Warner Bros. TV is responding to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by Michael Crichton‘s widow, calling the legal move “baseless” and arguing that the studio’s upcoming medical procedural “The Pitt” is a very different show than “ER.”
“The lawsuit filed by the Crichton Estate is baseless, as ‘The Pitt’ is a new and original show,” the studio said in a statement. Any suggestion otherwise is false, and Warner Bros. Television intends to vigorously defend against these meritless claims.”
The swift Warner Bros. response comes after the Crichton estate accused exec producer John Wells of a “personal betrayal,” claiming that he and star Noah Wyle came up with “The Pitt” after the Crichton estate blocked their plans to reboot “ER.” “‘The Pitt’ is ‘ER,’” the lawsuit states. “It’s not like ‘ER.’ It’s not kind of ‘ER.’ It’s not sort of ‘ER.’ It is ‘ER’ with the exact same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ‘ER’ reboot.”
But that’s where both sides disagree. Insiders note that the real similarity between “ER” and “The Pitt” comes down to a show set in an emergency room from Wells and starring Noah Wyle — but beyond that, Wells is focusing on different themes and tone vs. what “ER” did.
Not only is it understood that the story structure will be different in how each episode unfurls, but it’s believed that the look, feel and sound of the show is taking an entirely different direction than “ER.” The setting is Pittsburgh instead of the Chicago hospital on “ER.” There are also no repeat characters and none of the iconography of “ER.”
The show will run on streamer Max with 15 episodes rather than the original 22-episode (or more) seasons of “ER” on NBC — and being on a streamer means “The Pitt” will also deal with more explicit themes.
“Another advantage that you have in doing these shows for streaming and you don’t have the same kind of broadcast standards that you have to meet,” Wells told Variety in May for a story about streamers tapping into more procedural programming. “There is a willingness to have a more adult version of what was able under FCC rules to be done on broadcast television. So, one of the things that we got excited about with ‘The Pitt’ is we could tell medical stories in which they actually look like what really happens in the hospital — and the way in which people actually interact with the healthcare system…. I think you’re going to see that you can put a very sophisticated both visually and in your storytelling version of these programs this programming on to streaming platforms.”
Insiders confirm that Wells had initially approached Warner Bros. TV about revisiting the medical space in the post-COVID era, and what has happened to hospitals and emergency rooms during and after the pandemic — different themes from “ER.” The initial thought was revisiting the “ER” franchise, but when a deal couldn’t be made with the Crichton estate, the producers and the studio opted to continue developing a medical show without the “ER” franchise or its legacy.
Others have pointed out that medical procedurals are a common TV occurrence — the year that “ER” premiered on NBC, directly opposite it on CBS was another hospital show set in the Windy City, “Chicago Hope.”
Wyle stars in the series about the “frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh,” per the official logline. Also starring are Tracy Ifeachor (“Treason,” “Showtrial”), Patrick Ball (“Law & Order,” “The XIXth”), Supriya Ganesh (“Grown-ish,” “Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game”), Fiona Dourif (“Child’s Play” franchise, “The Blacklist”), Taylor Dearden (“American Vandal,” “Sweet/Vicious”), Isa Briones (“Star Trek: Picard,” “Goosebumps”), Gerran Howell (“Suspicion,” “Catch-22”), Shabana Azeez (“In Limbo,” “Birdeaters”) and Katherine LaNasa (“The Campaign,” “Truth Be Told”).
R. Scott Gemmill will write the first episode and executive produce the series alongside Wyle; John Wells of John Wells Productions (JWP); and JWP’s Erin Jontow, Simran Baidwan and Michael Hissrich. Warner Bros. Television, where JWP is under an overall deal, is the studio.