Post by <3 LubyII <3 on Oct 13, 2006 23:43:35 GMT 10
I got this from my Maura Tierney Google alert. Looks like that there isn't going to be a long break for ER. There will be re-runs!!!
Oct. 12, 2006, 7:33PM
ER goes from being on life support to having full recovery
By BILL CARTER
New York Times News Service
This should be an axiom of television programming if it isn't already: Never take your most popular show off the air for three months in the middle of a season.
That was what NBC intended to do this year with ER, its long-running hit on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Central time. Of course, NBC never expected ER to be its most popular show again.
But after three weeks of what can only be described as a stunning ratings performance by that 13-year-old medical drama, NBC has reconsidered its plan to shelve the series from January to April in favor of an untried drama called The Black Donnellys.
"I will confirm that ER is not going to go away until the spring," said Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment. "We are going to keep ER in its time period for at least 22 episodes this season."
The "at least" is also significant because rather than thinking of ways to supplant ER this season, NBC and the show's creators are considering expanding the series to 24 or 25 episodes to cover more weeks of the season with original episodes.
The entire strategy for the future of ER is up in the air. David Zabel, who runs the show as executive producer, after the long tenure of John Wells, said the plan had been to get through this truncated season and then end the series after one more season next year.
In a telephone interview this week he said that idea was being rethought. "As long as we can keep doing what we're doing, I don't see any reason the show can't keep going on," he said.
Rather than relegating the series to part-time status this year, Zabel said, he is all for expanding it. Networks often order additional episodes of their most popular shows to limit the number of in-season repeats.
Reilly said NBC had initially concluded that ER was faring worse and worse with repeats during the season and wanted to give The Black Donnellys a chance to grab some of the audience available in the Thursday time slot. The decision to continue ER had nothing to do with the quality of The Black Donnellys, said Reilly, who called that new show excellent.
The remarkable turn of events for ER, which was presumed to be making a few last turns on the stage before heading for the exit, is entirely due to what the show has accomplished in the season that began last month.
ER has been asked to perform an operation that might seem far-fetched even in its own emergency-room plotlines. It has been assigned the job of saving a sagging network's life on the most important night of the week.
NBC, which once dominated Thursdays — the night for which advertisers pay the most to reach viewers because of weekend events like movie openings and car sales — has been severely injured by the scheduling of the most formidable shows that two competing networks have to offer.
This season, with ABC adding the hottest show on television, Grey's Anatomy, to Thursday nights at 8, facing off against what had previously been the most-watched show on television, CBS's CSI, NBC has taken a ferocious beating in that hour. That meant that ER confronted a seemingly impossible task at 9 p.m.: recruiting an audience back to NBC on that show's merits alone.
And that is exactly what ER has done. It is somehow among the top-rated shows this season despite these facts: In raw numbers, ABC's 9 p.m. show, Six Degrees, inherits 24.2 million viewers watching the preceding Grey's Anatomy while ER inherits only 9.9 million viewers watching NBC's Deal or No Deal. ER lifts that number to 15 million viewers while its ABC counterpart plummets to just 10.7 million.
The performance is even more impressive for ER in ratings for the 18- to 49-year-old audience that NBC uses as its main measuring stick of success. By that measure ER is the No. 4 show on television this season.
One key to the comeback by ER was CBS's decision to move its resident hit in that time period, Without a Trace, to Sunday nights. Without a Trace had begun to beat ER consistently last season, one reason the NBC show faced so many intimations of mortality.
But Reilly argued that the consistent quality of ER has brought back viewers and attracted some new ones. "It never stopped being compelling television," he said. "It still has that adrenaline rush and emotional impact."
A subtle advantage that may not have been apparent originally has been the complete turnover of the show's cast. Not one of the original actors, who included George Clooney and Noah Wyle, remains. "But younger viewers don't know that group," Zabel said, pointing out that a female fan in her early 20s would probably have been a child in bed at 9 p.m. when the series started.
Now the show has added a familiar star, John Stamos, as a cast regular, which Reilly said was expected to give the show an additional boost. He plays a paramedic studying to be a doctor.
Zabel agreed with the prediction, saying, "John is a charming, dynamic character who brings us a color we didn't have." But he noted that the continuing stars Goran Visnjic and Maura Tierney have also taken off as lead characters on the series, although that has happened largely under the radar.
