More than 16 million watch 'ER' finale

NEW YORK (AP) — Nielsen Media Research says that 16.4 million people watched the two-hour finale of "ER." That's the most-watched swan song for a television drama since "Murder She Wrote" in 1996.

The groundbreaking medical drama called it quits Thursday after 15 years on NBC. It ended on a hopeful note with the daughter of Dr. Mark Greene eager to practice medicine where her father did.

The audience Thursday night was nearly double what it has been for this final season, yet still half what it was when "ER" and NBC's "must-see" Thursday night lineup ruled television.