TVSquad

This originally was going to be yet another post on how George Clooney might come back to ER one last time in the final season of the show (executive producer John Wells says he hasn't asked him yet). But we've been back and forth on that so many times that we really don't know what's going to happen. However, TV critic Terry Morrow did ask Wells if any characters on the show would be killed off in the show's last season, and Wells says that yes, at least one person on ER will die before the show ends. He didn't, however, say whether it's a current cast member or if it's someone new that will be introduced this season.

So assuming that it's a character we already know, who do you think it should be? After the jump, a poll. Should a helicopter fall on Morris? How about Neela getting shot by a patient? Maybe an explosion in the emergency room can kill everyone except Frank? Are they bringing Noah Wyle back just to kill him with a Sno-Cone machine?

Including gay characters on your TV show is good, unless it's two lesbians who fall in love with a straight man, as they do in a storyline on New Amsterdam. FOX learned that the hard way when they received a failing grade from GLAAD (The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) on their second annual GLAAD Network Responsibility Index. The index measures the "quantity, quality and diversity of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people on television."

Even though GLAAD gave FOX a failing grade, the network's cable counterpart, FX, received top honors for cable channels. The advocacy group praised them for including the most original programming that featured members LGBT community. Special notice was given to Nip/Tuck, which had a gay, lesbian, or bisexual character in every episode. Rescue Me's commitment ceremony storyline was also viewed favorably by the group.

Hey everyone! This time we've got three copies of ER - Season Nine on DVD for three lucky, random commenters. The DVD is already available in stores.

To enter, leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, July 18 simply telling why you'd like to own this set. As always, we'll randomly choose three winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

Check below for a deleted scene from season nine, included on the DVDs ...

Remember what a jerk Eriq LaSalle was as Dr. Peter Benton on ER? You know, a real hard-ass. Well, it turns out his dynamic performance as that character may be because he wasn't acting. At the Hallmark Channel press tour, LaSalle got ticked off when asked about ER.

He was meeting the press to answer questions about his TV movie, Relative Stranger, which will air next January. When LaSalle noticed that there were a plethora of questions about ER -- for him and co-stars Michael Michele and Michael Beach, both of whom had also been on NBC's long-running medical drama -- Eriq flared.

"Okay, I mean look, it was a defining moment, you know, for a lot of us as artists. You know, it was a show that was a little bit ahead of its time. We had a great time doing it. I don't know what else to say. I talked about the show so much. I prefer to talk about Relative Stranger."

ER has a new group of interns ready for their final season. Chief among them for me is Shiri Appleby. I still have fond enough memories of Roswell that I'm interested to see her cast for that reason alone. She'll be joined by Julian Morris. The two will play siblings Daria and Andrew Wade, a pair that have decidedly different work ethics. Also eager to learn at County General will be Emily Rose (Brothers & Sisters, Jericho) as the ambitious, controlling, Tracy Martin. Rounding out the quartet of interns is Viktor Rasuk (Stop-Loss) as the nervous Ryan Sanchez.

In other casting news, Paul Campbell (Battlestar Galactica) is set to be the new head research tech at Knight Industries on Knight Rider. A casting move that should give the show some much needed help. On The Sarah Connor Chronicles Leven Rambin (All My Children) will take on the role of Becky, a potential love interest for John. And over at Numb3rs, Sophina Brown (Shark) will try to fill the spot left when Diane Farr's Megan Reeves left the team at the end of last season. Her role as a junior agent is said to be recurring, with the possibility of becoming a regular.

NBC has had it pretty easy for the last fifteen years where Thursday nights at 10, 9 Central, are concerned. ER was locked in, and for the better part of that run was a dominant force. Now that the show is finally coming to an end, they need to start grooming a replacement. It looks like it could be a case of meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

ER executive producer, John Wells, has set up a new show, LAPD, at the network. It's an ensemble show that will follow the lives of police officers in Los Angeles and will be written by Ann Biderman. That's a solid choice as she won an Emmy for her work on NYPD Blue. The network has ordered a pilot and casting has begun. Another ER alum, Christopher Chulack, is on board to direct. Can it replace ER? Probably not completely. Remember, ER had a run as the number one show on television. That kind of success is hard to come by. Still, given the talent involved, it is something to look forward to.

[ via Cynopsis ]

(S14E19) Now, let the speculation begin!

Did you really think that ER would end its fourteenth season with everything all honky-dory at County General? You haven't watched it recently, have you? Fact is, the season-ender for the last few years has been some sort of cliffhanger. Last season the fate of Neela was unknown. The year before it was Abby and Luka. A few years before that the fates of Pratt and Jing-Mei were undecided.

Now we have two (or three, or four) characters to consider as potential victims. But, who will be the lucky -- or in this case, unlucky -- one who will end up as a patient in their very own Emergency Room when season 15 of ER begins? Let's take a look at the candidates. Oh, by the way, spoilers ahead if you didn't watch the last three minutes of the episode.

(S14E18) What? An episode where Abby's good luck finally rears its ugly head? Nah, couldn't be! Why would the producers of ER want to give Dr. Lockhart any good luck after the roller coaster that has been her life this past season? Oh, I know why...her life is going to fall apart again on next week's season finale. So, I guess it's like giving her something sweet before she needs to swallow yet another bitter life pill.