"They're still the new guys," he said, "even though they've been on the show for seven years."
Oct. 12, 2006, 7:33PM
ER goes from being on life support to having full recovery
By BILL CARTER
New York Times News Service
This should be an axiom of television programming if it isn't already: Never take your most popular show off the air for three months in the middle of a season.
That was what NBC intended to do this year with ER, its long-running hit on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Central time. Of course, NBC never expected ER to be its most popular show again.
But after three weeks of what can only be described as a stunning ratings performance by that 13-year-old medical drama, NBC has reconsidered its plan to shelve the series from January to April in favor of an untried drama called The Black Donnellys.
"I will confirm that ER is not going to go away until the spring," said Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment. "We are going to keep ER in its time period for at least 22 episodes this season."
The "at least" is also significant because rather than thinking of ways to supplant ER this season, NBC and the show's creators are considering expanding the series to 24 or 25 episodes to cover more weeks of the season with original episodes.
The entire strategy for the future of ER is up in the air. David Zabel, who runs the show as executive producer, after the long tenure of John Wells, said the plan had been to get through this truncated season and then end the series after one more season next year.
In a telephone interview this week he said that idea was being rethought. "As long as we can keep doing what we're doing, I don't see any reason the show can't keep going on," he said.
Rather than relegating the series to part-time status this year, Zabel said, he is all for expanding it. Networks often order additional episodes of their most popular shows to limit the number of in-season repeats.
Reilly said NBC had initially concluded that ER was faring worse and worse with repeats during the season and wanted to give The Black Donnellys a chance to grab some of the audience available in the Thursday time slot. The decision to continue ER had nothing to do with the quality of The Black Donnellys, said Reilly, who called that new show excellent.
The remarkable turn of events for ER, which was presumed to be making a few last turns on the stage before heading for the exit, is entirely due to what the show has accomplished in the season that began last month.
ER has been asked to perform an operation that might seem far-fetched even in its own emergency-room plotlines. It has been assigned the job of saving a sagging network's life on the most important night of the week.
NBC, which once dominated Thursdays — the night for which advertisers pay the most to reach viewers because of weekend events like movie openings and car sales — has been severely injured by the scheduling of the most formidable shows that two competing networks have to offer.
This season, with ABC adding the hottest show on television, Grey's Anatomy, to Thursday nights at 8, facing off against what had previously been the most-watched show on television, CBS's CSI, NBC has taken a ferocious beating in that hour. That meant that ER confronted a seemingly impossible task at 9 p.m.: recruiting an audience back to NBC on that show's merits alone.
And that is exactly what ER has done. It is somehow among the top-rated shows this season despite these facts: In raw numbers, ABC's 9 p.m. show, Six Degrees, inherits 24.2 million viewers watching the preceding Grey's Anatomy while ER inherits only 9.9 million viewers watching NBC's Deal or No Deal. ER lifts that number to 15 million viewers while its ABC counterpart plummets to just 10.7 million.
The performance is even more impressive for ER in ratings for the 18- to 49-year-old audience that NBC uses as its main measuring stick of success. By that measure ER is the No. 4 show on television this season.
One key to the comeback by ER was CBS's decision to move its resident hit in that time period, Without a Trace, to Sunday nights. Without a Trace had begun to beat ER consistently last season, one reason the NBC show faced so many intimations of mortality.
But Reilly argued that the consistent quality of ER has brought back viewers and attracted some new ones. "It never stopped being compelling television," he said. "It still has that adrenaline rush and emotional impact."
A subtle advantage that may not have been apparent originally has been the complete turnover of the show's cast. Not one of the original actors, who included George Clooney and Noah Wyle, remains. "But younger viewers don't know that group," Zabel said, pointing out that a female fan in her early 20s would probably have been a child in bed at 9 p.m. when the series started.
Now the show has added a familiar star, John Stamos, as a cast regular, which Reilly said was expected to give the show an additional boost. He plays a paramedic studying to be a doctor.
Zabel agreed with the prediction, saying, "John is a charming, dynamic character who brings us a color we didn't have." But he noted that the continuing stars Goran Visnjic and Maura Tierney have also taken off as lead characters on the series, although that has happened largely under the radar.
"They're still the new guys," he said, "even though they've been on the show for seven years."
