The series finale of ER is tonight? Didn't that already happen three weeks ago?
Everything about this last season of ER, which airs on CTV and NBC, seemed to be gearing up to George Clooney's possible return. Would Clooney come back? Or would he resist?
Well, as we all know by now, Clooney already came back to reprise the role of Dr. Doug Ross three weeks ago. So we must admit, the ER finale tonight has something of an anti-climactic feel to it.
Even if Clooney jumps out of a closet again, it's kinda "been there, done that," ya know? The initial episode order for ER this season had the series ending three weeks ago, but cupboard-is-bare NBC eventually asked for three more weeks.
Last week ER was NBC's most watched show with 10.4 million American viewers, but that ranked it only 20th in the weekly primetime ratings. And it's less than a third of what ER averaged in its second season.
ER has been around for 15 seasons, having debuted all the way back in 1994. It stopped being a front-burner show for a lot of viewers seven or eight years ago, but anything that can hang around for a decade and a half in this TV landscape should be applauded.
The finale tonight is a two-hour extravaganza. Prior to that, a one-hour retrospective will air on NBC (which is ER's network of origin in the United States) but not on CTV.
In the finale episode, titled And in the End, Part 1 & 2, Dr. Tony Gates (John Stamos) works on a teen brought in with alcohol poisoning after playing a drinking game with friends; Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle) opens a new medical facility for the underprivileged in Chicago and some old friends from County General stop by to show their support; Nurse Sam Taggart (Linda Cardellini) gets a special gift for her birthday; and Dr. Carter works with an intern to save a mother who is in labour with twins.
Scheduled guest-stars include Alexis Bledel and Ernest Borgnine, while "guest appearances from ER alumni" are being teased, too.
Once you've had Clooney, though, you can never go back.
That came out awkwardly, but you know what we mean.
