"I think that's created a healthy environment. The comparisons to "ER" were maddening and there was this assumption that the two of us were looking at each other with rage and resentment, which was also not the case"
About this Quote
Arkin is doing the classic actor’s two-step: praising the vibe on set while quietly swatting away a media narrative he never agreed to perform. “Healthy environment” is industry code for something harder to say bluntly: nobody’s making the workplace toxic for the sake of a storyline. It’s reassurance, but it’s also boundary-setting.
The real heat is in “maddening.” He doesn’t call the comparisons to ER inaccurate; he calls them exhausting. That word choice implies a treadmill of press questions, trade-paper framing, and fan expectations that flatten a new show into a copycat and its cast into a pre-written soap opera. ER wasn’t just a series, it was a cultural yardstick for prestige medical TV. Being measured against it can feel like arriving at a party already wearing someone else’s name tag.
Then he punctures the juiciest part: the presumed rivalry. “There was this assumption” points straight at entertainment journalism’s default engine - conflict as character. The subtext is that outsiders wanted “rage and resentment” because it makes a cleaner hook than competence or camaraderie. Arkin’s “which was also not the case” is pointedly unadorned, almost bored, as if to say: we’re professionals, not gladiators.
Intent-wise, it’s strategic: protect the production, protect colleagues, and redirect attention from mythology (“two of us”) to the actual work. In a culture that loves successor narratives, Arkin is insisting on something less clickable but more durable: stability.
The real heat is in “maddening.” He doesn’t call the comparisons to ER inaccurate; he calls them exhausting. That word choice implies a treadmill of press questions, trade-paper framing, and fan expectations that flatten a new show into a copycat and its cast into a pre-written soap opera. ER wasn’t just a series, it was a cultural yardstick for prestige medical TV. Being measured against it can feel like arriving at a party already wearing someone else’s name tag.
Then he punctures the juiciest part: the presumed rivalry. “There was this assumption” points straight at entertainment journalism’s default engine - conflict as character. The subtext is that outsiders wanted “rage and resentment” because it makes a cleaner hook than competence or camaraderie. Arkin’s “which was also not the case” is pointedly unadorned, almost bored, as if to say: we’re professionals, not gladiators.
Intent-wise, it’s strategic: protect the production, protect colleagues, and redirect attention from mythology (“two of us”) to the actual work. In a culture that loves successor narratives, Arkin is insisting on something less clickable but more durable: stability.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
|---|
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