For the past 15 years, NBC/Warner Bros.’ Chicago-set “ER” crews came to Chicago three or four times a year to shoot exteriors with stars of the show.
Now “ER” will film here for the last time, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, according to Roger Anderson, who has been the Chicago producer/production manager on the top-rated series for all of its 15 years.
The medical drama will be treated to a two-hour finale airing March 12. Running in its slot a week later will be the mid-season drama, “Kings,” a retelling of David and Goliath set during an alternate history.
“ER” has meant a great deal to Chicago, not only for the $1 million spent here, per shoot, and the local people it employed, “but for showcasing the city, making it synonymous with the show, and demonstrating that Chicago is a place for a TV series,” said CFO director Rich Moskal.
Anderson has been the Chicago link to “ER” since it first began filming here in 1994; first for a few years through now-defunct RAH Production Center. He had worked out of Chicago Studio City for several years before settling in at Big Deahl Studios on Dayton St.
“I can’t say enough good things about them,” Anderson said of the L.A. producers and actors he’s worked with over the years.
“ER’s” crew from L.A., usually the director, a writer-producer and actors and a local IATSE crew of 80, would film exteriors, said Anderson, “such as the ?L,’ or the roof of the Hilton hotel as the top of the hospital, the NBC Plaza, Michigan Avenue.”
“We’ve all been pretty lucky,” he said, noting that the show spent around $1 million each time it came to Chicago to film, usually three to four times a year.
“It was a great deal for everyone who worked on the show. Most of them could rely on eight weeks of work throughout the year to fill in,” Anderson added.
Although “ER” will take its well-deserved place in the pantheon of TV entertainment, Anderson said he’s heard that there’s a possibility of an HBO series filming here in its entirety next year.
