Noah Wyle makes us smyle: The veteran actor’s best moments
Be still our beating hearts! Noah Wyle (Donnie Darko) has returned to broadcast television, making us swoon like it’s 1999. The ER alum was tapped to lead the new CBS drama from Ava DuVernay (A Wrinkle in Time) and Greg Berlanti (The Flash), Red Line.
The radical series airing now tells, from a number of different perspectives, the story of a black doctor mistakenly shot by a white cop. Wyle is set to play Daniel Calder, a dedicated high school teacher mourning the loss of his husband – the innocent African-American man who has been killed – while bringing up their daughter as a now-single parent.
The series is topical and devastating – two words we all remember well from the glory days of ER. The series also utilizes Wyle’s terrific acting skills just like the iconic 90s medical drama did way back when. Now that we’re thinking about it, please join us in sighing dreamily over a handful of Wyle’s best moments on TV while we watch Red Line.
Friends (1995): Dr. Jeffrey Rosen
Starring alongside his equally ravishing ER co-star George Clooney, the two actors played up their hunky doctor roles in this Friends episode in which they really stretched their acting capabilities to play another set of hunky doctors. Appearing as dream-dates of Monica (Courtney Cox) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Wyle and Clooney mostly provide some background eye candy while the two friends throw passive-aggressive barbs at each other.
Sesame Street (1996): Dr. Colburn
Surprise! Wyle enjoys another cameo as a doctor. Only this time he has Big Bird to answer to, a broken toaster he’s looking to get fixed, and presumably an audience full of moms watching this episode with their kids while dreaming of all the “ailments” this doc could fix for them.
Falling Skies (2011-2015): Tom Mason
It’s impossible to pinpoint just one moment from Falling Skies’s 52 episodes perfectly highlighting Wyle’s immense charm. So instead, treat yourself to the retrospective below in which a deliciously bedraggled Wyle discusses how his character remained a survivor because of his deep love for his family and refusal to quit even when the odds were stacked against him. Oh, Wyle.
The Librarians (2014-2018): Flynn Carsen
As sweet-talking, self-assured Flynn in the TNT fantasy series, The Librarians gifted fans with two particularly notable gifts: An ongoing tenuous-but-heated romance with Eve (Rebecca Romijn) and the vision of Wyle in a fine tweed suit.
ER (1994 – 2009): John Carter
The show that made Wyle’s career, and that made us obsess for the boyish young doctor he portrayed, features an abundance of scenes we could highlight in tribute to the man’s skills on the show. But for now, allow us to remind you of the most harrowing episode in the history of anything ever, in which Dr. Carter is stabbed by a patient and forced to watch his incredibly sweet girlfriend (Kellie Martin) die in front of him.
Traumatic, right? Or when Dr. Carter and his girlfriend Kem (Thandie Newton) suffer a miscarriage and both struggle to figure out how to live beyond their grief?
Also completely traumatic. But it wasn’t always apocalyptic levels of devastation. Sometimes ER would also delight in showing off Dr. Carter’s low-key charms, like when he would go shooting hoops outside the hospital with Dr. Gates (John Stamos) – and for that we’re eternally thankful.
