David
2009-03-23 16:05:47 UTC
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/arts/television/22cart.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=television
Post-Mortem: ER Is Remembered Fondly
By BILL CARTER
IN the long tradition of cultural touchstones forged from ignored or
rejected television scripts, the story of ER stands out. Every
network had passed on it, twice, John Wells, the shows original and
longtime executive producer, recalled. It had all these characters
and medical dialogue, and they found it utterly impossible to follow.
At the time the early 1990s ER was labeled a trunk job, a
script that had languished in some forgotten slush pile for years. And
indeed it had, somewhere in the dark reaches of Steven Spielbergs
Amblin Entertainment production company. Written in 1974 by Michael
Crichton, who died last year, the original version of the show
included a scene in which a few doctors, working in a Boston hospital,
were listening to a basketball game with Bill Bradley playing for the
Knicks and Tommy Heinsohn playing for the Celtics.
Then, in 1993, the project attracted new interest when the Warner
Brothers studio, which had gained the rights, began pitching the
series anew, using Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Crichton as inducement. (The
two had just collaborated on the enormously successful Jurassic
Park.) After an initial round of rejections, NBC given the big
names attached reluctantly agreed to produce a pilot and put it on
the schedule.
In hindsight the early doubters, as they often do, missed a
transitional moment in television history not to mention a
blockbuster hit. In the mid-1990s ER attracted more than 30 million
viewers a week, at its very peak in 1998, 47.8 million. By comparison
todays most-watched dramas rarely reach 20 million viewers. It was
the most-watched show in television for three seasons, and even now
remains the second-most-watched drama on NBC (after Law & Order:
SVU).
The shows end has been predicted each year for at least the past
three; early this season NBC executives still talked of possibly
renewing it for one more September. But Mr. Wells and Warner Brothers
studio chiefs decided the show should go out while it still held a
respectable audience. The final episode is set for April 2.
This oral history includes many performers who became closely
identified with ER, but starts with Mr. Wells, the shows driving
force from its outset.
In the Beginning
JOHN WELLS George [Clooney] was the first to be cast. I knew him from
seeing him around the lot. Les [Moonves, now the CBS chief executive,
then the head of Warner Brothers studio] had made a cast contingent
deal for a crime show with George, but George showed up in my office
and said hed heard about our show, and he liked the part better than
the legal show. He had a scene memorized, and he did it, and it was
terrific. I said wed love to have him. But George had to convince Les
because the other was a lead role and this was a supporting role.
George just told him: I want to do this one. Then as now George was
very aggressive and very smart about managing his career.
ANTHONY EDWARDS I was not getting great roles in movies. But I was
supposed to be directing this childrens movie, so I told John Wells I
probably cant do it. Then I went home, and my wife and my manager
slapped me around and said this is Crichton and Spielberg. This is a
big deal.
MR. WELLS Julianna Margulies was just a day player. She agreed to do a
small part because she was leaving town. She left town thinking she
died in the pilot. Eriq La Salle we didnt cast until three or four
days ahead of the pilot. Noah Wyle was like 13 years old and was
waiting tables. We brought him in because you were always supposed to
bring two choices to the network and we wanted the other guy. But he
kept getting better and better, and then he got the part. A lot of it
was pure luck.
Landing a Slot
MR. WELLS There are so many versions about what happened at the pilot
screening for NBC, but this is what I remember. Warren Littlefield
[the president of NBC Entertainment] came out and said, Were never
going to put it on the air. Les went crazy and started yelling,
saying we were going to test it ourselves. We called NBC after we
tested it, and they didnt believe our results. So we suggested a
focus group. That went so well they then tested it. I was shocked at
the results. It was the best-testing show theyd ever had.
PETER ROTH I was at 20th Century Fox, and we were bursting with pride
because we had Chicago Hope. I was staying at the St. Moritz Hotel
in New York for the upfronts in 1994, and I got a call from Warren
Littlefield saying, Would you mind if I got a look at Chicago Hope?
Weve got this show called ER. Ill trade shows with you. So I
agreed, and I remember I was watching an N.B.A. game in my room. The
N.B.A. was on NBC then, and I start seeing these promos: For 20 years
the home of the greatest drama on television is NBC Thursday night at
10. First Hill Street Blues, then L.A. Law and now the next great
drama series, ER. And I saw those clips, and I thought: Were
cooked.
