TVSquad

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.

When NBC revealed their new schedule a little early yesterday, it was announced that ER will indeed be back for a 15th season. Now it has been announced that this indeed will be the last season of the long running medical drama.

This current season was supposed to be the last season of the show, but it had sort of a rejuvenation this year, which made NBC completely rework their Thursday at 10 time slot. While they tried a couple of different strategies in that time period, it turned out that the old show ER was actually the most successful.

OK, we can put all of those "George Clooney is going to make a cameo appearance on ER next season!" rumors. You know, the rumors I helped fuel last week.

Clooney himself tells Extra that he is not going to make an appearance on the show. He says that not only would they not ask him to appear on the show, there would be no reason to do it.

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.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Gloria Reuben is returning to ER, and so is Noah Wyle.
• CBS is getting heat for having Rita Braver interview Lynne Cheney.
• Seth Green is going to guest star on two episodes of Grey's Anatomy.
• I first saw this on Jimmy Kimmel Live: the Star Wars trumpet girl!
• What's with the odd promos for the new TBS series Frank TV?
• Jaime Weinman analyzes The Brady Bunch as much as I do, heh.
• Check out Buddy TV's television quiz.

Of course, getting George Clooney to come back would be a dream come true for ER producers, but they are trying to bring back old favorites for the final season (probably) of the hit NBC drama.

So far, only Noah Wyle has officially signed to come back to the show. He'll be on for several episodes, and in the ER not Africa (thank God). But producers have also talked to Julianna Marguiles and Gloria Reuben about coming back, and would love to also grab Eriq LaSalle, William H. Macy, and Laura Innes.

Well, not that early, considering it premieres tonight on TNT. But it is early enough to let you know that if you are fan of the first Librarian film you will probably like the second installment as well. And, even if you never saw the first one you'll still enjoy it.

For those who are unfamiliar with the film series, The Librarian stars Noah Wyle (ER's Doctor John Carter) as Flynn Carson, holder of 22 college degrees and 'librarian' of the Metropolitan Public Library. Actually, Flynn's job is to find and protect historical and sometime magical items that are stored in the special section of the library. His position of librarian takes him around the world in search of said items, and it sometimes leads to situations no normal librarian would be involved with. I mean, librarians usually aren't held at gunpoint by villains whose books are overdue.

Hi again. No new ER this week due to America's national pastime (the World Series, for the confused). So, I thought I'd take my usual Thursday night spot to pose a question to all fans of the show, past and present. Who do you miss from County General? There have been plenty of doctors and nurses who have come and gone through the doors of the emergency room. Some of them we were glad to see go, and we wish others would return for at least a guest appearance.

While I wait for your comments on the subject, here are the five ER cast members I miss.

John Carter (Noah Wyle) -- All right, I admit it, I had a "man crush" on Dr. Carter. In the very beginning of the series run I always felt the show was a bit empty when he wasn't around. Carter was the face of how things changed in the emergency room. Plus, he was one of those characters that we could root for, especially with events such as his stabbing and drug addiction and his rocky relationship with Abby. I wouldn't mind at all if he returned to ER for a few episodes this season.

Hey, lookie here. It's yet another poll listing the hunkiest guys in Hollywood. This time, the schtick is who is date-able. Or, as Elaine would say, "Sponge-worthy". (Puh-lease. Don't even try to tell me you'd go on a date with one of these hunks just to talk) Lifetime Television is responsible for this poll, which lists former television doctor, George Clooney, and current television McDreamy doctor, Patrick Dempsey, as top choices for Preferred Celebrity Dates. The list of winners also includes fellow television doctors Noah Wyle (ER), Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck), and Matthew Fox (Lost).

Eh. The doctor thing doesn't really do it for me. What other categories could we choose to vote on most date-able actors? Bad boys? Nerds? Cops? Superheroes? What characteristic do you find sexy?