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Tavis: Maura Tierney stars in one of the most successful television dramas in history. 'E.R.,' the hit NBC series, now in its thirteenth season. Wow. A season many thought would see the show losing its luster, but 'E.R.' remains a critical and ratings success as it continues to introduce new characters and storylines. The show, of course, airs Thursday nights at 10:00 on NBC. Here now, a scene from 'E.R.'

Tavis: Okay.

Maura Tierney: Okay. (Laugh)

Tavis: Okay. Maura, nice to have you here.

Tierney: Nice to be here.

Tavis: It's a pleasure to meet you. Did this season surprise you the way it did everybody else? 'E.R.' is back.

Tierney: It's back.

Tavis: I thought 'E.R.' was on life support, pardon the pun.

Tierney: It was, sort of.

Tavis: But it's back now.

Tierney: Yeah, it was very exciting, because everybody thought that. The whole writing staff. We were talking about sort of exit arc, and how the show was gonna, how all the characters were gonna end up. And then the next day, it was freaky. 'Cause we were expecting to take a hit from this and that, and then it was just everybody was watching.

Tavis: So what are the folk on the inside - this is our version of 'The Insider,' just for a second here, at least. On the inside, what's everybody saying as rationale for what they think brought it back, so to speak?

Tierney: I think, well, certainly there's programming stuff that happened. Because 'Without a Trace' was moved, and that was something that we were kind of head to head with them last season, and that was putting a dent in us. So they're gone. But I also just think we did, last season especially, a really good season. I think there was really good shows, it was very strong. Nobody came or left, we just dealt with who was there.

And I think the season finale was really good, and I think the, the first couple episodes. So I think, A, part of our competition is not there anymore, and B, we're continuing to remain, like, relevant. And Stamos, too. People love John Stamos, and he's here.

Tavis: Yeah, and John's watching right now. He's sitting there waiting, like. (Laugh) And?

Tierney: I should have known (unintelligible) mention it just to torture him. It's true.

Tavis: How about John Stamos? So I'm glad you got that in, for John's sake. (Laugh)

Tierney: Yeah, and he's, people love him. So that, I think, helps, too.

Tavis: People love you, too, and I'm one of those people. I said to you when you walked into the studio, I, like, cried when 'NewsRadio' disappeared. That thing kept getting moved.

Tierney: Yeah.

Tavis: And could never find its audience. And I loved 'NewsRadio.'

Tierney: Well, no, you know what? Actually, we did. That's why they kept moving us. 'Cause we always managed to perform, wherever they put us. So they'd be, like, all right, put them over there. All right, put them over there. And we'd do, like, okay. But never really got, yeah, to have a huge following. But the fans are very devoted. It's a core group of fans that just...

Tavis: I'm one of them. But that sounds like on the one hand, you understand - this is really inside. On the one hand, you understand why a network would do that if a show works. You move it around to help use it as fodder or leverage to make other shows work. But if you kill it off in the process, that's kind of stupid.

Tierney: Well, it was nobody's favorite. Like, I think there was maybe a little regime change at NBC, so it had been developed under a different person in charge. So it was sort of like no one was passionate about it, so they moved it all around. But that was a good thing in a sense, because we got to do kind of whatever we wanted. Nobody cared. The network didn't care. (Laugh) We could be, like, nobody was over 30 except for Phil, who, like, acted 15, in a good way. So, we did whatever we wanted. So it was fun.

Tavis: How did you navigate your way through that, through Phil's passing? 'Cause I suspect, for folk who were fans of his, it was difficult for everybody. And it came so sudden. But for people who worked with him or were friends of his, I suspect it was even more difficult.

Tierney: Yeah. It was horrible. It was really horrible. And 'cause we knew Brin. It was - it's shocking. That's not, it was really sad. And also, I think perhaps unfortunate that we did the next season. Lovitz is great, but it was never the same, you know what I mean? And that's sort of the opposite of funny, what happened to Phil. So to go back, and it might have been maybe not the smartest idea.

