“ER” season one cast; Jeff Katz/NBCU Photo Bank(NEW YORK) — ER, the Emmy-winning medical drama that served as a launching pad for the likes of George Clooney and Julianna Margulies, celebrates its 25th anniversary Thursday.
Created by best-selling Jurassic Park novelist Michael Crichton, himself a medical doctor before turning full-time to writing, ER aired on NBC from September 19, 1994, to April 2, 2009, with a total of 331 episodes over 15 seasons. It followed the inner workings of the emergency room at the fictional County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Throughout its successful run, it racked up 23 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series in 1996.
The season one cast featured Anthony Edwards as the empathetic chief resident Dr. Mark Greene, George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis, Noah Wyle as medical student John Carter, Eriq La Salle as Carter’s mentor, Dr. Peter Benton, and Julianna Margulies as Nurse Carol Hathaway, Dr. Ross’ on-again, off-again love interest. In later seasons, the cast also featured Goran Visnjic, Ming-Na Wen, Maura Tierney, Linda Cardellini, John Stamos, Mekhi Phifer, Alex Kingston and others.
Margulies, who went on to star in The Good Wife, says ER is having a resurgence by finding a whole new audience, thanks to streaming services.
“Suddenly there’s this younger generation coming up going ‘Wait! Are you Nurse Hathaway?’” Margulies says. “And it’s this whole resurgence of a life I lived [over] 20 years ago. And it’s remarkable to see that that show is aging so beautifully, that it doesn’t really age at all.”
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