It's not something that is definitely going to happen, but ER producers are trying to get as many former cast members to make appearances on the show next season, which looks like a go now and will probably be the NBC show's final season.
So...how exactly do you make a dead (really dead, not soap opera/body never found dead) character like Mark Greene come back to life? Executive producer David Zabel says that they've kicked around the idea of airing a so-called "lost episode" from 1996 featuring Edwards and Noah Wyle, who has agreed to come back to the show for several episodes next season. I guess the other choices are flashbacks, Greene's twin brother, or appearing as a ghost.
And those aren't the only two the show is trying to get to come back for longtime fans: they also want to get George Clooney and Juliana Marguiles to make an appearance so we can find out how Doug and Carol are doing. Marguiles I can imagine coming back for a guest spot on the show (she's currently on FOX's Canterbury's Law), but Clooney? That's a long shot, since he's gone on to bigger things. Then again, if there's any A-list star who I think would go back to the show that launched their career, it would be Clooney.
Personally, I'd love to see all of these people come back. Seeing Clooney and Marguiles again would be fun, as long as they don't do the ER type thing and have them about to divorce or Doug cheating on her or have one of them die in a explosion or something. And I think they should actually go the soap opera route with Edwards. I never liked the fact that they killed him off. They could have just had him leave the hospital to work on his marriage or whatever. But the woman who played his wife didn't leave the show so they probably couldn't do that (though they could have just not shown Edwards even though his wife still worked at the hospital). Even though we saw him die on camera, maybe Benton discovered some secret rejuvenation drug that brought him back to life and they had to keep Greene in hiding because some bad guys were after him.
Yeah, I know, it's crazy. But I'm willing to suspend my disbelief to get a favorite character back this time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-13-2008 @ 9:48AM
Tele-Toby said...
Maybe somebody at the hospital cloned Mark down in the basement and they find the canister that contains his now fully grown body.
I hope the returnees include Benrubi.....
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3-13-2008 @ 9:48AM
BartmanDK said...
The show Julianna is on is called Canterbury's Law ;)
I hope they dont bring Mark Green back as a ghost or come out and say "Guess what he dident die after all" becaus the episode with him in Hawaii (i think) is one of my all time favorite episodes
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3-13-2008 @ 10:14AM
h8rain said...
Greene was one of my favorite characters as well, and the episode where he died, in my opinion, probably one of the most moving episodes I have ever seen. (Obviously if you did not watch and care, it is not moving). Jericho this past week though, is easily second.
If I recall correctly that episode was the first time, NBC allowed the word 'shit' to be used (and has it been used since?)
3-13-2008 @ 10:30AM
Thomas said...
The words: Flogging, dead and horse, spring to mind. Possible with an A in there as well.
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3-13-2008 @ 10:39AM
Charles said...
I've heard "will probably be the NBC show's final season" for the last several years now. Quite frankly, I'm not sure when I can believe it. Personally, especially given the last few seasons, it is some sort of undead zombie that eats brains.
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3-13-2008 @ 11:15AM
Oreo said...
It's like 7th Heaven... next year is the final year, it's the finale season, oh we will give it more more...
I think they should end next year, 15 is a nice number to end at, and if gives them more time to get more people back on the show.
And I for one love the cloning idea, that would fit perfectly into the show!
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3-13-2008 @ 1:29PM
A.S said...
Personally, I found it ridiculous that they didn't have all of the old characters for Mark's death. :(
I'd rather the flashbacks or 'lost' episode, myself.
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3-13-2008 @ 1:29PM
A.S said...
Not death... funeral. Geez.
3-13-2008 @ 1:33PM
Eileen said...
When they killed Dr. Greene in such a painful, cruel way, ER and I parted company. I was a devoted fan until then and had seen every episode, but after that? Nope. I never watched it again. So, yes, if they want to do a soap opera thing and bring him back, I'm all for it. There were so many nasty characters they could've killed off like that, but not Dr. Greene. And, yes, I'm still bitter!!!!!
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3-13-2008 @ 2:23PM
Liz Lacy said...
Ah, I remember the good old days when ER was actually worth watching (despite being shameless melodrama). I'd be tempted to watch for a few episodes if they brought back some of the old favorites, especially Noah Wylie.
Am I the only person who misses Romano? I was ticked when he died.
Final line of the finale episode? Gotta be "you set the tone, Carter."
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3-13-2008 @ 4:05PM
Bash said...
This is a new low for reporting Bob.