Tavis: I thought, when I was preparing for our conversation, to say to you that the role on 'E.R.' is - I'm trying to put two words together, drastically and dramatically...

Tierney: I like that word.

Tavis: No, you can't do that.

Tierney: Okay. (Laugh)

Tavis: (Laugh) The role - let me just use a small word. The role on 'E.R.' is very different than the role on 'NewsRadio.' Your choice to do stuff in your career that is that diametric, or?

Tierney: Yeah. I, yes, well, when 'NewsRadio' got canceled, I would not have done another sitcom, because I thought those people are all so brilliant. Paul Sims, who created it, is, like, so geniusly funny. All the actors are so funny. And I thought, there's probably not gonna be something like this again for me, or now, anyway. 'Cause I was spoiled. So then when 'E.R.' called, I was like that's a TV show that because it's so different, it's not like I have anything to compare it to. And I'm a fan of the - I was watching it before I was on it. So it seemed like if I was gonna stay on television, that was a way to stay in it that would remain interesting for me.

Tavis: I could understand not wanting to do the same thing again. Do you have a preference, though, for drama versus?

Tierney: I don't. I think certainly 'E.R.' has, like, allowed me to do so much stuff that, dramatically that it was, that it's been a great opportunity for me.

Tavis: Must be tougher memorizing the lines with all that medical jargon than the stuff in 'NewsRadio.'

Tierney: Yes. It's much tougher. (Laugh) And also, I used to be able to look at 'NewsRadio' and, like, we'd get it. Me and Dave Foley would compete how fast we could learn our lines. And it's not like that on this show. (Laugh) And it's not like that at my age. But I miss the - that seems to be dying anyway, multicamera shows. It seems like nobody does it.

But I do miss the audience, and I miss the rehearsal. 'Cause you rehearse for, like, five days. And on 'E.R.,' we rehearse for five minutes. (Laugh) So, that, I miss. But I think I've had more challenges on 'E.R.' than on 'NewsRadio.'

Tavis: You just said something that fascinates me, and I think I understand it, given how the way the shows work. But to have so much less rehearsal time for a show like 'E.R.,' that is, respectfully, so much more intense than a show like 'NewsRadio,' it just seems, I'm sure, strange to the listener, to the viewer right now.

Tierney: Yeah, I know.

Tavis: How is that possible?

Tierney: Well, it's just, it's sort of - you just learn to be facile. Everyone is expected to do their job quickly and efficiently, it's sort of a thing on the set. Which is good on the one hand, because you get to be good at that. But on the other hand, the exploration part of it kind of goes away.

Tavis: Goes away, yeah.

Tierney: So, you have to be mindful and sometimes you have to go wait, can we just, 'cause we rehearse the medical stuff, the traumas. That gets the most rehearsal. If it's two people talking about. That gets the most rehearsal. If it's two people talking about (laugh) some really deep, serious personal thing, that doesn't normally get as much time.

Tavis: 'E.R.'s' been really good, I think, back to the earlier part of our conversation. One of the things I think that's made the show work and still thrive into season number 13 is they, they found a really good way, over the last couple seasons, at least, to introduce these new storylines. These new characters.

Tierney: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's sort of like how my character kind of came in the back door, one million years ago. Like, I was a med student, and I was a nurse, and then you know what I mean? They sort of, I did a few episodes and then went away and then came back. So I think what the writers manage to do is bring new people on without saying, this is the new Juliana, this is the new Tony Edwards, this is the new Eric LaSalle. You know what I mean? So people aren't expecting that from the actors. So, is that answering your question?

Tavis: No, it does. What makes it the more remarkable for me, and for those of us who watch 'E.R.,' is that to your point now, so many major stars have left this show. Or persons who left the show have become major stars. That's supposed to kill off a show, when all the stars leave. And yet it keeps finding a way to reinvent itself.

Tierney: Yeah, it seems like I find that people that come up to me in the street, a lot of times they say they watch the show with their daughter, or they watch the show with their mother. So, I think there's a whole new group of people that don't even maybe know about that cast.

