I would just like to say that I applaud NBC for keeping George Clooney's appearance under wraps. While the momentum has been building for weeks, most of it has come from the fans. The only true hint from the network did not come until today. It was carried off with true class.

-- kristi (kristijohnsonsd@ao;.com), May 12, 2000

Answers

You're right, this was one classy episode. It was obviously very important to the actors, TPTB, and the fans. :-) I'm glad this could be done, and done so successfully. Hats off to you!!

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), May 12, 2000.

I couldn't agree more! How they could keep it pretty much under wraps is beyond me. (Although I knew in my heart he'd show up) Very well done NBC and ER actors...you had us going there for a second! :)

-- Joy (joijoy@webtv.net), May 12, 2000.

NBC must have made a HUGE deal about this their affiliates.

I live in New Mexico, where (as you all know if you are not living in a bubble) there are some rather serious fires burning, the largest being the one that has burned hundreds of homes in Los Alamos. This is HUGE news here and it is getting nearly non-stop coverage.

Almost nothing ever happens in New Mexico, but I have known the local news to interrupt shows for all manner of stupid things. Now that they had a real story, one actually worthy of that sort of coverage, I was sure I would not get to see all of ER. So I had my dad in NJ tape it for me.

Imagine how surprised I was when they pre-empted commercials rather than content for their fire coverage. Every time they got to what normally would be a commercial break, they would reassure their viewers with something like, "We know this is a very important ER for our viewers, and we want to remind you that you won't be missing any of it. We'll be using the commercial time to keep you up to date on the Los Alamos fires, and then we'll return to the show."

I'd like to think they were listening to their viewers, but I suspect the network had something to do with this.

Incidentally, I guess I'm the only person who did not particularly like this episode, at least the Carol Hathaway parts of it. Although I like Clooney's Doug, I didn't care one way or the other whether he showed up on ER last night, so the special surprise at the end was lost on me. Meanwhile, the Carol Hathaway storyline, I felt like I was being bludgeoned over the head with symbolism, foreshadowing, whatever. Maybe Carol needed to be hit over the head to figure out what to do with her life, but I didn't need that. I actually found myself snorting sarcastically during her ecstatic little speech to Luka before she left.

I hope next week is better.

-- Elizabeth (ebs42@yahoo.com), May 12, 2000.

Wow Elizabeth, they really did that!? I can't believe it! Sorry you didn't like it, I loved it!

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.