The Emmy-Award-winning television drama ER premiered in the fall of 1994. It became the most richly compensated show in television history in 1998 when NBC agreed to pay the show's production company, Warner Brothers, 13 million dollars per episode for three seasons. Best-selling author and film producer Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Disclosure) created the hour-long drama, which centers on a staff of young medical professionals who work inthe emergency room of an inner city hospital in Chicago. The show's collection of talented actors, writers, and producers garnered ER an average of 30 million viewers per episode. The show's blockbuster ratings and critical acclaim accelerated the 1990s trend toward cross-pollination between the television and film industries. Many members of the cast branched into film work while honoring contracts with the show. Crichton shared duties as executive producer with famous Hollywood producer and director Steven Spielberg and veteran television producers John Wells, Lydia Woodward, and Carol Flint.
ER cast members: (from left) NBC President Warren Littlefield, Laura Innes, series executive producer John Wells, Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies, George Clooney, Noah Wylie, Kellie Martin, and Gloria Reuben celebrate the show's 100th episode.
The NBC-Warner Brothers financial agreement concerning ER signaled a shift in television economics. In the decade leading up to the deal, increased competition brought about by cable and satellite technology found traditional networks straining to maintain their dwindling audiences. Suddenly, exceptionally popular programs like ER enjoyed increased bargaining power. As a result, a two-tiered system took shape in which one or a handful of shows would carry a network—not necessarily by generating direct profits (although advertisers did pay $500,000 per 30 second spot during ER broadcasts),but by luring viewers to the network, thus generating interest on the part of advertisers to invest in less-popular shows.
Frenzied pacing and frankness in depicting emergency medical procedures characterized the show. Its immediate popularity also afforded ER directors considerable room for artistic experimentation. In attempting to reproduce an edgy documentary style, for instance, "Ambush," the opening episode of the fourth season, was broadcast live and shot on video rather than on traditional film stock. The daring episode (which some called a publicity stunt) received mixed reviews. Ultimately, producers shifted the focus of the drama away from its hyperactive emergency scenes, toward the soap-opera-like personal lives of the characters.
Web sites centered on the show's doctors and nurses proliferated on the Internet. Viewers enjoyed the medical heroics performed by the characters, but also sympathized with the tragic humanity of their flaws and their weekly attempts to hold together their neglected personal lives. Series favorites include Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), a senior attending physician whose career cost him his marriage; Dr. Doug Ross (George Clooney, whose 1999 departure from the show was one of the most-watched episodes), a handsome, philandering pediatrician; Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), an intense and egotistical surgeon; Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle), a well-intentioned but naive son of one of Chicago's wealthiest families; Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies), a compassionate, earthy nurse who struggles to determine her own self-worth; Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Reuben), an HIV-positive physician's assistant; Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes), an abrasive attending physician and administrator; and Dr. Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston), a winsome and intelligent visiting surgeon from England perplexed by the seriousness of her American colleagues. In addition to these favorites, series regulars have included various characters who lasted a season or two.
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