"But the woman who played his wife didn't leave the show so"
"Canterbury Tales"
I'll give you a hint: http://www.imdb.com
If you are to lazy or too dumb to at least use that website to research about TV you shouldn't post on a website ABOUT TV. It's ridiculous. Knowing you actually get money for writing on this blog I feel like complaining to your boss about this blatant display of a lack of work ethic.
Seriously how do YOU think I should rate this website knowing that facts are wrong and the people writing here seem to be to lazy to do some background work?
I guess I can't believe anything you report because in the end you seem to be pulling stuff out of your ass to minimize your own personal workload.
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3-18-2008 @ 9:28AM
Thomas said...
Bash, the post refers to Mark Greene's wife - who didn't leave the show... at least not in direct relation to, or in proximity with his death.
3-13-2008 @ 4:24PM
Franklin said...
My idea that the producers can use for free:
Remember the episode several years ago that aired live in which a supposed documentary crew followed Mark around? They could say that Mark was cast as a host for a series of medical training videos that were produced by that camera crew. These videos were not released at the time for some reason (the training video company that produced them went bankrupt perhaps).
Now they've been released as a series of online training videos. So throughout the final season of E.R., the show can have interns and other students watching Mark on their notebooks.
I'm not saying that these could make for a storyline featuring Mark Greene, but it would be a way to have Greene appear throughout a season in a series of cameos.
This idea could also be used to set up a "flashback" episode as mentioned in this blog post. The flashback episode could delve into what was going on in Mark's life as he was hosting these videos.
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3-13-2008 @ 4:43PM
Franklin said...
Combining my idea and the flashback idea, here's how i would do it:
1. Greene starts to appear throughout the season on peoples' notebooks, as they watch him as the host of a series of training videos. (NBC could put these training videos online to promote the show and Anthony Edwards' appearance.)
2. In one episode, the last scene is a close-up shot of Mark in one of these videos. Perhaps Carter recently disovers that Mark hosted these videos, so he watches (on a student's computer) Mark with fond remembrance.
3. Then next week, the following episode is the flashback episode. What's the very first shot? Mark on set as the camera crew is shooting the lesson that closed out last week's episode. A title card fades in the month, day, and year along the bottom of the screen, so the viewer knows we are in the past now.
4. The very last scene of this flashback episode would be Mark and the camera crew shooting another lesson. And in next week's episode...
5. The very first shot is video of Mark playing on a notebook, as an intern watches him teach the lesson.
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3-13-2008 @ 11:48PM
Rodney said...
The problem with this idea is that medical training videos have an incredibly short shelf life. They would be woefully out of date; there's no way they would have new residents watching 5- or 6-year-old videos.
3-13-2008 @ 6:30PM
Oreo said...
You do realize that Edwards wanted to leave the show and wanted to be killed off?
So you are way too bitter for no reason at all.
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3-13-2008 @ 8:55PM
jt said...
I liked Dr. Greene because he cared about people and he was a great teacher. I also like "helpful strangers" and Dilbert's garbageman, so here's my idea:
You get one of the young doctors who never worked with Dr. Greene and he's all off his game so after work one night he goes down the street to eat and the short order cook is a guy who looks like Dr. Greene but isn't. Over the course of the episode, the young doctor keeps coming back to the cook about different cases and the cook keeps having a good answer. Whenever the doctors asks him how he knows about this stuff, the cook just says he's hears from other doctor's all the time.
At some point, the doctor can bring the cook into the hospital to introduce him to people, but the cook keeps managing to miss anyone who would notice the resemblance to Dr. Greene. At the end of the show, the cook says to the young doctor "you set the tone"
Or we could do a Fight Club and have Sherry Stringfield going all Alan Alda and hallucinating Dr. Greene for an episode, even doing surgery.
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3-14-2008 @ 9:37AM
Alicia said...
When I have watched the Death of Mark Greene in repeats, I still cry. (damn it)
The flashback episode could work... I would actually watch ER again.
I *too* think that Clooney would come back for one episode. He seems like that kinda guy.
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3-14-2008 @ 11:07AM
Jen said...
Some kind of video would be interesting.. it could be training vids.. just "old ones" that maybe aren't in use but just found..
I haven't been watching ER for quite some time.. but would gladly watch this reunion episode.
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3-19-2008 @ 10:13AM
Jane said...
They could always do a "Bobby Ewing" type of comeback for Dr. Greene. Show opens to Dr. Corday waking up in warm sunlight and hearing the shower and......you know the rest of that story. Seriously, it would attract all kinds of viewers and it is the last season of ER, so what could they lose?
I miss Dr. Romano, also. His brand of mean-funny charm was very entertaining.
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