ER (TV series)
Following the broadcast of its two-hour pilot movie on September 19, 1994, "ER" premiered Thursday, September 22 at 10:00. It remained in the same Thursday time slot for its entire run. "ER" is NBC's third longest-running drama, after "Law & Order" and "", and, the longest-running American primetime medical drama of all time. On April 2, 2008, NBC announced that the series would return for its fifteenth season. The fifteenth season was originally scheduled to run for 19 episodes before retiring with a two-hour series finale to be broadcast on March 12, 2009, but NBC announced in January 2009 that it would extend the show by an additional three episodes to a full 22-episode order as part of a deal to launch a new series by John Wells titled "Police", later retitled "Southland". "ER"s final episode aired on April 2, 2009; the two-hour episode was preceded by a one-hour retrospective special. The series finale charged $425,000 per 30-second ad spot, more than three times the season's rate of $135,000. From season 4 to season 6 ER cost a record-breaking 13 million dollars per episode. TNT also paid a record price of $1 million an episode for four years of repeats of the series during that time. The cost of the first three seasons was 2 million per episode and seasons 7 to 9 cost 8 million dollars per episode.
Peter Benton
Dr. Peter Benton is a fictional character that was a regular on the television series "ER" for its first eight seasons and appeared in two episodes of the show's final season. He was played by Eriq La Salle. Benton was often portrayed as arrogant and irritable, but is nevertheless an exceptionally talented surgeon who is passionate about medicine. It is also revealed that he and fellow emergency room physician Mark Greene had attended medical school together. Benton's last appearance as a series regular was in the Season 8 episode "I'll Be Home For Christmas". La Salle's removal from the opening credits as an ongoing regular was in the 11th episode of season 8; however, Benton appeared in the credits of the 15th episode of season 8, in which he is shown talking to Elizabeth Corday, and the 21st episode, in which he appears at Mark Greene's funeral. He also appears later in season 15.