NOAH WYLE The first time any of us had seen the clips we were at Avery
Fisher Hall for the upfront, and there was this eruption of applause.
ERIQ LA SALLE I invited everyone to my house to watch the pilot
together the night we went on the air. Rod Holcomb, who had directed
the pilot, came over early, and he and I tried to fool with the sound
or something. Anyway we wound up somehow putting the television into
sleep mode. So every 15 minutes it shut itself off. George kept saying
I had timed it so it happened every time one of his scenes came on.
ABRAHAM BENRUBI I said to George it was going to be the No. 1 show in
television by the fifth episode. He said no way. We wound up betting
on it. It was No. 1 after the fourth episode and George still owes me
that $5. Maybe if he reads this hell pay me.
A Hit, With Impact
CHRIS CHULACK We took seriously the idea that we were also an action
show. We would have 60 or 70 extras in the background, but our extras
always had a purpose. Sometimes we would shoot a five-page scene
without an edit. The actor that had the last line was under huge
pressure because if he broke wed have to go back to the beginning.
MR. WYLE It changed the form of storytelling on television. It did not
have the classic A-B-C, three-act structure. You often came in at the
end of a story or somewhere in the middle.
MR. WELLS Our battles with NBC were all about blood and the fact that
a lot of people were dying. The convention in earlier hospital shows
was not to show a lot inside the hospital because people didnt like
going there. People died in hospitals. As soon as the ratings came in,
those complaints went away.
MR. WYLE Alan Alda told us about something they had done on M*A*S*H.
They called it a gut check. Every Wednesday or Thursday the cast would
have lunch in John Wellss office to screen that weeks episode.
Everyone took everyone else on. It could really get cruel if you
hammed it up or took a moment to move your neck muscles or something.
You were never supposed to stop moving until you earned the moment. I
didnt ever want it to be me. I was moving around like an alley cat.
MR. WELLS Of course everyone was getting calls from new agents and
managers. George and Tony did not allow any silliness. They had both
seen a lot already in their careers. George, with all work hed put in
on things that hadnt worked, and of course he also had the
show-business experience from his family. Tony had seen what happens
in a film career. They kept everyone grounded.
MR. LA SALLE I also think the time was right. We came on just as the
health care issue was breaking through, with Hillary Clinton out front
of it.
MR. EDWARDS It was the beginning of the era when the emergency room
became primary care for most of America. People were coming into the
ER for things they should have seen a doctor about long before.
MR. WYLE The scenes with Eriq and me were comic relief. I saw my
character as out of Henry IV. He was a blueblood, but he had chosen
to work in an inner-city hospital with vagabonds, thieves and
drunkards.
Changing the Rotation
MR. WELLS People leaving the show wound up contributing to our
longevity. Of course when George left after five seasons, I was really
worried. I thought the show was definitely going to end in Year 8 when
Tony Edwards left.
MAURA TIERNEY I was the first of the second wave. I did eight seasons,
and people still thought of me as one of the new ones. They didnt
have a handle on the character at first. I was supposed to be either a
med student or a nurse depending on whether Julianna left. She stayed
one more season, so I was a med student; then she left, and I became a
nurse.
LINDA CARDELLINI John Wells hired me on a Wednesday, and I was working
on Monday. I had no idea what I was getting into. The first day on
that set I was floored. You have all this movement and then the
technical dialogue, which is like a foreign language. You could have
three different sets of cues. The doctor on the set could also call
cut. It was the only show where somebody besides the director could
call cut. Some days wed do 12 pages. When I shot the Scooby-Doo
movie, wed do one page a day.
PARMINDER NAGRA I was a fan of the show as a teenager in England. I
was in L.A. to do publicity for Bend It Like Beckham when I met with
John Wells, and he made me an offer. I had no idea how my life was
going to change.
WELLS I had seen Parminder in Beckham, and I realized that we had
never had an Indian or Pakistani doctor even though they are many in
E.R.s around the country.
