If you've been watching NBC this week, you've probably seen all the promos for tonight's episode of ER. The episode is called "Old Times" and will feature former stars Juliana Margulies and Eriq LaSalle (joining Noah Wyle, who has been back for a couple of weeks). But one star who is supposed to be on the show before it ends in early April, George Clooney, isn't in the promos for tonight's episode. Does that mean he's not on until a later episode?Probably not. Producer John Wells is telling fans to make sure they watch tonight's episode, and Margulies has already said that she has filmed scenes with Clooney, so it's a good bet that he's on tonight's episode. Also, if you notice that at the very end of the promo, the screen suddenly goes black when Margulies says hello to someone she sees. Above is a pic of Clooney on the set when he filmed his scenes in January.
I would guess they wouldn't keep Clooney until the last episode of the series. Tonight was supposed to be the series finale and then NBC gave the show three more episodes, so the last one will air on April 2.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-12-2009 @ 10:37AM
VP said...
But wouldn't NBC advertise us into submission if Clooney was on tonight's episode? I don't think they would leave such a big star out of their promos and hope people watch all these episodes.
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3-12-2009 @ 10:54AM
CMart said...
I think they want to keep is appearance a "surprise", much like it was a surprise during the last Carol episode.
Although his appearance has been so widely reported, it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't promote it.
Also, Clooney is featured on this Sunday's Dateline about Darfur; I would guess that Clooney made some sort of deal with NBC -- I'll be on ER if you do a stroy with me the same week on Darfur. That sounds like a Clooney thing to do.
3-12-2009 @ 6:05PM
Bethany said...
Often if an actor does a job either for tv or the movies for substantially less than what their quote is (how much they usually make), one of the criteria is that they can do that but that their name and likeness can't be used in any of the promotional material. They also don't usually receive an on-screen credit. I don't know all the ins and outs of why, but it might be a union thing?
I'd be more inclined to think that this is the reason they haven't advertised Clooney being on tonight's episode and instead have the announcer doing that huge emphasis on the fact that "ALL" your favorites are returning. Clearly there's no way they could pay Clooney his going rate, and unlike a film where he can take points on the back end, there's no way to additionally compensate him for his appearance on the show.
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3-13-2009 @ 1:31PM
melody51 said...
I couldn't care less if Clooney makes an appearance. Is he really that big a star outside of his own head? And why does ER feel the need to bring in "big" stars anyway (e.g., Susan Sarandon who is a "big" star in their opinion). What made ER great was the ensemble of characters. If Clooney does appear, I plan to FF through his scenes except to the extent they're relevant to other characters like Carol or Carter.
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