Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

By Frank Macek The Director's Cut is hearing loud rumors that this may not be the final curtain for "ER," the medical drama that was supposed to wrap up its 14th and final season this year. With NBC still struggling to find footing with many of its newest shows this year, NBC is said to be considered keeping the show in production. "ER" has been doing very well again in its Thursday Night 10 PM timeslot against "Life on Mars" from ABC and "Eleventh Hour" for CBS. We'll probably get some sort of announcement by the end of the month as negotiations are continuing between NBC and Warner Brothers, the show's production arm.

NBC's Thursday stalwarts, "My Name is Earl," "The Office" and "ER" joined forces with the new comedy "Kath & Kim" and the first of three Thursday "Saturday Night Live" election specials to propel the network to its highest Thursday rating in 18-49 since last March, excluding sports, according to "fast affiliate-based" "live plus same day" viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research. NBC finished within one rating point of the nightly lead in adults 18-49 and won this highly competitive Thursday in adults and men 18-34, pending updates. "Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday" began its three-week Thursday run with a 47 percent gain over NBC's time-period averages last season in adults 18-49. "It's already been a historic season for 'Saturday Night Live,' with its earliest premiere ever and its biggest audiences in 14 years," commented Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC ...