Goodbye, County General

This Thursday (April 2nd) NBC, and the world, will bid goodbye to the doctors and nurses of Cook County General Hospital on ER. A three hour finale extravaganza kicks off at 8:00 PM EST with an hour-long retrospective followed by the two-hour series finale. Many of the show's formers stars have appeared all this season, the series' fifteenth, and more will pop up in both the retrospective, offering their insights about the series, and in the actual finale, providing closure for their characters.

It's no secret ER has fallen in terms of viewership over the years, and quite possibly a bit in quality, but this season, which was granted by NBC due to the writers' strike last year so as not to rush the plot lines in an abbreviated season, has struck a fine balance between both tying up the loose ends of the current cast as well as sprinkling in those who have left County General years before in an organic fashion. The stories are even elevated to a higher level and not relying on gimmicks to attract viewers, aside from returning characters, such as a lack of the standard disaster episode leading to mass casualties which have grown increasingly ludicrous over the years. Remember when the ER was threatened by a tank? Yeah, stuff like that.

I honestly believe ER has been able to cross the finish line with its dignity intact and does not feel like it's running on fumes like some shows (sorry Friends) which have had similar longevity. It actually will leave the audience wanting more, which is the best a series can hope for when it goes off the air. ER will continue in reruns and DVDs (the first ten seasons being available already) but this Thursday will see the last veteran of Must-See TV sign off for the last time.

A new series, Southland, created by John Wells, one of ER's executive producers from the very beginning, takes on the once highly coveted NBC Thursdays at 10:00 PM spot, which was home to such former series as Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law. Unfortunately this will most likely be the last NBC flagship series to occupy that time slot. Starting next year Jay Leno will be hosting a nightly talk show during the 10:00 PM EST spot. In a continued effort to revolutionize its schedule, NBC has decided to keep Leno close by any means necessary, in this case forking over five hours of prime time. With its decision last year to devote most of the 8:00 PM EST slots to reality programming, it seems NBC has all but given up on scripted programming. With ER's passing it is truly the end of an era, for NBC at least. It hasn't come close to achieving the ratings it scored in the 1990s, but since everything is cyclical we can only hope that in five years, NBC will be on the rise again.