Well, we can enjoy it for a little bit, can't we?

Holy frik! We've only just started to embrace the return of our shows after a shortened strike season. Now, they are almost over. In the next few weeks all of our network favorites will say good-bye for the summer to be replaced with reality shows, reality game shows, reality soap operas, and Regis on primetime (again).

Needless to say, I'm a bit depressed. As I am sure you are as well. But, we will do our duty and press on. Thusly, we here at the sprawling lakefront offices of TV Squad (you choose the lakefront) have compiled list of when your favorite, and not so favorite, shows will be saying good-bye for their summer vacation. As usual, taking the fickleness of the networks, these times and days can change at a moment's notices. We will try to update you of those changes as quickly as our little fingers can type it out.

So, with a leaden heart, here are your season and series finales.

(S14E17) "I already know. Get over yourselves." -- Archie Morris, passing by a kissing Samantha and Tony.

Ye gads, that was bloody! I mean, we've seen plenty of blood in the ER over the last 14 seasons, but that was one of the more bloodier sessions I've seen in a long time. It was just flowing everywhere. Too bad that its flow was hampered somewhere down the line by a clot because, if everything was okay, then we wouldn't of had a serious spotlight on one Archie Morris.

So, I guess things turned out well. For us, not for the patient. That was actually pretty bad. And, not for the patient's husband who...well, you'll need to find out what happened to him after the jump. So, Spoiler Alert ahead, mateys.

NBC doctors may have already called the time for ER, setting next season for the end of the enduring medical drama, but the final year will go out with fire and brio. That was made abundantly clear by casting dynamic actress Angela Bassett as a series regular for the 15th season of ER. Despite rumors, Anthony Edwards may or may not return, and Noah Wyle's back for just four shows, but Angela can be counting on to carry the load.

This is the first full-time series for Ms. Bassett, an Oscar-nominated actress for What's Love Got to Do With It? (1994). Who will ever forget her playing Tina Turner in that film? She made muscular arms on a woman sexy, in addition to providing a terrific performance as the musical star. In 2006, she was superb in the indie hit Akeelah and the Bee, and on TV, she did a short stint on Alias in 2005 as a CIA director.

(S14E16) Before I begin this week's review of ER, I want to speak for a moment about the ambulance bay at County General. The place should be considered an Extreme Danger Zone and permanently closed. Over the last fourteen seasons it has been the location of car accidents, tank accidents, explosions, falling helicopters, and now a gas fire. The gas fire was courtesy of a patient who came in from an ambulance drenched in gasoline and was started by a careless smoker. By the way, smoking should be banned from the ambulance bay as well.

If you review some of the ER records you'll find that a good portion of the patients were actually injured in the ambulance bay itself. That doesn't bode well for the hospital. So, I say close it down, make it a nice little park area, and have the patients brought in through an underground parking garage. At least no helicopters will crush them should they fall off the roof of the hospital.

With that out of the way, let's get going with this week's review.

(S14E15) So, Neela.

We all know her. She's cute. She's smart. She has that lovely English accent. She draws every single man and woman into her universe with her mutant ability to make people fall in love with her (Professor X, I hope you're aware of this). We just haven't seen much of her this season. Well, except for the season premiere, but even then she was unconscious for most of the episode. Perhaps the producers decided to give Ms. Rasgotra a break this season after the whole Dubenko/Gates/Ray love triangle took up a good portion of last season. That was corrected this episode as we finally had an episode that put some focus on the good doctor after a 24-hour shift.

Why focus on her after such a long session? To show her screwing up, of course.

ER has a way of either killing off beloved characters or sending them off in some other unnecessary, shitty way (remember Jeanie just leaving without saying goodbye to anyone because they were too busy?), but now a top star on the show actually wants them to kill off her character.

Maura Tierney tells AOL's TV Tattler that she wants the show to kill Abby. Tierney isn't coming back full time next season (she'll be on a handful of episodes) and she would like to see Abby killed off instead of walking into the sunset with Luka. But breathe easy, Abby fans. Tierney says that the producers have no plans to kill Abby off. I'm not sure why Tierney would want to have her character killed off. I mean, she's not going to be on the show anymore so why tick off fans?

But let's speculate, shall we? I'll leave it up to you, ER fans: if they do kill off Abby, how should she go? Helicopter chopping her head off? Drinking herself to death? Buffalo stampede? Caught in a black hole?

(S14E14) Welcome back!

We haven't seen each other for awhile -- January 17th, to be exact -- so I thought I'd bring you up to speed about what's happening on ER. Apparently, all of the main characters that started on the show are gone and have been replaced by a younger, more horny group of doctors and nurses who tend to whine a lot. Oh, there's also blood, burns, life, death, sadness, joy, naked doctors, doctors having shock treatments, alcoholic doctors who have had extra-marital affairs, blah, blah, blah.

I kid, of course (except for the horny part). If you've read any of my reviews over the last two years you'd know that I'm pretty pleased with the way the show has re-energized itself with new characters and a focus back into the happenings of the emergency room. True, there are some things that still annoy me, like the never-ending curse over Abby Lockhart, but they can be managed because there are other good things about the show.

So, I guess the only question right now is if I enjoyed this week's episode. Well, read on to find out.