EW: 25 Best TV Doctors: Dr. John Truman Carter III (Noah Wylie) in "ER"

Fixed.

 

Dr. John Truman Carter III
Noah Wyle
ER (1994-)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Dr_carter.jpg/250px-Dr_carter.jpg]

Carter comes to County General as a third year medical student. Carter is characterized as not always being the most gifted physician, but he is very dedicated and compassionate to his patients. He is initially interested in surgery -- even completing the first year of his surgical residency -- and is mentored by surgical resident Dr. Peter Benton. However, after extended exposure to the emergency room, he decides to change his specialty to emergency medicine, to Benton's dismay. In order for Carter to change from his surgical residency to an emergency medicine residency, he agrees to work for free for his first year, since County General had no more funding for an additional spot. As a resident his confidence grows, and he often does whatever is in his power (or, sometimes, things outside of his power, much to the annoyance of his superiors) to help patients.

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Discuss.

 

Yay for Carter!!

He and House are tied for my favorite TV doctors. Carter was a very well thought out character who was played wonderfully by Noah Wyle. Carter was the reason I watched ER, I tried to watch after he left but I just couldn't. He was the life of that ER!

 

I agree, I was literally one of the world's biggest ER fans, with one of the top 2 fansites to prove it But even though I've watched it mostly since Carter left in Season 11, I haven't cared about it and I don't really consider it ER officially anymore. It's kind of like After M*A*S*H now. It will be really nice to have him back for a few episodes in this it's last season.

Carter is my favourite TV character ever. And probably always will hold that spot (though some others might eventually surpass as 'better', none will top my 'favourite' list). I started watching this show from the beginning (I was 7, it's true ) and it was such a huge part of my growing up. And now that I'm an adult and have seen all the first 9 or so seasons at least 3 times each, I can honestly say it's some of the best television in history.

And Carter is a huge part of that. I think it might have taken people a while to get that, because of course early on everyone was big on Doug as The Hunk and Mark as The Everyman. But Carter has the special role of being the audience's POV person. He starts out a newbie just like the viewers, thrown into this completely unfamiliar and hectic environment. As he grew, so did the viewers along with him. Not to mention Carter's a not-so-thinly-veiled conduit for Crichton's own experiences as a med student, so it's no wonder he has some of the most compelling and interesting plotlines.

I would like to add something that I think the cast brought up on the DVDs and which I've always felt and that's the role Noah Wyle's comedic timing plays in the part. People don't realize it because it's not like the show's a comedy, but Wyle's hilarious and sympathetic dorkiness in the role is part of what makes Carter so loveable. Even when he's more grown up and a kick ass doctor, he never loses the dweeb. It's not really much of a leap to see how Scrubs took the character concept (along with many many other characters from ER) and took it to a completely comedic level.

-sj loves kevin spacey