…Clooney checking back into ‘ER’
Tonight is supposedly the night George Clooney returns to ER.
The long-running medical drama, which airs on CTV and NBC, is wrapping up for good on April 2, at the end of its 15th season. But tonight’s instalment has been touted as a “reunion” episode, and we all know what that means.
Clooney played Dr. Doug Ross as a regular cast member on ER from 1994 to 1999, before leaving to pursue a big-time movie career.
Dr. Ross’ love interest was nurse Carol Hathaway, played by Julianna Margulies. That character is coming back for sure tonight, since Margulies openly has been featured in promos for the episode.
Everyone is being more cagey about Clooney, but the inside buzz is deafening.
Clooney last was seen on ER in May 2000, when he showed up for the final scene of Margulies’ last episode. Clooney had left the show a year before that.
On the set of ER in Los Angeles last summer, executive producer John Wells told television critics that Clooney always was a model citizen, both when he was on ER and when he departed the series.
“I think everybody knows this story, but (Clooney) never asked, as the show took off, to make a dime more than he was paid at the beginning,” Wells said. “He completely fulfilled his contractual obligations to us over five years, stayed committed, did publicity, worked hard, and was just a completely standup guy.
“We see lots of examples where people have had those kinds of opportunities and they don’t respond that way. So I have nothing other than admiration for him as a friend and a professional. He was a big part of what made the show successful at the beginning.”
Tonight’s episode initially was scheduled to be the last for ER, but NBC and Wells ultimately worked out a deal for three additional episodes.
All season, former ER cast-members have been coming back.
“I did not want anyone to leave the series at any point, to tell you the truth, particularly any of the original six actors,” Wells said.
The “original six” in this case is not an NHL term. Rather, Wells was referring to Clooney, Margulies, Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis, Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter and Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton.
Wyle currently is back for a multi-episode arc. Edwards has been back. And La Salle will be back tonight, too.
“We really didn’t anticipate that we would be able to change casts, particularly after the sort of — with all due modesty — the extraordinary success we had at the beginning,” Wells said. “We sort of felt like, ‘Wow, as soon as people start to leave, that will be that.’
“But we were able to replace the actors who were leaving with really extraordinary actors. When we look back at the list, we’ve had 26 regulars on the show over 15 years.”
Not many series are able to withstand that kind of turnover. The only other one that comes immediately to mind is Law & Order, and not coincidentally, ER and Law & Order are among the longest-running primetime dramas in TV history.
“I remember how we were talking when Sherry (Stringfield) was leaving the first time — she was the first person to leave the cast, that was in year three,” Wells said. “We all thought, ‘Oh, well, here it comes, we’ll be gone by year five.’
“But we were able to introduce characters slowly so we didn’t have actors coming in to replace someone. I think the audience embraced that, because it’s similar to their workplaces. People come and you care about them, they’re friends, they leave, other people replace them, and they become your friends.”
Of course, there are friends, and then there are FRIENDS.
Welcome back, Clooney.
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