Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Hitch Your Wagon To a Guest Star

Forest Whitaker received rave reviews — doesn't he always? — for his guest appearance on "ER." I'm sure we can add him to a long list of Emmy nominated guests on that show. We're at 19 Emmy noms for "ER" guest performers and counting.

After Mr. Whitaker's appearance on "ER," will he finally be asked to lead a skein? Recent history says he might be the lead on a network series sometime in the next two seasons. Sally Field, Ray Liotta and James Woods all got nods for their guest appearances on "ER" and then respectively starred in "The Court," "Smith" and "Shark." There's no guarantee of success — "The Court" and "Smith" each aired only three eps — but I hope Mr. Whitaker gets the opportunity this pilot season.

Here's the alphabetical list of performers who received Emmy noms for a guest appearance on "ER," followed by the TV season of the appearance.
  • Alan Alda (1999-2000)
  • Red Buttons (2004-2005)
  • Veronica Cartwright (1996-1997)
  • Don Cheadle (2002-2003)
  • Rosemary Clooney (1994-1995)
  • James Cromwell (2000-2001)
  • Vondie Curtis-Hall (1994-1995)
  • Sally Field (2000-2001, 2002-2003)
  • Colleen Flynn (1994-1995)
  • Penny Fuller (1995-1996)
  • Swoosie Kurtz (1997-1998)
  • Ray Liotta (2004-2005)
  • William H. Macy (1996-1997)
  • Mary McDonnell (2001-2002)
  • Ewan McGregor (1996-1997)
  • Bob Newhart (2003-2004)
  • Alan Rosenberg (1994-1995)
  • James Woods (2005-2006)

2 comments:

Marty McKee said...

Whitaker already had a starring gig. He hosted UPN's TWILIGHT ZONE series for a season.

dr. tv (mike vicic) said...

Marty, you're right. Personally, I guess I never consider a hosting role (game show or anthology series) to be the equivalent of a starring gig in a drama or comedy series.

Thanks for the comment and correction!