I've never wavered in my appreciation for ER, which ends an impressive 15-year run on April 2, and I wasn't sure exactly why until I combed through the show's catalogue in search of its most punch-packing highlights.

Sure, sure, each episode had a familiar construct -- havoc hits the ER! kooky patients bug the docs! someone sleeps with someone! But in between its network-TV conventions, ER gave us unforgettable, deeply affecting moments of Must See TV. So here, loyal viewer, is a look at the venerable show's most memorable episodes. This one's for you, Dr. Greene!

Season 13: Neela discovers Ray's fate

Aired: May 17, 2007

After scuffling with Dr. Gates (John Stamos) at Abby and Luka's wedding, Ray Barnett (Shane West) stormed out drunk and smack-dab into an oncoming car. We don't learn of his injuries until this episode when Neela (Parminder Nagra) visits him in the hospital to find him missing both his legs. Heartbreaking, gruesome, and unforgettable? Check, check, and check.

Season 15: Greg Pratt dies

Aired: September 25, 2008

The final season's premiere ep was a doozy: Following an explosion in an ambulance, Greg Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) is rushed to County where the ER staff work to stabilize him. After gurgling up what looks like a gallon of blood (truly disturbing), Pratt succumbs to a torn carotid, leaving the staff -- and the show -- down one fine doctor.

See pictures of George Clooney

Season 5: Doug Ross leaves the ER

Aired: February 18, 1999

Could he? Would he? Will he? The buzz surrounding George Clooney's departure was thick before his Dr. Ross actually took off for Seattle, so it wasn't a surprising event, per se. But Clooney was the only real male looker on the show, so what were all us ladies supposed to do? (Oh, right, Luka. Mmmmm.)

Season 13: Abby and Luka finally get married

Aired: May 3, 2007

No couple was as adorably dysfunctional as Abby (Maura Tierney) and Luka Kovac (Goran Visnjic). When the off-on-off-on pair (who'd already spawned baby Joe) finally married in a surprise secret ceremony, planned by Luka, I must admit I got a little weepy.

Season 7: Kerry Weaver comes out to Dr. Romano

Aired: May 17, 2001

Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) was already one of the show's most fascinating characters, so her struggle to come to terms with her homosexuality only deepened her humanity. Seeing her go ga-ga for hot Dr. Legaspi (Elizabeth Mitchell) was fun; seeing her come out publicly for the first time to nasty Dr. Romano (Paul McCrane), and threaten to quit if Legaspi wasn't rehired, was pretty fantastic TV.

Season 8: Mark Greene dies

Aired: May 2, 2002

The ER's resident Everyman, Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) was the moral compass of the show, making his lengthy brain cancer story arc pretty hard to watch. After he retreated to Hawaii to spend his last days with Elizabeth (Alex Kingston), a letter arrives to the ER relaying the news of Mark's death -- one of ER's most profoundly sad milestones.

Season 1: Carol Hathaway attempts suicide in the premiere

Aired: September 19, 1994

The series premiere was a flurry of dramatic moments: Carter (Noah Wyle) shows up for his first day interning at County General Hospital, Dr. Greene mulls an offer to go into private practice, Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) deals with an advanced cancer patient, Doug Ross confronts a woman over potential abuse of her daughter, and the ER's stoic lead nurse, Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies), is wheeled into the ER after an apparent suicide attempt. What a way to start the show.

Season 9: Dr. Romano's arm is severed by a helicopter rotor

Aired: September 26, 2002

Romano, ER's most convincing villain, suffers the show's most elaborate injury while on the roof of the hospital in this episode. But instead of killing him off (which, incidentally, would happen later in the series), producers took advantage of an opportunity to humanize a truly hateful man and strip him of his voracious God complex. Well done.

Season 3: Jeanie Boulet learns she has HIV

Aired: September 26, 1996

Young, black, female, beautiful, and married, Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) was hardly the type of character we would associate with AIDS. So when the dutiful physician's assistant found out her philandering husband had given her HIV, we were stunned, and ER officially became more than just a "hospital show."

Season 6: Lucy and Carter are stabbed

Aired: February 10, 2000

I can safely say this episode is one of the most disturbing, well-crafted, and exciting pieces of television I've ever seen. While the staff celebrates Valentine's Day in the lobby, Lucy (Kellie Martin) and Carter are stabbed by a schizophrenic patient in an exam room and left for dead. Seeing the doctors lying in pools of their own blood, unable to call for help amidst the din of revelry just outside the door, is a scene I'll never forget.

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