Nursing a love for her work

Maura Tierney, secret hippie, plays Woody Harrelson's love interest in "Semi-Pro," which opened Friday. She also plays Abby Lockhart on "ER," now in its 14th season.

After so much time on "ER," are you looking forward to the end?

It's a very, um, it's mixed, you know. I've been on the show for a long time. This year I think [they've] written some of the most challenging stuff for me. It was so fun. It's not like I withered away and died there. . . . But it is a long time to play one character. Part of me is ready to not play that character anymore. Part of me, I know, will miss it.

I want to know everything -- everything -- about "News Radio." People who are into the show are freaks.

I like that freaks are into the show. We were freaks, and everyone was really young. . . . It meant a lot to us who made it. I also think it was this show that was under the radar, and if you got it, you were onto something.

Was it as raggedy around the edges as it seemed?

Yes, absolutely. Comedians are weird, dark people most of the time, I find. So Dave Foley, one of the weirdest people; Andy Dick, out of his mind; Phil [Hartman]; Joe Rogan, a stand-up comic. These funny people are kind of dark inside.

Your Internet Movie Data Base entry talks a lot of smack about News Radio. ["Mediocre at best."]

That's not nice. I'll have to write a letter of protest to IMDB!

People aren't often mean to you, are they?

No. Well, it depends. You know that website Television Without Pity? I don't think they do "ER" anymore. And there's also these alternative news groups. I went on them once every two years or so -- because you have to be really prepared. And these people, they're not professional critics, but they can be very mean. And it's also very, very nice! But the mean things stick with you.

Have you been watching the Paul Rudd-Seth Rogen kind of movies? There's not a lot of women in them.

No, there's not. It's sort of like this movie too. It's about the guys. I'm the girlfriend, that's OK. . . . But you know the director, Ken Alterman, whom I loved, he wanted to make a "Slap Shot." A straight-up, R-rated comedy in the '70s. Or a "Bad News Bears" that's less goofy, and maybe macho. . . . Maybe bawdy. And I think he succeeded. They swear. They don't just bonk each other on the head.

What would have happened to you if you were born five years earlier [in 1960]?