Farewell to an old friend

This is sort of embarrassing, but I have a confession to make.

I've seen just about every episode of "ER" ever made. Maybe all 330 episodes that have aired to date.

Don't tell anyone. This could get me drummed out of the Television Critics Association, because most TV critics turned their back on the show years ago.

Honestly, I think that's more than a little harsh. The current lack of respect for the show is the result of two factors.

First, the first four or five years of "ER" were so good that they set a standard that was impossible to maintain.

And, second, turning out 330 episodes of a medical show that's still good — not great, but good — made it look easy. So the show got taken for granted.

As I've written more than once (including earlier this week), "ER" is clearly not the show that it was when it started out. Particularly the first season, it was a slam-bang thrill ride with medical emergencies bursting through the doors one after another after another.

"ER" long ago became a big soap opera about its regular characters. And, in retrospect, some of the romantic entanglements are actually rather ridiculous.

But, despite its faults, the show still presented us with good drama that played out against a background of life-and-death medical decisions.

I can't say that I'm sad to see "ER" go, because it's certainly time. It could have bowed out a few seasons ago, for that matter.

But it will be like saying goodbye to an old friend.

And, hey, I'll have an extra hour every week to watch something else.

NBC IS LYING to viewers once again in its promos for the "ER" finale.

The network is running ads telling viewers that all their old favorite characters will return for the " 'ER' finale event." Which does not, however, mean that any of those characters will appear in the finale episode.

There's a one-hour "ER" retrospective that airs before the two-hour finale. And all those old characters will be in that.

Deceptive, deceptive, deceptive.

WHICH REMINDS ME of the time I wanted to strangle the people who do the promos for NBC.

Back in May 2000, nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianne Margulies) left the show after six seasons and 134 episodes.

And the producers had done a great job of hiding the Big Secret — that Carol was headed to Seattle to live happily ever after with Dr. Doug Ross (George Clooney). And that Clooney himself would make a brief appearance to wrap up the story line.

It was a really nice payoff for the characters and for the show's fans. And it would have been a really great surprise — except that the Powers That Be at NBC, in their infinite stupidity, ran a promo during that evening's programming that gave the secret away.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com