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September 27, 11:36 PM

Good Night

P- Thanks for joining in. Stay tuned in for an incredible season.

J- Once again, thanks to the fans for all the loyal support and viewership. I truly believe that this season has some of the most compelling and emotional storylines we have ever done. I hope our viewers enjoy!

September 27, 11:34 PM

Favorite shows

P: I love Weeds on Showtime. I also like Californication.

J: Mention an NBC show!

P: I do watch The Office, too.

September 27, 11:31 PM

Resident Prankster

P: I had the BEST prank played on me the other day by Scott Grimes. Did I tell you about this, Joe? He phoned my house and he does voice overs...he does the voice of Steve on American Dad...so he's very good at voices. So it's annoying because he rings you as different people. So he rings my house and leaves a message as the Dept of Water and Power (not funny at the time, I have to say) and says that my electricity and water will be shut off between the hours of 9am and 5pm and were sorry about the inconvenience then hung up. I proceeded to fill buckets of water around the house because I was scared we'd have no water. Then i thought...maaaaybe that was Scott so I phoned him and said "if that was you, you have to tell me right now because I am currently filling buckets around my house." And that's when he came clean. I really have to figure out a way to get him back for that!!

September 27, 11:29 PM

Technical Advisors on the show

J: There are two full-time physician/writers on the writers staff. In addition to writing our own episodes, we help the other writers who don't have medical backgrounds with their medical stories and their terminology. In addition to that, we have three medical consultants who are regarded as high academics in medical departments around the country who help us form ideas and keep things current. We try to keep our medicine very current and very accurate. Procedures always seem to happen more quickly on the show than they would in real life. But, that's the reality of working on a one-hour drama. We bend the rules, but we try not to break them. In addition to the writing staff doctors, we have three on-set physicians, who rotate days, too. Our show employs eight physicians.

September 27, 11:26 PM

Neela as Patient

P: I gotta tell you, it's tough lying on that gurney. It makes you sympathize with people who come in and lie down day in and day out. Some people say, "but you're just lying down all day!" But my story is like...my insides are opened up and so I had these large prosthetic pieces laying over my body so I had to contort my body and it got incredibly uncomfortable for awhile. I had to just dig in deep to get through the day. There were times I just wanted to get up to go to the loo, and normally you can do that but not when you're lying on the gurney with your fake guts being poked and prodded. I did have fun with it, though...cracking jokes or eating on one side of the sheet while my fake guts were laying on the other side. I don't think I want to do that again though, I have to say.

September 27, 11:25 PM

Do actors have input in their character?

P: I think, generally, the writers are pretty open to suggestions. If there is something an actor doesn't agree with, the writers will listen. I don't tend to question, too much. If the writers write something for me, I look at it and say "why not?" I try not to question things, too much.

J: Two days before filming the episode, we have a cast read through around a conference table. When we finish, we give the actors an opportunity to discuss any concerns they have with the writers, producers and executive producers. Many actors have great suggestions that we use.

September 27, 11:24 PM

Medical Terminology

P: It's funny because in the early days it was a real challenge but most days it's ok. Some days are better days, some days are worse. Sometimes they are real tongue twisters! Once you get the gist of what the medicine means, things call into place. I equate it to Shakespeare but once you start to get the underlying meaning of what's being said, everything kind of neatly slides into place. The medicine is similar...you have to learn it to get it. It's tough some days...I think I've cried one or two times over it!!

September 27, 11:22 PM

If you could pick a departed actor to return, who would it be?

P: George Clooney, hands down!

J:- That's tough, because the show is so much bigger then any of its actors. In the past, critics have said, "when George or Anthony leave, nobody will watch". But, that wasn't true. Every actor on the show has brought something special with them. They make the show what it is.

September 27, 11:22 PM

Similar to Neela?

P: I'm not as clever as her, that's for sure. I do laugh at my own jokes and she laughs at her own jokes...but I don't know. I can't be objective about it really. What do you think, Joe?

J: I think you know better than I do!

P: Gosh, I don't know...I think some of the things that Neela says...she's sometimes not very tactful. And I don't know if I am similar in that way at all.

J: I think both Neela and Parminder are lovely and charming.

P: HAHAHAHA!

September 27, 11:21 PM

Favorite episode

P: I have to say, it was probably 'The Student' in my second season. It was a coming of age for Neela, from her going from intern to doctor. The way it was shot -- Paul McCrane directed it -- it was very emotional and it was a stepping stone for Neela. It formed Neela into what she is today.

