Greyman
11-15-2006, 01:24 PM
My wife was on ER, once.
It was almost a decade ago. She had a part as a "background actor" (read, "extra")—playing a pregnant teen in a wheelchair.
She told me this when we'd started dating. It took some time for her to open up about her acting. Growing up in an LA suburb, as a pretty teenaged girl, it was almost required that she go through some kind of acting phase, and the silliness of it embarrasses her.
I mention this not for some sort of insight into my wife's character, but as insight into the show, "ER". I can't say I was shocked to hear that they filmed the long-time drama on a lot in Burbank—I'm far too jaded for that. But I can say that it made me give more respect to how they filmed it.
After all, this was the medical drama that featured George Clooney and Anthony Edwards engaging in one-on-one with ice-cold breath streaming from their mouths. It was the show where cast members were depicted wearing the REAL cold weather gear adorning those of us in chillier climes instead of the fashionable "winter wear" you see in magazines.
I remember many scenes taking place on "L" train platforms and dirty-snow lined streets (instead of the pristine white soap flakes usually used on TV). Actors didn't seem to be acting when they were hunched over with red noses and cheeks. They displayed a posture all too familiar to those of us who have experienced biting winds and freezing temperatures.
So it was that I was dismayed to catch a scene a week or so ago where Mekhi Phifer—one of many successors to Mssrs. Edwards and Clooney—walked from the familiar sliding doors to a parking lot covered in those previously mentioned soap flakes. He wore only his lab coat and gave the cliched "hand-rubbing" gesture employed by many actors to denote cold—a gesture that I have yet to witness a real person using.
What's changed?
Why isn't it cold in Chicago anymore?
It was almost a decade ago. She had a part as a "background actor" (read, "extra")—playing a pregnant teen in a wheelchair.
She told me this when we'd started dating. It took some time for her to open up about her acting. Growing up in an LA suburb, as a pretty teenaged girl, it was almost required that she go through some kind of acting phase, and the silliness of it embarrasses her.
I mention this not for some sort of insight into my wife's character, but as insight into the show, "ER". I can't say I was shocked to hear that they filmed the long-time drama on a lot in Burbank—I'm far too jaded for that. But I can say that it made me give more respect to how they filmed it.
After all, this was the medical drama that featured George Clooney and Anthony Edwards engaging in one-on-one with ice-cold breath streaming from their mouths. It was the show where cast members were depicted wearing the REAL cold weather gear adorning those of us in chillier climes instead of the fashionable "winter wear" you see in magazines.
I remember many scenes taking place on "L" train platforms and dirty-snow lined streets (instead of the pristine white soap flakes usually used on TV). Actors didn't seem to be acting when they were hunched over with red noses and cheeks. They displayed a posture all too familiar to those of us who have experienced biting winds and freezing temperatures.
So it was that I was dismayed to catch a scene a week or so ago where Mekhi Phifer—one of many successors to Mssrs. Edwards and Clooney—walked from the familiar sliding doors to a parking lot covered in those previously mentioned soap flakes. He wore only his lab coat and gave the cliched "hand-rubbing" gesture employed by many actors to denote cold—a gesture that I have yet to witness a real person using.
What's changed?
Why isn't it cold in Chicago anymore?