For four seasons, Laura Innes' character -- Dr. Carrie Weaver -- has been a flashpoint for conflict on TV's top-rated show.
Carrie is very good at her job and she has repeatedly shown compassion and caring for both her patients and her co-workers. At the same time, she's often been prickly and combative -- and not overly popular. And, in a recent interview with TV critics, Innes said she was completely unprepared for the fact that so many viewers disliked her character so much."I was absolutely amazed at how people just were so driven crazy, to put it nicely, by the character," said Innes, who was just stunned when she walked into a department store shortly after her episodes began airing.
"This woman was at the cash register and she was just railing. She was whispering, going, 'There she is! There she is! Oooh -- I just want to slap her!' And I was thinking, 'Oh, they're having some kind of argument or something.' And then I realized she was talking about me."
It wasn't just viewers who had that reaction to Dr. Weaver, however. Even members of the "ER" crew didn't particularly care for her -- as demonstrated on a day when Innes was acting out a scene in which Carrie was going through some personal trials.
"I remember on that day one of the grips came up to me and said, 'Oh man, I almost felt sorry for her today.' And I started to cry and said, 'What do you mean, almost?' Because I think she's a great gal," Innes said. "And I think it's great to have a character that people have such a strong reaction to."
But, again, it was something she wasn't quite ready for. Before joining the "ER" cast, her most prominent TV exposure came with a recurring role on the sitcom "Wings." And that character -- the dizzy, promiscuous ex-wife of Lowell (Thomas Haden Church) was about as far away from Carrie Weaver as could possibly be imagined.
Originally hired for just a half-dozen episodes in the show's second season, Innes was soon a regular. And her job was to stir things up a bit.
"I think I was fortunate that at that point in the show, they needed to create conflict and I think my character fit the bill," she said.
Still, she didn't expect that Carrie would be so disliked.
"I'm so stupid that I had the opposite view of the character," Innes said. "I loved the character right from the beginning. If you look at the first episode I'm on, she's kind of like this real pill and then she has this final scene where she saves this football player's life and she's kind of funny in this dry way. And she's excellent at the job.
"So I felt like, right from the beginning, she's a good egg."
Carrie Weaver remains one of the few handicapped characters to play a prominent role on a television series. And the question to the answer Innes is asked most often is "no" -- in real life, she doesn't walk with a cane.
The answer to the question she hears second most often? "No, we don't know why" Carrie uses a crutch.
"When I first auditioned for the show the character was described as using a crutch or a cane," said Innes, who -- quite naturally -- asked the producers why. "They said, 'Well, there had been a doctor who was a role model who used a cane, but we're not really sure.' And, dramatically, it hasn't really been determined yet."
Innes has her own idea, but it's not officially part of the "ER" story.
"I worked with a woman who's a doctor here who had polio and actually uses a crutch very similar to mine. So that's what I base what I've done on," she said.
And she's passionate about portraying a woman who doesn't let her handicap hold her back in any way.
"I've said this to the producers from the beginning -- the character is sort of marginalized in terms of her having personal relationships. And I think she needs to have a boyfriend," Innes said. "And part of that is that I as a person want my character to have that. But, also, it's a really big disability issue. People with disabilities are seen as asexual, and I think that's wrong. To me, this is a great opportunity showing this person having a full life.
"I feel strongly about that. Partly just for my own ego as an actress, but also because of the character's disability."
Not that she's complaining about her role by any means. Not only is she happy that she was allowed to direct an episode of "ER" this season, but she's happy about how her character has developed.
"I'm very happy with what they've given me to do on the show," Innes said. "Just when I feel like I know what's going to happen, they give me something that's slightly different. I love some of the stuff that I've had this year, with Carter moving into my house and showing her at home and showing her getting into medicine again and having more of her personal story, with finding her (birth) mother and all of that."
And, while other actors either have left the show (George Clooney and Maria Bello) or are planning to leave after next season (Julianna Margulies), Innes won't be going anywhere anytime soon. She's under contract through the 2001-2002 season.
After that, well . . .
"That's a long way off and we'll have to kind of see," she said.