MS. NAGRA Im very proud of my Indian heritage, but I didnt want it
to become a cliché. I wanted them to be clever about it. The challenge
was to make me grow as a character, and I think I did. They put me in
so many relationships. I think I set the record on the show for
hookups.
JOHN STAMOS I had never seen it. When I went in to meet them, I had
this idea that maybe they could get my character together with Maura
Tierney, because I thought she was really hot. I didnt know she was
already with Goran [Visnjic, who played Dr. Luka Kovac], and they had
a baby already. I actually had been asked on the show before, and I
didnt do it. But I saw George Clooney in the commissary on the lot
one day, and he said to me: Do ER. Its a great show and it will
change your life. I wonder what ever happened to that guy.
MS. TIERNEY Its different being a TV actor, especially in a hit show.
Youre in peoples homes; they know you in a way thats more intimate
and familiar. People would just come up to me and say hi. When my
character was cheating on Goran, people were angry with me. And when
my character fell off the wagon, we were in Chicago shooting on
location, and some of us went out to a bar afterwards. I was having a
glass of wine, and people came up to me and said, You shouldnt be
having that wine.
A Good Death
MR. WELLS Its very odd to say, but it really was time to end. Its
ending at a time when were all still very proud of it. At the same
time it means the loss of a lot of close friendships. There will be a
dedication on a plaque above the stage they are renaming the stage
for ER.
MR. STAMOS I think theyre canceling it prematurely. I still have a
lot of energy for the show. I think you could keep doing it as a
spinoff.
MR. WYLE My first day on the set was March 17, 1994. My last day will
be March 18, 2009. In between theres been marriage and children.
There was this tearful goodbye after my farewell episode after the
11th season. I came back to the lot the next week because Clint
Eastwood was casting for Flags of Our Fathers. I drove up and the
guard, who I had seen every day for years, asked me for ID. After I
told him why I was there he sent me across the way to the visitors
lot. Then I went in and put my name on a long call sheet for actors.
It just hit me: back to Square 1.
MR. EDWARDS I know it will always be my middle name. Im O.K. with
that. Im very friendly with Richard Thomas and he knows no matter
what he does he will always be associated with The Waltons. But he
said to me, Its O.K. to be stereotyped as long as you were good in
it.
Post-Mortem: ER Is Remembered Fondly
By BILL CARTER
IN the long tradition of cultural touchstones forged from ignored or
rejected television scripts, the story of ER stands out. Every
network had passed on it, twice, John Wells, the shows original and
longtime executive producer, recalled. It had all these characters
and medical dialogue, and they found it utterly impossible to follow.
At the time the early 1990s ER was labeled a trunk job, a
script that had languished in some forgotten slush pile for years. And
indeed it had, somewhere in the dark reaches of Steven Spielbergs
Amblin Entertainment production company. Written in 1974 by Michael
Crichton, who died last year, the original version of the show
included a scene in which a few doctors, working in a Boston hospital,
were listening to a basketball game with Bill Bradley playing for the
Knicks and Tommy Heinsohn playing for the Celtics.
Then, in 1993, the project attracted new interest when the Warner
Brothers studio, which had gained the rights, began pitching the
series anew, using Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Crichton as inducement. (The
two had just collaborated on the enormously successful Jurassic
Park.) After an initial round of rejections, NBC given the big
names attached reluctantly agreed to produce a pilot and put it on
the schedule.
In hindsight the early doubters, as they often do, missed a
transitional moment in television history not to mention a
blockbuster hit. In the mid-1990s ER attracted more than 30 million
viewers a week, at its very peak in 1998, 47.8 million. By comparison
todays most-watched dramas rarely reach 20 million viewers. It was
the most-watched show in television for three seasons, and even now
remains the second-most-watched drama on NBC (after Law & Order:
SVU).
The shows end has been predicted each year for at least the past
three; early this season NBC executives still talked of possibly
renewing it for one more September. But Mr. Wells and Warner Brothers
studio chiefs decided the show should go out while it still held a
respectable audience. The final episode is set for April 2.
This oral history includes many performers who became closely
identified with ER, but starts with Mr. Wells, the shows driving
force from its outset.
