ER the book is a deep dive into the show that began the modern medical drama phenomenon, and contains new and original interviews with over 60 people, including John Wells (showrunner of both "ER" and now "The Pitt"), Eriq LaSalle, Noah Wyle (from "ER" and now "The Pitt"), Laura Innes, Ming-Na Wen, and Goran Visnjic.
Long before "Jurassic Park" was the embryo of an idea in Michael Crichton's mind, there was "ER." A medical student who dreamt of a career in Hollywood, Crichton did what any aspiring writer would: he mined his own life to create a script based on his time working in a high-octane hospital emergency department. Of course, nobody wanted it. It wasn't until Crichton turned his attention to dinosaurs and his 1990 novel Jurassic Park became a mega-hit – and a mega-movie franchise – that Steven Spielberg asked the (now-former) doctor what other ideas he was kicking around. Producers weren't interested in Crichton's feature film idea. But, they were looking for new television series programming and thought there might be something even bigger in the concept than a movie. And, thus, "ER" was born.
Despite some resistance from NBC's top brass, the Warner Bros. Television drama became an overnight hit with its high-adrenaline storylines, realistic dialogue, and bona fide (not to mention hot) stars in the making in the cast, including Julianna Marguiles, Noah Wyle, Anthony Edwards, and an actor who didn't end up amounting to much named George Clooney. "ER" premiered opposite the popular CBS drama "Chicago Hope" and quickly cannibalized its competition. It would, in its heyday, net 35 million viewers per episode (in an era before streaming and DVRs), and was either the number one or number two most watched show on television for six years.
Over the course of its fifteen years on air "ER" would feature weddings, births, break-ups, death, and medical conundrums in just about every form you could imagine. Although stars like Clooney and Marguiles would come and go, "ER" introduced (or, in some cases, re-introduced) the world to actors like Mekhi Phifer, Linda Cardellini, Ming-Na Wen, Angela Bassett, and even a pre-"Housewives" Kyle Richards as a nurse. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama and was nominated a staggering 124 times. As popular as "Grey's Anatomy" is now, there would be no Meredith Grey without "ER."
A New York Times bestselling author of How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy, Lynette Rice covered "ER" during her days at Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter and forged close connections with the show's cast, crew and studio/network executives. LYNETTE RICE is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Save a Life, her oral history of the hit medical show, Grey's Anatomy. Previously, she was a senior writer at Deadline, as well as an editor-at-large for Entertainment Weekly and a writer covering TV for The Hollywood Reporter. Lynette wrote about "ER" during its heyday and forged many relationships with some of the most important players on the drama both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.
"It's been years since I worked on 'ER,' and Lynette Rice's oral history brought it all back in vivid detail. Covering the highs, the lows, and the daily challenges of making a TV show work, reading this book felt like being back on the set, meeting (and saying goodbye to) some of my favorite characters all over again. From casual fans to the diehards that were with us since day one, this is a must read." -John Wells
"No one reports as thoroughly as Lynette Rice, and here she uses her prodigious skill to bring us inside the most famous emergency room in television history, across its impressively long run, dropping names like Steven Spielberg and George Clooney along the way. A fascinating look behind the scenes of a television institution whose influence has not abated, and the perfect companion to your binge-watch of 'Th
