Yup, tonight is the final ER. NBC will have an hour-long retrospective at 8 PM and then the two-hour season finale of the show at 9 PM (sorry, fans of My Name Is Earl, The Office, and 30 Rock). We've seen several old favorites come back this season in previous episodes, and we know that a couple more are coming back for tonight's last hurrah. Will George Clooney be one of them?

Clooney already made an appearance on the show with Juliana Margulies a few weeks ago, and I liked the episode enough. It's just that there was a slight something missing from the episode, something concerning Doug and Carol and them not knowing that the kidney going to County General was for Carter.

So this Thursday at 9pm, the series finale of ER airs on NBC. I think that even former fans who drifted away from the show when Anthony Edwards was killed off, or when Noah Wyle left, or when they just didn't enjoy the show anymore because it had been on for too long will tune into the finale. You can't watch a show for so many years and then just forget all about the finale. The thing has been on since Bill Clinton's first term, so we gotta find out how it ends.

The episode (like this season in general) will also have some familiar faces coming back to County General, and probably some in pictures and/or flashbacks (the episode will be preceded by a retrospective at 8pm). After the jump, a video sneak peek at the episode (and, yes, there are possible spoilers, so proceed with caution!)

So yes, George Clooney was indeed on ER last night.

The episode, overall, was very good. The banter between Carter and Benton was great, and it was great to see Eriq LaSalle again, and the way they reintroduced Doug and Carol into the plot was really well done and didn't seem forced or stupid. The show deserves points for that. It didn't work 100% though. Here's what I loved and what I didn't love about the episode.

If you've been watching NBC this week, you've probably seen all the promos for tonight's episode of ER. The episode is called "Old Times" and will feature former stars Juliana Margulies and Eriq LaSalle (joining Noah Wyle, who has been back for a couple of weeks). But one star who is supposed to be on the show before it ends in early April, George Clooney, isn't in the promos for tonight's episode. Does that mean he's not on until a later episode?

Probably not. Producer John Wells is telling fans to make sure they watch tonight's episode, and Margulies has already said that she has filmed scenes with Clooney, so it's a good bet that he's on tonight's episode. Also, if you notice that at the very end of the promo, the screen suddenly goes black when Margulies says hello to someone she sees. Above is a pic of Clooney on the set when he filmed his scenes in January.

Oh, ER. Not again, not again.

If you watched last night's episode of ER, you saw the return of Dr. John Carter. His wife is visiting family in Paris, and he's back in Chicago to...well, we don't exactly know why he's back yet, but he's actually going to be working part-time at County General again. That's the only good news about what happened last night (I thought this was just going to be a quick visit by Wyle for a few episodes, I didn't realize he'd be working at the hospital again) because the ending probably made longtime ER fans sigh and/or grit their teeth.

The last scene showed Carter hooked up to...well, I'm not a doctor, but I'm assuming it's a dialysis machine or some sort of cancer treatment? He had a haunted look on his face, and he had a rather somber attitude throughout the entire episode. Scenes from episodes coming up showed Carter saying that he came back to Chicago specifically to talk to Dr. Banfield (?) and we also saw a scene of Carter dropping to the floor in the emergency room looking really, really bad.

Are they going to kill off Carter a la Mark Greene?

Wow, just the other day we told you about George Clooney coming back to ER for an episode this final season, and now it has been confirmed that his on-screen wife is coming back to the show too.

Juliana Margulies, who played Nurse Carol Hathaway on the show before she and Clooney walked off into the sunset in a surprise scene in her last episode, has agreed to come back to the show too. She and Clooney are going to film their scenes later this week. Margulies joins Anthony Edwards, Laura Innes, Alex Kingston, Paul McCrane, Abraham Benrubi, who have already made return engagements this season, and Noah Wyle, William H. Macy, and Eriq LaSalle. who are still to come (Gloria Reuben made an appearance last season). You know who'd I'd like to see return to the show one last time? Sherry Stringfield. Susan Lewis was one of my favorite characters.

The last episode of the show airs April 2.

...Yes!

Entertainment Tonight is reporting that George Clooney will indeed come back to ER in this final season. In fact, he's filming his secret scenes later this week.

The on again, off again dance between Clooney and John Wells is on again, after rumors that he was coming back to the show one final time in this last season, then he wasn't, then he was, then he might, then he was too busy and handsome, etc.

No word yet on whether or not Juliana Margulies, Clooney's significant other on the show, will make a return with Clooney. Well, actually, there is word, and the word from Margulies is no. But that was Clooney's word, too, until he decided to come back.

Juliana, if you're reading this, please come back, so they don't have to come up with some excuse (divorce, death) as to why Carol isn't with Doug when he visits County General.

I used to be a huge ER fan. Back in the good ol' Dr. Doug Ross days, I wouldn't miss an episode. It was the first medical drama that I had ever really watched, and I paid attention to it like I was watching an educational video in med school.

This came in handy several years back when I was on a flight to Scotland. It was a long flight and I was trying to sleep when I heard a commotion. A middle-aged man a few rows ahead of me appeared to be choking. However, it quickly became apparent that he was having an allergic reaction that was causing his throat to close up. It was bad news all around, but luckily, there had been an episode of ER that dealt with a very similar situation. So what did I do? I grabbed a pen, took it apart, and jammed the tube into his throat, opening his airway and saving his life. True story.

Okay, none of that actually happened -- because HOSPITAL SHOWS ARE NOT REAL. Apparently, however, Italy doesn't think its residents understand this.

OK, we can put all of those "George Clooney is going to make a cameo appearance on ER next season!" rumors. You know, the rumors I helped fuel last week.

Clooney himself tells Extra that he is not going to make an appearance on the show. He says that not only would they not ask him to appear on the show, there would be no reason to do it.

(S14E13) Before I begin, a big shout out to Jen Creer for filling in on last week's ER episode, which featured the swan song of Abby Lockhart, or not, or, you know...whatever. Don't get me wrong, I like Abby. I just can't take the incessant whining about how bad she is all of the time. I thought we got past it all when Baby Joe was born. But, I guess the producers decided that P.I.T.A (Pain In the Ass) Abby was better for ratings than happy Abby. Ah, always reading the pulse of the viewer!

This week's episode was exciting because we saw the return of Doug Ross and Carol Hathaway. Well, in the guise of Tony Gates and Sam Taggart, that is. I'm sure older fans of the series have seen this relationship coming for a few weeks now and I'm surprised the producers and writers of ER didn't do it sooner. It's pretty logical when you think about it. They're both good looking (although John Stamos has looked a bit haggard these last few episodes), they are both above average in skills in the positions they hold, and they have that I-hate-you-but-I-really-love-you vibe going on. Plus, they're just so darn cute together.

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