September 27, 11:20 PM

Future for Abby and Luca

J: I'll just say that the Abby/Luca relationship is going to through a real roller coaster ride in the fall season. Between now and Christmas, I think you're going to see some of the most exciting, dynamic scenes that the two of them will ever have.

September 27, 11:19 PM

Does the cast hang out?

P: The cast hang out all the time. It's quite ridiculous how much we hang out. We go off on vacations together with our better halves. Some of the guys did go to Burning Man together, I opted out of that.

September 27, 11:18 PM

Impact on Neela from Last Season's Finale

J: Neela has an opportunity to respond this season...in the next few episodes. Stay tuned...

September 27, 11:14 PM

Neela and romance?

J- Anything is possible in the Neela romance department, stay tuned!

P- In terms of Gates, I feel like it's fizzling out and with Ray, I believe it's still fairly open. Just when we saw Neela sorting out her feelings for Ray, that great tragedy happened, but now it will be interesting to see where that can go.

September 27, 11:14 PM

Guest Stars

P: I thought James Woods was amazing in the episode that Joe wrote...he was amazing playing that character. He shocked me when he came out of that phase as himself...he played it so well. He was such an amazing person to work with.

J: Robert De Niro? Meryl Streep? You know, we have a history of attracting some of the finest actors in the world. If you look at James Woods, Forest Whitaker, Sally Fields, Stanley Tucci...we're really blessed and fortunate to be able to attract such a high caliber of actor. The reason we can do that is that we create really complex and compelling characters that will have a really meaty, substantial arch for half a season. I forgot to mention John Leguizamo who was with us a year ago...great actor. We create these roles and offer them to some of the best actors in the business and we're so pleased that so many of them are willing to join us.

September 27, 11:07 PM

The ER Process

J- Very briefly, at the core of the show, are the dramatic situations. We never start with the medicine. We always start with the dramatic elements. We start with conflict, family problems, career issues. Then we find the medicine that plays into the dramatic needs of a character. Those dramatic needs might be that Neela is in conflict with one of her superiors. So, now we have created a dramatic element and those two have their conflict they can play on.

P- We shoot mostly at Warner Bros. in LA at Stage 11. We use other stages as well for surgical scenes. The shoot days last for eight days. It's challenging, in terms of you don't get much rehearsal time. Many of us have theatre or film backgrounds, so we miss that rehearsal time. It's fast, we are shooting feature length script material in eight days. We have a fantastic director that keeps us on schedule and it's remarkable. Not every feature film is as good as our episodes we shoot.

J- The film actors that come to the set are often shocked with how much work we get done in one day.

September 27, 11:07 PM

What is it like being part of this show?

P: The cast is amazing, the writers are amazing, the crew is amazing. The day I got this job was the happiest day of my life.

J: We have a tremendous responsibility to keep the show fresh and entertaining and new. We're always reinventing ourselves and bringing in new guest characters and telling stories that have never been told before. That's a real challenge seeing as we're coming up on our 300th episode. To stay on the air this long and remain fresh and compelling is a challenge, but it requires that everyone rise to the top of their game...which is a great challenge and makes work all the more fun.

September 27, 11:01 PM

Starting Your Careers

P: I came to the industry through the back door a little bit. I didn't have any formal training per se...my drama teacher back in my hometown was writing for shows, TV shows and theatre shows and one year was putting on a British/Indian musical. The lead actress walked out and so they were literally looking around for someone else to take on the part, which is how I got my break into the industry. I was just 18 year old at the time. That's basically how I started...doing a lot of theatre, which crossed over into TV and then I kind of ended up doing both things back and forth.

J: My turn? Short answer is I went to film school while i was in medical school. I've always had the minds of both a scientist and an artist. So to keep my creativity alive, I chose to go to film school as a way to have a very powerful too that could entertain and also disseminate public health messages. So we know that our show both entertains and by being current and accurate in the medicine, we know that as a side effect our viewers learn.

September 27, 10:40 PM

Welcome

Hey everybody! We hope you enjoyed the Season Premiere! Thanks for joining us for the live blog. We are here and ready for your questions.

-Parminder and Joe

September 24, 07:50 PM

We're Looking Forward to Thursday 9/27!

Join us for an exciting live blog with ER star Parminder Nagra and writer/executive producer Dr. Joe Sachs Thursday night at 11pm ET/8pm PT.

In the meantime, go ahead and leave your questions about the storyline, the characters (old and new!) or just general questions about the show right here in the comments, that way we'll have plenty of questions to get started with once we start blogging.

Important note: If at any time during the live blog you stop seeing updates, just click "Blog Home" in the left sidebar to return to the main page where the entries are being updated.

We look forward to talking with you soon!