Post by loopyallie on Apr 6, 2006 10:05:48 GMT 10
I don't know if this is in the right section...?
Stamos Admitted to "ER"
by Gina Serpe
Apr 4, 2006, 10:10 AM PT
County General is becoming a veritable full house.
Erstwhile Uncle Jesse John Stamos has signed on as a series regular on ER, reprising the role he tried out during a guest stint on the NBC show last fall.
Stamos had been in negotiations for the past month to make his full-time return as Tony Gates, a flirtatious med school student-paramedic who also happens to be a Gulf War vet. According to E! Online TV columnist Kristin Veitch, the hitch was the up-in-the-air status of Stamos' ABC sitcom, Jake in Progress.
The ratings-challenged show is off the air, but ABC has yet to officially announce its cancellation. The Alphabet network isn't expected to formally deep-six Jake until next month, when final fall schedules are unveiled.
But Stamos' ER deal all but seals Jake's fate. Stamos is due back at County General at the start of its 13th season this fall--a full season later than he had planned.
Producers had been courting Stamos for a full-time gig last spring. The permanent residency seemed like a sure thing until ABC intervened and gave a surprise, last-minute second-season order for Jake in Progress, thus prohibiting the actor from checking into ER as a regular.
Instead, the former Mr. Rebecca Romijn had to make due guest-starring as Gates in two November sweeps episodes.
Although sources said Stamos was upset by ABC's maneuvering, the actor put on a happy face publicly.
"I'm a big fan of the show and [executive producer] John Wells, and we have been trying to work together for a long time," Stamos told the Hollywood Reporter at the time. "I appreciate that everyone was able to work it out so I could do this great guest spot on ER in time to start the second season of Jake in Progress."
The second season, though, didn't last long.
ABC aired just one episode as a midseason replacement in January before pulling it from the air. And by the looks of things, not even the talented folks at County General could resuscitate Jake at this point.