HBO Max
Noah Wyle is Happy His New HBO Show Isn't an 'ER' Reboot
Back in 2020, when everyone was trapped inside, many turned to the 1994-2009 series ER as a kind of comfort binge. Former star of ER, Noah Wyle knows this because he received a lot of emails from first responders when the show's streaming popularity had a resurgence during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Wyle began talking with producers R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells about possibly bringing a new ER series back to TV. But now, with the release of the new HBO Max medical drama The Pitt — which is not an ER sequel or reboot — Wyle says he's actually glad to be doing something different.
In an interview with TVLine, Wyle said: "I was not sorry when, you know, we were sort of forced to pivot and figure out how to tell the story in a new way." What he's referring to is the fact that as work began on the concept, Wyle realized it would be much more valuable to do something entirely new; a TV series that honored the realities of healthcare and medical professionals now, rather than focus on creating a show that was part of a media franchise. There were also legal complications with Michael Crichton's estate, who alleged that The Pitt was taking too much inspirations from ER without crediting Crichton for the creation of the original show. But, at the end of the day, The Pitt is very much its own thing.
"In a lot of ways, [not reviving ER] unburdened us from narrative limitations that we would have had to adhere to, and pay homage to," he explained in the same interview. Adding that while industry folks were "excited by" the prospect of an ER reboot, the tone and concept of The Pitt were designed to be very different, and much more up-to-date.
The new series focuses on Dr. Robby Rabinavitch (Wyle) a man reeling from trauma from the pandemic. But, he's also a teacher and mentor to a new group of medical residents, each trying to find their way in their complicated profession.
Uniquely, and unlike ER, each episode of The Pitt covers one hour of the 15-hour shift in the emergency room. This means the entirety of Season 1 will cover roughly just one shift, sort of like 24, but a medical drama. The first two episodes, titled "7:00 AM" and "8:00 AM" just hit HBO Max. New episodes drop on Thursdays.
