'ER’ on call until 2008 season

LOS ANGELES - The life span of venerable medical drama "ER" is about to be extended by at least two more years, through the 2007-08 season, sources said.

NBC is understood to be finalizing a deal to order two more seasons of the drama series. An NBC spokeswoman declined comment on the matter, as did a rep for Warner Bros. TV, which produces the show.

NBC's current contract for the show already ran through the upcoming 2005-06 season. The new pact will cover the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, sources said.

The "ER" pickup raises questions about the show's ever-changing ensemble cast. Noah Wyle, the only original cast member to stay with the show through its entire run to date, has said he is considering leaving the series at the end of the current season.

"ER" made primetime history in 1998 when Warner Bros. secured a record US$13 million per-episode license fee for the show from NBC in a renewal deal that came at a time when the peacock was vulnerable from the loss of "Seinfeld" in that same year. But the "ER" license fee under subsequent renewal agreements between NBC and Warner Bros. is understood to have dropped to the US$8 million-US$9 million range.

- REUTERS/HOLLYWOOD REPORTER