In the Beginning
JOHN WELLS George [Clooney] was the first to be cast. I knew him from
seeing him around the lot. Les [Moonves, now the CBS chief executive,
then the head of Warner Brothers studio] had made a cast contingent
deal for a crime show with George, but George showed up in my office
and said hed heard about our show, and he liked the part better than
the legal show. He had a scene memorized, and he did it, and it was
terrific. I said wed love to have him. But George had to convince Les
because the other was a lead role and this was a supporting role.
George just told him: I want to do this one. Then as now George was
very aggressive and very smart about managing his career.
ANTHONY EDWARDS I was not getting great roles in movies. But I was
supposed to be directing this childrens movie, so I told John Wells I
probably cant do it. Then I went home, and my wife and my manager
slapped me around and said this is Crichton and Spielberg. This is a
big deal.
MR. WELLS Julianna Margulies was just a day player. She agreed to do a
small part because she was leaving town. She left town thinking she
died in the pilot. Eriq La Salle we didnt cast until three or four
days ahead of the pilot. Noah Wyle was like 13 years old and was
waiting tables. We brought him in because you were always supposed to
bring two choices to the network and we wanted the other guy. But he
kept getting better and better, and then he got the part. A lot of it
was pure luck.
Landing a Slot
MR. WELLS There are so many versions about what happened at the pilot
screening for NBC, but this is what I remember. Warren Littlefield
[the president of NBC Entertainment] came out and said, Were never
going to put it on the air. Les went crazy and started yelling,
saying we were going to test it ourselves. We called NBC after we
tested it, and they didnt believe our results. So we suggested a
focus group. That went so well they then tested it. I was shocked at
the results. It was the best-testing show theyd ever had.
PETER ROTH I was at 20th Century Fox, and we were bursting with pride
because we had Chicago Hope. I was staying at the St. Moritz Hotel
in New York for the upfronts in 1994, and I got a call from Warren
Littlefield saying, Would you mind if I got a look at Chicago Hope?
Weve got this show called ER. Ill trade shows with you. So I
agreed, and I remember I was watching an N.B.A. game in my room. The
N.B.A. was on NBC then, and I start seeing these promos: For 20 years
the home of the greatest drama on television is NBC Thursday night at
10. First Hill Street Blues, then L.A. Law and now the next great
drama series, ER. And I saw those clips, and I thought: Were
cooked.
NOAH WYLE The first time any of us had seen the clips we were at Avery
Fisher Hall for the upfront, and there was this eruption of applause.
ERIQ LA SALLE I invited everyone to my house to watch the pilot
together the night we went on the air. Rod Holcomb, who had directed
the pilot, came over early, and he and I tried to fool with the sound
or something. Anyway we wound up somehow putting the television into
sleep mode. So every 15 minutes it shut itself off. George kept saying
I had timed it so it happened every time one of his scenes came on.
ABRAHAM BENRUBI I said to George it was going to be the No. 1 show in
television by the fifth episode. He said no way. We wound up betting
on it. It was No. 1 after the fourth episode and George still owes me
that $5. Maybe if he reads this hell pay me.
A Hit, With Impact
CHRIS CHULACK We took seriously the idea that we were also an action
show. We would have 60 or 70 extras in the background, but our extras
always had a purpose. Sometimes we would shoot a five-page scene
without an edit. The actor that had the last line was under huge
pressure because if he broke wed have to go back to the beginning.
MR. WYLE It changed the form of storytelling on television. It did not
have the classic A-B-C, three-act structure. You often came in at the
end of a story or somewhere in the middle.
MR. WELLS Our battles with NBC were all about blood and the fact that
a lot of people were dying. The convention in earlier hospital shows
was not to show a lot inside the hospital because people didnt like
going there. People died in hospitals. As soon as the ratings came in,
those complaints went away.
MR. WYLE Alan Alda told us about something they had done on M*A*S*H.
They called it a gut check. Every Wednesday or Thursday the cast would
have lunch in John Wellss office to screen that weeks episode.
Everyone took everyone else on. It could really get cruel if you
hammed it up or took a moment to move your neck muscles or something.
You were never supposed to stop moving until you earned the moment. I
didnt ever want it to be me. I was moving around like an alley cat.
