E-Ring Explained

Genre:Military drama
Composer:Trevor Morris
Country:United States
Language:English
Num Seasons:1
Num Episodes:22 (8 unaired in the U.S.)
Runtime:42 - 44 minutes
Network:NBC

E-Ring is an American military drama television series created by Ken Robinson and David McKenna and executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, that premiered on NBC on September 21, 2005, and aired through February 1, 2006. The series stars Benjamin Bratt, Dennis Hopper, Aunjanue Ellis, Kerr Smith and Kelly Rutherford.

Series overview

The title of the show refers to the structure of The Pentagon, which is configured in five concentric rings, from "A" to "E", with E being the outermost ring. Before any military action can be taken anywhere in the world, the mission must be planned and approved by the most important ring of the Pentagon, the E-ring. This is where the more high-profile work is done, all operations must be legally approved and the green light given by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The show starred Benjamin Bratt as Major James Tisnewski, a former Delta Force operator and Dennis Hopper as Colonel Eli McNulty, as officers working in the E-ring of the Pentagon in the Special Operations Division (SOD) – planning and co-ordinating covert US special operations actions around the globe.

The show struggled from the onset because it was up against ABC's Top 20 hit Lost, CBS's Top 30 hit Criminal Minds, FOX's Top 10 hit American Idol and the network's other Top 30 hit Unan1mous. Although NBC gave it an earlier time slot which led to better ratings, the show was pulled from the lineup during the February sweeps and officially canceled at the NBC upfront on May 15.

Cast

In "Acceptable Losses" (the series finale), after taking down a Mexican drug cartel leader who'd allegedly smuggled Al Qaeda operatives across the border on US soil, LTC Tisnewski was arrested and was last seen in pre-trial confinement at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

In "Acceptable Losses" (the series finale), COL McNulty tendered his resignation after it was publicly revealed that the US Army used FISA warrants to spy on American citizens who had extremely loose or tangential ties to terrorists.

Recurring cast

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
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Broadcast

E-Ring aired in the United Kingdom on FX, as of July 28, 2006. They have shown all 22 episodes filmed, and have repeated the series several times since the conclusion of the original run. It is also currently (as of July 2006) shown in Kanal 5 for the Swedish market and in La Sexta for the Spanish market. On September 8, 2006, Hong Kong's ATV began showing it.

In October, E-Ring aired on Premiere (a German pay TV company) starting on October 5 synced in German language as well as the original sound. The show also aired on TVMax in (Panama) and on Rádio e Televisão de Portugal and is airing again on Fox. The show is also currently airing on the Israeli Cable channel XTRA Hot. The show was aired on Philippine cable channel Crime/Suspense. The show is also airing on SubTV (Finland). The show is also due to air on Nine HD (Australia) in April 2008. In Italy the show is due to air on Rai Due since March 21, 2008. In Croatia the show was aired on Croatian television HRT in September 2008, and again on RTL2 in September 2017. In July 2008 show started to air on Avala (Serbia).

The remaining episodes were shown on the Irish network TG4.

References

Sources

Notes and References

  1. News: 'E-Ring': Sir! No, Sir!. Chip. Crews. The Washington Post. WP Company (Nash Holdings). Washington, D.C.. September 21, 2005. May 27, 2018.