Could This Mean the End for ‘ER’s’ Put-Upon Dr. Greene?

So, Anthony . . . actually, do you mind if we call you Tony? We in the media tend to conflate the real person with the real-person-he-or-she-portrays on the screen, and Tony seems so much better than Anthony. And since no one believes you’re a doctor anyway, Dr. Mark Greene would seem kind of silly.

OK, we’ve settled on Tony.

So, Tony, is this how it all ends? The final scene: You are slumped in the arms of Dr. Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston), your eyes glazed over. The brain surgery was a success--that is, many episodes ago, and now the brain cancer has returned.

It is May 2002, and “ER” is ending the season with a spectacular emotional wallop. The star of television’s top-rated drama is sliding toward oblivion, while tissues dab at tens of millions pairs of eyes.

Is this how it all goes down? “ER” fans know what we’re talking about here; everyone else is in bed by 10 every Thursday and can thus be excused for missing the pivotal plot development of the 2000-01 season: Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) has brain cancer, and 35 million hard-core fans have indigestion.

On occasion, TV producers have generously, if inadvertently, broadcast their intentions for popular characters well in advance of their ultimate demise. The deus ex machina departure pretty much went out of style with the likes of “Knots Landing” and “L.A. Law,” when troublesome characters were peremptorily dispatched without warning. That has not been the style of “ER.” We knew George Clooney was gone when he got into an ethical fracas with the hospital. We knew Sherry Stringfield was gone when she started to miss her family. We knew Julianna Margulies was gone when she started to miss Clooney (or rather his character, Doug Ross).

Et tu, Tony? During “ER’s” recent shoot in Manhattan (Corday and Greene were in town to get a second opinion at a New York hospital about his “inoperable” cancer), Edwards was asked by an NBC camera crew whether his character survived.

Tony played it coy: “Does he survive?” Edwards said. “He’s surviving so far. I mean, like my mom says, no one gets out of this life alive.” We’re certain Tony’s mom is a wise woman. But this doesn’t help much.

So we asked Jack Orman, executive producer of “ER,” and the man who will shape the fate of Mark Greene: Does he survive? “I’ll try not to bore you, but the original surgeon did a biopsy and it was obviously a malignant tumor, and by the MRI, it seemed that it had invaded the Broca’s area [of the brain], which controls speech and your ability to interact with the world.

“It seemed too close [to operate] but what this neurosurgeon did in New York was actually have him perform verbal tasks . . . and saw that while it was very close, it hadn’t invaded.” As viewers saw last week, the surgeon said he could operate.

Close of scene. Millions sigh around the nation simultaneously.

But why do this to poor Mark Greene (who has been dumped, beaten up, nearly sued and nearly fired, lost his mother and father and best friend and . . . I know we’re missing something else)? Said Orman, “The idea was to some degree show him as a patient. He has been a doctor so many years, and there’s nothing like being a patient until you are one--a real vulnerability there. His personal life is going well: [Corday’s] having [his] baby and [they’re] getting married. We wanted something to counterbalance that.”

Careful readers will note: Orman has still not answered our question.

“Something this major in your life happens and you don’t go in and conquer it and move on. He has a life-changing experience.”

In the Jan. 4 episode, Greene goes under the knife. The surgery is experimental and at one point “touch and go,” said Orman. But Greene survives and spends the rest of this season rebuilding his life.

So what about 2002? In 1998, Edwards signed a new contract worth $35 million, making him the highest-paid drama series star (at that time) and a lock through 2002. Since then, he’s suggested that this will be the end. Wants to spend time with his family. Run his production company. Do more directing.

Fine, but how, Tony, will it all end? He declined to comment. Sorry. It appears we have to wait a year and a half for an answer.