Charleston

    Writer: Sara B. Cooper

  • The Son Also Rises
    8.0/1039 votes
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    #18 - The Son Also Rises

    Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 3/17/1997

    Aaron discovers that his late father wasn't his biological parent when he meets the eccentric sculptor who is; Phillip learns something about his estranged son when an emergency arises; Kate treats an 11 year-old genius who hungers for contact with his overwhelmed father.

    Director: James R. Bagdonas

    Writer: Tim Kring

  • Sarindipity
    8.0/1033 votes
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    #19 - Sarindipity

    Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/30/1998

    A poisonous gas is released in a bank and the doctors try to contain the gas, that is threatening many lives including Dr. Hancock.

    Director: Bill D'Elia

    Writer: Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich

  • Vanishing Acts
    8.0/1032 votes
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    #20 - Vanishing Acts

    Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 3/31/1999

    Diane tries to help grieving parents when their three year old child dies; Aaron is institutionalized after an experiment backfires.

    Director: Michael Schultz

    Writer: N/A

  • The Golden Hour
    8.0/1027 votes
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    #21 - The Golden Hour

    Season 6 Episode 9 - Aired 12/9/1999

    On the way to a football game, Aaron and Jack get sidetracked... after they find themselves in a hostage situation with 3 wounded patients, a loose gunman, and the police about ready to enter the building.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Hanlon's Choice
    8.0/1026 votes
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    #22 - Hanlon's Choice

    Season 6 Episode 10 - Aired 1/6/2000

    Dr. Hanlon must fight against her department heads when they decide they no longer want her to perform pro-bono operations. Dr. Alberghetti tries to help a young man with a staph infection.

    Director: Steve Gomer

    Writer: Marjorie David

  • Have I Got a Deal For You
    8.0/1041 votes
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    #23 - Have I Got a Deal For You

    Season 6 Episode 22 - Aired 5/4/2000

    Rumors fly that the hospital is about to be sold again; a man seriously injured in an accident wants to be the guinea pig for the computer program he's invented that can help him move again.

    Director: Rob Corn

    Writer: Marjorie David

  • Growth Pains
    7.9/1035 votes
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    #24 - Growth Pains

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/27/1995

    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: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Mummy Dearest
    7.9/1033 votes
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    #25 - Mummy Dearest

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 12/9/1996

    Diane is faced with a dilemna when she has an opportunity to examine a 500-year-old Incan mummy temporarily in town for an exhibition. An accident victim loses his memories but gains a much nicer personality, presenting Shutt and McNeil with a dilemmna.

    Director: Martha Mitchell

    Writer: Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich