NBC Isn't Out to 'Destroy Drama,' Says 'ER' Vet Anthony Edwards

By Marc Schneider Posted Oct 21st 2009 03:27PM

Was NBC trying to kill the drama genre when they decided to plant Jay Leno's folksy talkfest at the tail-end of primetime every night? TV critics and a smattering of on-screen stars tied to the network have been critical of the decision, which has so far resulted in canceled dramas ('Southland') and sagging ratings for Leno and the shows that follow him.

But Anthony Edwards, whose serious work on 'ER' benefited from the show's perch at 10 p.m., doesn't think his former network is out to "destroy drama." It's about survival, he tells PopEater, and NBC is simply doing what they think is best for their bottom line.

"That's what a commercial network is supposed to be doing," he says, "that's their business ... they're not a public library."

The wealth of channel options on television these days, Edwards believes, has made it less necessary for a big network like NBC to provide programs that otherwise would be too adult for pre-10 viewing.

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Anthony and Uma

Anthony Edwards and Uma Thurman attend the afterparty for the premiere of their flick, 'Motherhood' in NYC on Oct. 14.

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LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 16: Actress Minnie Driver and guest arrive for the Cirque Du Solei Opening Night Gala For Kooza at the Santa Monica Pier on October 16, 2009 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Minnie Driver;Anthony Edwards

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NEW YORK - OCTOBER 14: Actors Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards attend the "Motherhood" premiere hosted by Gotham magazine at the SVA Theater on October 14, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Minnie Driver;Anthony Edwards

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NEW YORK - OCTOBER 14: Actor Anthony Edwards attends the "Motherhood" premiere hosted by Gotham magazine at the SVA Theater on October 14, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Anthony Edwards

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NEW YORK - OCTOBER 14: Director Katherine Dieckmann, actor Anthony Edwards and Actress Uma Thurman attend the afterparty for the premiere of "Motherhood" presented by Gotham Magazine at The Gates on October 14, 2009 in New York, New York. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Anthony Edwards;Uma Thurman;Katherine Dieckmann

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NEW YORK - OCTOBER 14: Actors Anthony Edwards and Uma Thurman attend the afterparty for the premiere of "Motherhood" presented by Gotham Magazine at The Gates on October 14, 2009 in New York, New York. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Anthony Edwards;Uma Thurman

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Actors Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards attend the premiere of "Motherhood" in New York, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

Actor Anthony Edwards attends the premiere of "Motherhood" in New York, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

Actors Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards attend the premiere of "Motherhood" in New York, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

"People wanna say, 'Oh, this is the end of dramas!' but who would've thought that you could walk around with all those shows on your iPhone. So as the medium changes, storytellers will fill the area. I mean, places like A&E and Showtime weren't doing the kind of scripted shows that they're doing now when we started 'ER' in 1994."

"You might say there's more opportunity for good drama now then when 'ER' was on."

These days, Edwards, 47, has shifted his career focus away from television and towards Africa, namely a project to build a children's hospital in Kenya.

The 'Top Gun' actor is running in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 as part of a grass roots campaign by Shoe4Africa, the charitable organization that has sent thousands of running shoes to Africa. Edwards tells PopEater the Kenyan government approached the nonprofit with a big request: help us build. He notes: "It'll actually be the largest children's hospital in all of Africa with 250 beds." / (Learn More and Donate @ Shoe4Africa.org)

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In our extended interview, Edwards talks about his passionate efforts with health care, on playing Uma Thurman's husband in the upcoming film 'Motherhood' (in select theaters Oct. 23) and we snare his thoughts on the idea of -- that's right -- a 'Revenge of the Nerds' movie.

Are you finding it harder to get people to pay attention to health care problems abroad, when the USA is so entrenched in our own debate?

I think people are still receptive to problems abroad because the truth is, we're still a country that lives in incredible excess. It's pretty obvious that we have much more than we need, on every level. Even though we do have challenges here, and people are facing financial crisis, it's nowhere near what the crisis in Africa, where 80% of children die without ever meeting with a health care provider. Such simple things that we take for granted aren't even a foundation. We always have to remind ourselves that we didn't get to choose where we were born. We were lucky to be born here, others weren't. We're only as strong as our weakest link, so people relate to that.

What was it like being Uma Thurman's husband in 'Motherhood'?

Pretty awesome ... I mean, Uma really dove into this movie wholeheartedly and really created this lovely character that we all bounce off of. And as the character required, she can be incredibly beautiful and incredibly scared and lovely and powerful all at different moments.Having been with my wife for all these years, I've seen so much of the complexities of what women go through both being a mother and playing all these different roles that they're required to play. Watch the Trailer >>

With all the remakes of old films popping up in Hollywood, would you endorse a new 'Revenge of the Nerds'?

Of course! It's just an honor to have been a part of something worth re-doing. It's not like they're going 'Okay, we wanna remake the worst comedy of all time. These guys sucked so much that we wanna do it again.' It doesn't show a great amount of imagination, but if they can do it better ... great, go for it. We're just trying to be entertainers here ... not running for office, people.

Tags: anthony edwards, AnthonyEdwards, jay leno, JayLeno

Comments

(5)

Wednesday 21 October

By dano

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POPEATER has been really upset with NBC lately. I bet it's because they made fun of Obama on Saturday Night Live. CNN did spend a couple of days "fact checking" it for us. I really appreciated that.

By Reena

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I didn't even recognize Anthony Edwards...he looks a little sickly. I hope he's ok!

By TomW

What drama? NBC's writers and in fact almost all TV writers just take some other show and try to change a little and call it a new show. Like the Mentalist and Lie to Me which is just a ripoff of the successful Psych on USA that was on two yrs before these wonderful writers found this idea. Just copied it. Law&Order CI is using Jeff Goldblum to be that odd mystical detective...umm just like Monk. The best dramas are on cable, The Closer is the best show on TV. So I get tired of these people whinning about Leno being in Prime Time...hey you know prime time used to be a lot of variety shows. Lack of creativity is what causes the writers to moan about Leno, if they had a good drama opposite it, it would be a fair fight but to just demand that he not be on and that viewers must watch what the writers want to write, is a lot of crap. How come the left wing people are all about ordering people to do what they are told, and thats creativity? Don't thinks so. A lot of people are watching Leno, people with jobs who could not stay up and watch him before.

Thursday 22 October

By adrastia9

Could somebody please kill these stupid spambots?
Anywaiz... Drama today pretty much surmounts to cookie cutter detective and medical shows. Same characters, same script, same stereotypes. You could predict the dialogue of one by watching the other. I don't even bother with network TV anymore because it's gotten so bland and predictable. I can't believ people even waste their time with TV anymore.

By Vanna

Right now the best drama on NBC is the new show Mercy! I love it!

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