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For more than 30 years, John Kiesewetter has been the source for information about all things in local media — comings and goings, local people appearing on the big or small screen, special programs, and much more. Contact John at johnkiese@yahoo.com.

George Clooney Returns To TV In New & Old Series

Pete Souza
/
White House Photo
George Clooney

Good news for George Clooney fans: You'll see him a lot on TV this year in a new "Catch-22" TV miniseries, his interview with David Letterman and the streaming of "ER" reruns. 

CATCH-22: Clooney will star in a six-episode series based on Joseph Heller's 1961 novel set in Italy during World War II for the Hulu streaming service. It will be Clooney's first TV series role since his breakthrough on NBC's "ER" (1993-98), after regular series roles on "Facts of Life," "E/R," "Roseanne," "Sisters", "Bodies of Evidence" and "Baby Talk."

Credit NBC
George Clooney as "ER" pediatrician Dr. Doug Ross in 1995.

The miniseries, announced Sunday Jan. 14 at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour in Pasadena, could start shooting soon, Variety says. Episodes will be directed by Clooney, a 1979 Augusta Independent High School graduate, and Clooney's long-time producing partner, Grant Heslov. 

Deadline describes "Catch-22" as  the story "of the incomparable, artful dodger Yossarian, a bombardier for the U.S. Air Force, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specified that people who were crazy were not obliged to fly missions, but anyone who applied to stop flying was showing a rational concern for his safety and was, therefore, sane and had to fly."

In 1970, during the Vietnam War, "Catch-22" was released as a feature film starring Alan Arkin as Yossarian and Martin Balsam as Colonel Cathcart, his foe. Mike Nichols directed from a script by Buck Henry.  Clooney will play Cathcart.

LETTERMAN INTERVIEW: Clooney's interview with David Letterman will be released by Netflix in February, according to Netflix promotions.

At the end of the "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman" premiere with Barack Obama on Friday, Jan. 12, a preview showed the Clooney conversation coming in February. Unlike most Netflix series, in which all episodes are released at once, Letterman's six one-hour shows will be available monthly. They were taped late last year.

Credit NBC
"ER" cast for third season in 1995 (from left): Noah Wyle, Sherry Stringfield, Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies, George Clooney, Gloria Reuben and Eriq LaSalle.

ER: Hulu executives told the TCA Sunday it has acquired all 15 seasons of "ER" from Warner Bros., and they're available now.

On Sunday, Hulu started streaming the 330 episodes broadcast by NBC from 1993 to 2009. It won 22 Emmy Awards (from 124 nominations) and a Peabody Award in 1995.

John Kiesewetter, who has covered television and media for more than 35 years, has been working for Cincinnati Public Radio and WVXU-FM since 2015.