‘ER’ Gets Only a Small Lift From Edwards’ Exit
Anthony Edwards’ emotional farewell episode of “ER” yielded only a modest boost for the NBC series, with an estimated audience of 28.7 million people tuning in Thursday, based on estimates from Nielsen Media Research.
Although that represents the highest rating for any program in four weeks, the audience was actually smaller than for any of the previous departures by an original “ER” cast member. An audience of 28.9 million watched Eriq La Salle’s exit in December; an estimated 32.7 million viewed Julianna Margulies’ swan song in May 2000; and 35.7 million saw George Clooney take his leave the year before.
It didn’t help that CBS dominated the hour preceding “ER,” as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (27.1 million) booked its second-biggest audience yet, exceeding NBC’s “Will & Grace” and “Just Shoot Me” by more than 9 million.
“ER” also faced Fox’s telecast of “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace,” which averaged 8.2 million viewers over three hours.
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