George Clooney’s TV Career
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When, at the age of five, George Clooney was introduced to the world of television, he probably knew at that time that it was something he'd like to do when he grew up. His father, Nick Clooney, would bring George and his sister Ada on the set and, while Ada got bored relatively fast, George proved to be a natural when it came to broadcasting.
If in 1974 George would serve as a floor manager on his father's locally produced TV show, in 1986 he makes his TV-movie debut with the comedy "Combat High" (NBC), where he offers a decent performance as an army major, in a subplot with his father.
One year before this he had a recurring role as the good-natured carpenter George Burnett in "The Facts of Life" on NBC (the '85 - '86 season) and between 1988 - 91 he played the role of Booker Brookes, a womanizing factory manager in "Roseanne", a comedy series which deals with the story of a lower class family struggling with life's essential problems.
He continued with the role of a construction worker in "Baby Talk" (ABC, 1991), but as the series was not that good, George quit its set after a clash with the producer of the show. The years 1992 and 93 caught him on the set of the TV series "Bodies of Evidence", playing the part of a detective, but in 1993-94 switched to NBC's "Sisters", as the married detective who falls for Teddy.
But it wasn't until 1994 that Clooney got the TV role of his life. To George it must have looked like business as usual, but it proved to be a big success. I'm referring to the series that has changed the Americans' perspective on television series - "ER". Unlike the previous version, from 1984, ER proved to be a mega-smash.
Clooney's character, Dr. Doug Ross, became the embodiment of the sexy, mysterious and responsible man. There was such a strong con
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Career-wise, Clooney remained with the "ER" for 6 years, up to 2000. During this period he became hugely popular, and he'd been nominated for two Emmy awards and for Golden awards while his cinematic CV strengthened which every project he got involved in.
In 1995, Matt Stone and Trey Parker sent George a tape version of "The Spirit of Christmas", a video greeting card which inspired the making of the "South Park" series. Clooney found the sample so funny that he made multiple copies of it which he spread around the LA area. The authors were very thankful and offered the actor a role in their TV series, thus Clooney ended up voicing Stan Marsh's gay dog, Sparky. Other TV roles include appearances in series like "Friends", "The Golden Girls" and "Murder, She Wrote".
When, in 2000, his TV abilities were already well known, CBS allowed Clooney to put together a live action drama called "Fail Safe" in which Richard Dreyfuss co-starred next to Clooney himself. The project involved two-hour live broadcast and it represented a black-and-white homage to the days of live television. As everybody expected, it worked very well.
George Clooney's TV roles have served both as a means of career propulsion and as a means of developing his TV and acting abilities. All the projects will leave their print on Clooney's life, and later on, he will come to direct and produce "Good Night and Good Luck", a black and white movie that deals with the life of a CBS broadcast journalist, Edward R. Murrow.