`Chicago Hope' Keeps Operating With A Revised Cast

Some of the faces are new, others have stayed, and one is back after a long absence.

Extensive surgery has been performed on "Chicago Hope," but whether it survives remains to be seen.

Big changes were mandated by CBS if the medical drama (9 p.m. Thursday) was to have a sixth year, and creator-producer David E. Kelley agreed to make them. That saw the majority of cast regulars exit in last season's final episode, since their characters were fired in one swoop by surprise returnee Dr. Jeffrey Geiger (Emmy-winner Mandy Patinkin, who left the series in its second year).

Goodbye, Christine Lahti and Eric Stoltz. Hello, Barbara Hershey.

So long, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Stacy Edwards. Welcome, Lauren Holly.

Farewell, Jayne Brook and Peter Berg. Come on in, Carla Gugino.

The three actresses who have just joined the show play doctors of differing specialties. Hershey's Francesca Alberghetti is a thoracic surgeon, Holly's Jeremy Hanlon is a plastic surgeon and Gugino's Gina Simon is an expert in neurosurgery and pediatrics. Still at the Chicago hospital are Aaron Shutt (Adam Arkin), Jack McNeil (Mark Harmon), Keith Wilkes (Rocky Carroll) and Chief of Staff Phillip Watters (Hector Elizondo).

"`Chicago Hope' was in trouble," allows Kelley, who wrote the two scripts that bridged last season and this one. "We met with CBS and pretty much agreed that in order for it to come back, it would really have to be reborn. When I sat down to do last year's final script, it just seemed very organic to bring back Geiger as the instrument of the sweeping changes. If he had his way, he would have fired everybody. He knew he couldn't, so some (doctors) had to be left."

By that time, Patinkin had expressed interest in returning to the show. He originally left to spend more time with his family and focus on his concert career, and even now, he is signed for most but not all of the year's episodes. "I'd been talking to David ever since I left about having some involvement in any of his shows," the actor-singer says. "I didn't want to let that relationship die, and when the `Chicago Hope' idea came up and David said he'd be there, I said, `If that's the case, I'll be there in a heartbeat.' "

Most of Kelley's attention lately has gone to two other shows, ABC's "The Practice" and Fox's "Ally McBeal," recently given Emmy Awards as Outstanding Series in their respective categories. (Kelley has since added ABC's "Snoops" and Fox's "Ally," a re-edited version of "McBeal," to his plate.) Day-to-day work on "Chicago Hope" is overseen by producers Michael Pressman and Henry Bromell, but Kelley has his hand back in a bit more.

"I certainly plan to be a more active consultant than I was the last two or three years," he emphasizes. "It entails reading the scripts and giving notes on them, then just sort of venturing forth with ideas when I have them. My daily responsibility is to `Ally McBeal' and `The Practice,' but this show is in very, very capable hands. I may write one or two more (`Chicago Hope' scripts this year)."