George Clooney learned a lot about television toiling away on The Facts of Life and E/R. The latter wasn't NBC medical drama that made him a star. I'm talking about the 1984 Elliott Gould sitcom on CBS that lasted a year, just 22 episodes.
But the point is this: he may be a major movie star today, but George knows and appreciates television. That could be why George Clooney's behind Delta Blues, a cop drama that TNT has just picked up.
I use the term drama loosely, because it's something goofier than a straight drama. The lead character is an Elvis Presley impersonator when he's not working for the Memphis Police Department. One more thing: Like Elvis, he honors his mother... and lives with her. Does that make him a mama's boy? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Matt Damon was on The Late Show last night to promote his new film The Informant! As usual, he did his Matthew McConaughey impersonation for Dave and they also talked about a recent web rumor that Damon had died (really? I guess I missed that one).
This led to Damon telling another story about the Venice Film Festival involving George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and a stripping journalist.
Don Lipp passed away last Thursday at age 70. No, I didn't recognize the name either, but as I was reading his obituary I had this incredible flashback to the mid-70s and one of the game shows he produced: The Moneymaze! (I've seen it spelled two ways - The Moneymaze and The Money Maze.)
I remember I was excited when it premiered, because it had this outrageously large, complex (and probably expensive) maze set. Couples would compete against other couples, and when it got to the maze part one spouse would guide the other through the maze on the way to a big money prize.
Yup, tonight is the final ER. NBC will have an hour-long retrospective at 8 PM and then the two-hour season finale of the show at 9 PM (sorry, fans of My Name Is Earl, The Office, and 30 Rock). We've seen several old favorites come back this season in previous episodes, and we know that a couple more are coming back for tonight's last hurrah. Will George Clooney be one of them?
Clooney already made an appearance on the show with Juliana Margulies a few weeks ago, and I liked the episode enough. It's just that there was a slight something missing from the episode, something concerning Doug and Carol and them not knowing that the kidney going to County General was for Carter.
So yes, George Clooney was indeed on ER last night.
The episode, overall, was very good. The banter between Carter and Benton was great, and it was great to see Eriq LaSalle again, and the way they reintroduced Doug and Carol into the plot was really well done and didn't seem forced or stupid. The show deserves points for that. It didn't work 100% though. Here's what I loved and what I didn't love about the episode.
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've been pretty hard on NBC of late, like calling for Jeff Zucker's head when NBC announced it will present Jay Leno every weeknight in prime time next fall, but I think I'm going to have to tip my cap to the network for how ER is coming to an end.
Not only have the producers lured George Clooney and Juliana Margulies back for a last go-round, they've also cast Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon for a guest turn. George, Julianna and Susan will all appear on ER on March 12.
If you watched last night's episode of ER, you saw the return of Dr. John Carter. His wife is visiting family in Paris, and he's back in Chicago to...well, we don't exactly know why he's back yet, but he's actually going to be working part-time at County General again. That's the only good news about what happened last night (I thought this was just going to be a quick visit by Wyle for a few episodes, I didn't realize he'd be working at the hospital again) because the ending probably made longtime ER fans sigh and/or grit their teeth.
The last scene showed Carter hooked up to...well, I'm not a doctor, but I'm assuming it's a dialysis machine or some sort of cancer treatment? He had a haunted look on his face, and he had a rather somber attitude throughout the entire episode. Scenes from episodes coming up showed Carter saying that he came back to Chicago specifically to talk to Dr. Banfield (?) and we also saw a scene of Carter dropping to the floor in the emergency room looking really, really bad.
Are they going to kill off Carter a la Mark Greene?
As much as there have been movies about the theater and movies about movies, the films that have been made about television are some of the best ever. This year alone, there are two movies nominated for Best Picture of the year by the Academy Awards that are all about television -- Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon. Without TV, neither of these films would exist. Looking back, here are the films about TV that set the standards by which Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon are measured.
Juliana Margulies, who played Nurse Carol Hathaway on the show before she and Clooney walked off into the sunset in a surprise scene in her last episode, has agreed to come back to the show too. She and Clooney are going to film their scenes later this week. Margulies joins Anthony Edwards, Laura Innes, Alex Kingston, Paul McCrane, Abraham Benrubi, who have already made return engagements this season, and Noah Wyle, William H. Macy, and Eriq LaSalle. who are still to come (Gloria Reuben made an appearance last season). You know who'd I'd like to see return to the show one last time? Sherry Stringfield. Susan Lewis was one of my favorite characters.
The on again, off again dance between Clooney and John Wells is on again, after rumors that he was coming back to the show one final time in this last season, then he wasn't, then he was, then he might, then he was too busy and handsome, etc.
No word yet on whether or not Juliana Margulies, Clooney's significant other on the show, will make a return with Clooney. Well, actually, there is word, and the word from Margulies is no. But that was Clooney's word, too, until he decided to come back.
Juliana, if you're reading this, please come back, so they don't have to come up with some excuse (divorce, death) as to why Carol isn't with Doug when he visits County General.
Yet another ER veteran is coming back to the show for a last-season guest spot.
Alex Kingston will reprise her role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in the January 15 episode. She'll come back when Neela has to interview with her for an attending job. If you remember, Corday was married to Dr. Mark Greene but inevitably had to leave the show after he died and there really wasn't much for her to do (those episodes where she dated others just didn't ring true).
Awww, Juliana, you don't want to come back to County?
Seems like we've been hearing news about old ER members coming back to the show for its final season, and now comes word from Juliana Marguiles. The actress says that she won't be coming back to the show because she thinks that Carol Hathaway left on a good note and she really can't see how they could top it. A lot of fans would probably say they don't want them to top the character's last appearance, they just want to see the character one more time before the series fades off into the sunset.
I'm not sure what George Clooney fans are called. Clooneys? Cloonsters? Cloons? Whatever you fans are called, you're probably going to be very happy about this news.
In an upcoming TV Guide interview, ex-ER star Noah Wyle (who will be appearing in several episodes this last season) says that Clooney said he will "absolutely" appear in the show in an episode, at least if his schedule permits it (though I'm sure he'll make the time). This has been off again and on again for so many months, but I think Clooney will do it.
As Bob wrote the other day, AMC has given the Emmy-award winning drama series Mad Men a pick up for a third season. No shock, but that future will be greatly dependent on re-signing Matthew Weiner to continue as the show's creator. Imagining Mad Men without Weiner at the helm is like Sterling Cooper without Don Draper as creative director!
However, while we're waiting to hear that Weiner's signed on the dotted line, the news today has me even more nervous. Jon Hamm and John Slattery have yet to renegotiate their contracts, which means the stars of Mad Men could be done with next week's season finale.
I don't believe that's going to happen, but Roger Friedman floated the possibility out there. He even suggests that Jon Hamm's star has risen so high, so fast that he could be the next George Clooney. Clooney, you'll remember, parlayed a few seasons of ER into a movie career (although there was more to it than that).
George Clooney learned a lot about television toiling away on The Facts of Life and E/R. The latter wasn't NBC medical drama that made him a star. I'm talking about the 1984 Elliott Gould sitcom on CBS that lasted a year, just 22 episodes. 
Don Lipp passed away
Yup, tonight is the final ER. NBC will have an hour-long retrospective at 8 PM and then the two-hour season finale of the show at 9 PM (sorry, fans of 
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?
I've been pretty hard on NBC of late, like 
Oh, 
Wow, just the other day 
...Yes!
Yet another ER veteran is coming back to the show for a last-season guest spot.
As Bob wrote the other day, AMC has given the Emmy-award winning drama series 
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