ER (1994- )
Friends (1994-2004)
Type: Non-Crossover
Dahhh!!! Damn you NBC and your half-assed stunt casting! Thanks to you I get so much email about this non-crossover.
In 1995 both ER and Friends were huge parts of NBC's successful Thursday night lineup. As a promotional stunt NBC had ER's George Clooney and Noah Wyle do a guest appearance on Friends. Now usually that would mean just doing a full on crossover. Not sure why they didn't just do that here but they didn't. Instead they did a plot just close enough to a crossover that it manages to confuse everyone.
The episode was The One With Two Parts: Part 2. While taking down Christmas lights Rachel hurts her ankle. Her roommate Monica takes her to the emergency room. The only problem is that Rachel has no insurance. So as a cheat they put down Monica's name on the paperwork. Then after that Monica and Rachel snag a date with a couple of cute doctors. The gag is that because at the hospital they said Rachel was Monica, on the date Rachel has to pretend her name is Monica and Monica has to pretend her name is Rachel.
The whiole name confusion plot sort of parallels the confusion with this being a crossover. You see the doctors they met while at the ER were played by George Clooney and Noah Wyle of the TV show ER. Only, even though they were playing "ER doctors” they weren't playing their characters from ER. On ER Noah Wyle played Dr. John Carter. On Friends he played Dr. Jeffrey Rosen. On ER Clooney was Dr. Doug Ross, on Friends he was Dr. Michael Mitchell. Anyone paying attention should catch that. And, hello, Clooney and Wyle play doctors who work in a Chicago ER. Friends has them playing New York doctors. They can't be the same characters. Actually the city thing is probably why this was done as only a faux crossover instead of a real one. If ER was set in New York they would have just done a real one. But they are in different cities and so no crossover. Ya hear that. NO CROSSOVER!!! Torment me no longer!!!
Sigh. I feel better now.
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Even though this is a non-cross, still, why not buy some ER and Friends on DVD from Amazon and help support the site? "The One With Two Parts" can be found in the first season of Friends.