MR. WELLS Of course everyone was getting calls from new agents and
managers. George and Tony did not allow any silliness. They had both
seen a lot already in their careers. George, with all work hed put in
on things that hadnt worked, and of course he also had the
show-business experience from his family. Tony had seen what happens
in a film career. They kept everyone grounded.
MR. LA SALLE I also think the time was right. We came on just as the
health care issue was breaking through, with Hillary Clinton out front
of it.
MR. EDWARDS It was the beginning of the era when the emergency room
became primary care for most of America. People were coming into the
ER for things they should have seen a doctor about long before.
MR. WYLE The scenes with Eriq and me were comic relief. I saw my
character as out of Henry IV. He was a blueblood, but he had chosen
to work in an inner-city hospital with vagabonds, thieves and
drunkards.
Changing the Rotation
MR. WELLS People leaving the show wound up contributing to our
longevity. Of course when George left after five seasons, I was really
worried. I thought the show was definitely going to end in Year 8 when
Tony Edwards left.
MAURA TIERNEY I was the first of the second wave. I did eight seasons,
and people still thought of me as one of the new ones. They didnt
have a handle on the character at first. I was supposed to be either a
med student or a nurse depending on whether Julianna left. She stayed
one more season, so I was a med student; then she left, and I became a
nurse.
LINDA CARDELLINI John Wells hired me on a Wednesday, and I was working
on Monday. I had no idea what I was getting into. The first day on
that set I was floored. You have all this movement and then the
technical dialogue, which is like a foreign language. You could have
three different sets of cues. The doctor on the set could also call
cut. It was the only show where somebody besides the director could
call cut. Some days wed do 12 pages. When I shot the Scooby-Doo
movie, wed do one page a day.
PARMINDER NAGRA I was a fan of the show as a teenager in England. I
was in L.A. to do publicity for Bend It Like Beckham when I met with
John Wells, and he made me an offer. I had no idea how my life was
going to change.
WELLS I had seen Parminder in Beckham, and I realized that we had
never had an Indian or Pakistani doctor even though they are many in
E.R.s around the country.
MS. NAGRA Im very proud of my Indian heritage, but I didnt want it
to become a cliché. I wanted them to be clever about it. The challenge
was to make me grow as a character, and I think I did. They put me in
so many relationships. I think I set the record on the show for
hookups.
JOHN STAMOS I had never seen it. When I went in to meet them, I had
this idea that maybe they could get my character together with Maura
Tierney, because I thought she was really hot. I didnt know she was
already with Goran [Visnjic, who played Dr. Luka Kovac], and they had
a baby already. I actually had been asked on the show before, and I
didnt do it. But I saw George Clooney in the commissary on the lot
one day, and he said to me: Do ER. Its a great show and it will
change your life. I wonder what ever happened to that guy.
MS. TIERNEY Its different being a TV actor, especially in a hit show.
Youre in peoples homes; they know you in a way thats more intimate
and familiar. People would just come up to me and say hi. When my
character was cheating on Goran, people were angry with me. And when
my character fell off the wagon, we were in Chicago shooting on
location, and some of us went out to a bar afterwards. I was having a
glass of wine, and people came up to me and said, You shouldnt be
having that wine.
A Good Death
MR. WELLS Its very odd to say, but it really was time to end. Its
ending at a time when were all still very proud of it. At the same
time it means the loss of a lot of close friendships. There will be a
dedication on a plaque above the stage they are renaming the stage
for ER.
MR. STAMOS I think theyre canceling it prematurely. I still have a
lot of energy for the show. I think you could keep doing it as a
spinoff.
MR. WYLE My first day on the set was March 17, 1994. My last day will
be March 18, 2009. In between theres been marriage and children.
There was this tearful goodbye after my farewell episode after the
11th season. I came back to the lot the next week because Clint
Eastwood was casting for Flags of Our Fathers. I drove up and the
guard, who I had seen every day for years, asked me for ID. After I
told him why I was there he sent me across the way to the visitors
lot. Then I went in and put my name on a long call sheet for actors.
It just hit me: back to Square 1.
MR. EDWARDS I know it will always be my middle name. Im O.K. with
that. Im very friendly with Richard Thomas and he knows no matter
what he does he will always be associated with The Waltons. But he
said to me, Its O.K. to be stereotyped as long as you were good in
it.