His "NYPD Blue" character self-destructed in a hazy spiral of booze and strippers. And in the TNT movie "14 Hours" - premiering April 3 at 8 p.m. - he plays an egotistical surgeon who treats the nursing staff like the hired help.
"I'd prefer not to play a jerk," said Schroder. "But if he starts out a jerk and ends up a good guy, I can live with that."
"14 Hours" is based on the devastating events surrounding Tropical Storm Allison, the 2001 storm that dumped 30 inches of rain on Houston over a 14-hour period. Schroder's Dr. Foster is the attending surgeon at Memorial Hermann Hospital, where the storm has flooded the hospital's generators, knocking out power and putting critical patients in peril. Kris Kristofferson co-stars as the city's emergency management chief, and JoBeth Williams plays the nurse Schroder takes on.
"He's arrogant," said Schroder of his character. "He's a surgeon. I understand surgeons are very confident people with healthy egos and that doesn't come off in a nice way sometimes."
In his first scene, Schroder's Foster cuts himself a huge wedge of cake, spoiling the confection for the intended recipient, one of Williams' nurses who is leaving the hospital for a new job.
"I've actually heard that from nurses," said Schroder, "that doctors are all ego. They're very arrogant. They're just not particularly kind. They're very selfinvolved."
But, said Schroder, he is eventually humbled by the situation.
"He changes and he learns the value of the nurses," he said. "They're the glue. They keep everything together."
Since leaving "NYPD Blue" in 2001 - Schroder credits the police drama for giving him an "adult career" - he has turned up in a slew of TV movies. Last year, he wrote and directed the feature "Black Cloud," a coming-of-age story about a troubled Navajo teenager who finds redemption in a boxing ring. The film has played at festivals, but Schroder is still working on getting it a wider release. "Making the movie was the easy part," he said.
He has also joined the cast of the Lifetime drama "Strong Medicine," which will start its sixth season in June. He'll direct some episodes of the show as well as a Lifetime TV movie.
In "Strong Medicine," which also stars Patricia Richardson and Janine Turner, Schroder will be the lone male member of a team of tough female physicians.
So will he have a better bedside manner in that series?
"Absolutely," he said, "I'm going to be Casanova over there."
