County General Hospital closed its doors for good as venerable medical drama ER bowed out Thursday after 15 seasons with its largest Canadian audience in five years, while scoring the biggest numbers for a drama series finale in the U.S. since 1996.

The two-hour finale averaged 2.8 million viewers on CTV at 9 p.m., which marks a 58% increase in total viewers over its season average. The episode, entitled ‘And in the End,’ peaked at 3.1 million viewers, and featured the return of Noah Wylie’s popular Dr. John Carter character. (All numbers 2+.)

ER was the highest-rated show of the week, placing ahead of Global’s House and CTV’s American Idol, with 2.3 million and two million viewers, respectively.

Over on NBC, ER garnered 16.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched drama series finale since Murder, She Wrote signed off on CBS in 1996 with 16.5 million viewers, according to Variety.

The drama premiered in September 1994 and was CTV’s top program for eight years. The run-up to the buzzed-about finale also featured the return of George Clooney in the March 12 episode, which drew two million viewers.

Meanwhile, new NBC cop series Southland — starring The O.C.‘s Benjamin McKenzie — will take over ER‘s timeslot beginning this week on CTV. ER exec producer John Wells is also behind the series, about a police unit in downtown Los Angeles.