Tavis: Is that making you feel old now?

Tierney: Everything makes me feel old. (Laugh)

Tavis: I'm watching your show now with my daughter.

Tierney: When you're getting old. Yes, that, it's sort of like yeah. But that's okay, that's nice, that you can have a show that two generations can watch.

Tavis: Let me ask you a real silly question here if I can, before my time runs out. Maura, M-A-U-R-A. I have a brother named Maury. But Maura, how'd you get the name?

Tierney: It's an Irish name.

Tavis: Is it an Irish name?

Tierney: Yeah, I'm Irish, by descent. And I always thought it was sort of the American bastardization of Moira, which is, I thought, the more authentic Irish name, but I'm wrong.

Tavis: It's just Irish.

Tierney: It's just Irish.

Tavis: I had no idea until reading, again, for our conversation, that John Tierney is, like, your father.

Tierney: Joe Tierney's my father.

Tavis: Joe Tierney, I'm sorry, I mean Joe Tierney.

Tierney: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is a John Tierney, too, who's a - I don't know what he's doing now.

Tavis: Exactly, Joe Tierney, in Boston.

Tierney: Yes.

Tavis: Yeah, ran for mayor.

Tierney: Yes.

Tavis: This is your dad.

Tierney: Yeah.

Tavis: Wow. I remember that, I'm a political science student. So I remember this race.

Tierney: But that's really local. So you remember that.

Tavis: I'm just a political animal.

Tierney: I know, I know, but that's...

Tavis: But I remember this race, though, yeah.

Tierney: Yeah, Ray Flynn.

Tavis: Yeah.

Tierney: It was very, it was difficult.

Tavis: See, I'm talking about - see, Holly? I told you? Holly's our producer. She was impressed. I said, 'That was the Ray Flynn race.'

Tierney: It is; that's amazing that you know that.

Tavis: She's like how do you know this? (Laugh) Now, see, now she believes me, when you say Ray Flynn. I remember this race. So what - are you a political animal?

Tierney: Yeah, yes, I try. I'm not so involved, 'cause I work all the time.

Tavis: So your dad was president of the city council.

Tierney: Yeah, four times, (unintelligible). A lot of times, yeah.

Tavis: And ran for mayor, yeah.

Tierney: And ran for mayor, and then (unintelligible).

Tavis: So you like politics, or you got turned off to it because of your father?

Tierney: No, turn on to it.

Tavis: Yeah.

Tierney: It was fun, it was really fun, 'cause it's also difficult, 'cause it's your father, and it's not always positive, what people are saying. And you're close to it. But election, campaigns are really fun for us. Canvassing, and headquarters is fun, and the rallies are fun, and working the polls. It was very immediate, 'cause it's a local. You meet a lot of people, a lot of crazy people, too. So.

Tavis: Massachusetts is a very interesting place.

Tierney: Yeah.

Tavis: So you would never wanna do politics, though

Tierney: No.

Tavis: Acting is your thing.

Tierney: Yeah.

Tavis: Yeah.

Tierney: I think it's impossible - I shouldn't say that, that's so negative. I think it's hard to maintain your integrity. It's just hard, it's hard to, if you're a good person, you don't wanna get in there. It's a messy, full of compromises. You know what I mean?

Tavis: And acting allows you to have all the integrity and credibility. This is Hollywood.

Tierney: Show business is full of integrity. (Laugh)

Tavis: This is nothing like Washington. Yeah, Hollywood is just full of integrity. Man, I swear I love this. (Laugh)

Tierney: See, maybe I could be a politician.

Tavis: No, you know what that means? You're a great actress. That's what that means right there. You just proved it once again. Nice to have you here.

Tierney: Thank you for bringing me here.

Tavis: Maura Tierney on 'E.R.,' Thursdays at 10:00. That's our show for tonight. (Laugh) That's our show for tonight. Catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A., thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith.