Season four introduces new doctor Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston) who brings a bit of the UK to the Chicago emergency room, but from the gimmicky live season opener, to the overly dramatic scenes involving Dr. Benton's premature baby boy and Dr. Greene's family troubles with his father and mother "ER" just isn't as interesting as it was before. The earlier seasons found their drama in the ER and the majority of the personal lives of the doctors where kept to a minimum on an "as needed" basis, but as "ER" goes on it gets a lot more personal and the medical aspects of the story don't seem to hold as much weight.
I guess what I am trying to say is that it starts to turn into more of a soap opera than a mdical drama.
The fourth season DVD set is right on par with prior season releases when it comes to special features as it has a couple of features dedicated to the live broadcast ("Ambush") that opened the season, deleted scenes scattered throughout the six disc set and a gag reel. One thing you won't find are any audio commentaries. The past two seasons had commentaries on two key episodes, this one has none. This doesn't bother me so much, but I am sure some die-hards out there will be upset.
Overall, I can't tell you not to pick this one up. After all it is the second to last season of George Clooney's "ER" tenure, which is in and of itself reason enough to buy the set if you are a fan of the show. This season may not be as intense or intriguing, but if you own the first three you are going to at least want this one and season five to make sure you own the Clooney "ER" five pack.