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NBC Ending 'ER' Shift Tonight After 15 Years
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Published: April 2, 2009
It's an all "ER" night on NBC.
The two-hour series finale begins at 9 p.m. following a one-hour retrospective. I've already heard some groans from "The Office" and "30 Rock" fans.
Well, "ER" may not be the groundbreaking, must-see, landmark medical series that it was 15 years ago, but it's been a cash cow for the network and a high-quality drama, which is more than many TV shows can claim.
It will always be part of NBC's golden era that started in the 1980s with shows such as "Cheers," "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties," and continued with "Mad About You," "Seinfeld" and "Friends."
"ER" was the rock-solid, serious, tug-at-the-heart drama that followed a great comedy block.
Next week, "Southland," a cop drama from the same creative team that made "ER," will fill the 10 p.m. Thursday slot.
Like "ER," it will have a large ensemble cast and about three subplots every week. Instead of doctors and nurses, there will be beat cops and detectives working the Los Angeles streets.
But come August, Jay Leno's new 10 p.m. talk/comedy show will be on every weeknight.
Set in a frantic, overburdened Chicago emergency room, "ER" changed the style of television drama with multilayered stories about the hospital staff and the patients that passed through. It brought a new realism - blood and heavy-duty medical jargon - to the medical drama genre.
"ER" was the No. 1 drama in primetime among adults ages 18 to 49 for an amazing 10 seasons. During the past five years, however, the audience has slipped away. This was probably the result of the show's aging and NBC's failure to find successful replacements for "Seinfeld" and "Friends."
For more on the "ER" finale, see my story from Sunday's Tribune on TBOextra.com.
ANCHOR OUT: The management at WTSP, Channel 10, has decided not to renew the contract of 16-year veteran anchor Marty Matthews.
Matthews has been co-anchor of the station's 4 p.m. "10 Connects" newscast since it launched in 2002.
"The 4 p.m. newscast will continue but it's a fact of the economy that it will have to be with a solo anchor," says WTSP General Manager Ken Tonning, who called it a "tough decision."
Matthews also is known for her Wednesday's Child segments highlighting children who are up for adoption. Her exit follows departures of anchor Jennifer Howe and meteorologists Anna Allen and Randy Rauch. Matthews could not be reached for comment.
WTSP has hired Danielle Saar, 26, a reporter from KKTV in Colorado Springs, who will join the "10 Connects" morning show on April 13 as the traffic reporter. She will join newly hired co-anchor Keith Jones and veteran Ginger Gadsden.
VIDBITS: Its lights out for the CBS soap opera "Guiding Light" which signs off in September after 72-year run that began on radio. Low ratings did it in.
•Fox is giving comic Wanda Sykes a late-night talk show to air on Saturdays in the fall. Expect biting topical and political humor.
•CBS' offbeat crime drama "The Eleventh Hour" wraps up its first season at 10 tonight. CBS hasn't renewed it but the ratings have been decent.
•"Lost," "Saturday Night Live" "Entourage," "Breaking Bad" and "John Adams" are among the 36 recipients of the prestigious Peabody Awards, announced Wednesday by The University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications. The Peabody's honor the "best in electronic media." NBC's Brian Williams will host the awards ceremony in New York City on May 18.
TUNE IN TONIGHT
"Treasure Quest," 10 p.m., Discovery
The season finale follows Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc.'s discovery of an 1804 sunken Spanish ship that was carrying $500 million worth of silver coins.
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