ER Will Return for Its Final Season

As was expected, ER will return to NBC for its fifteenth and final season.

The medical drama's farewell season will last 19 episodes, culminating, it is expected, at the end of February sweeps, when The Celebrity Apprentice will take over NBC's 10 p.m. Thursday night time slot.

It is still unclear how much NBC is paying for the 19 episodes, but it is believed that Warner Bros. TV lowered the license fee for the show's final season. The deal was characterized, according to Variety.com, as smooth, even though a great deal of cuts were necessary.

The final season of ER comes 10 years after it was the number one rated show on television, and at a time when Warner Bros. was earning $13 million per episode on just the licensing fee. These days, the ratings of ER, the show's cast and licensing fees are all much different.

"ER deserved an entire year to play out its operatic theme," NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairman Ben Silverman said Wednesday.