The reunion of ER showrunner John Wells, writer R Scott Gemmill and longtime star Noah Wyle for The Pitt, a new drama also set in the heart of a hectic hospital, was enough to irk the estate of the hit show’s original creator, Michael Crichton. In an aggrieved lawsuit, his widow, Sherri Crichton, labelled it a “personal betrayal” and one that only happened when discussions between the two parties for an authorised ER reboot fell apart. The new series airing on HBO’s often substandard streamer Max (which is part of the same Warners empire that birthed ER) has a similarly chaotic energy, just relocated to a different city (this time it’s, title clue, Pittsburgh, rather than Chicago). Despite protestations from defensive execs, one can understand the furore.
But as a viewer, especially one who keenly followed the long-running drama for the majority of its 15 seasons, the main cause of bother is that The Pitt just isn’t anywhere near as effective. Since ER premiered – a near perfect modulation of personal and professional conflict – many, many other hospital-set shows followed, all of them failing to manage that balance quite as well. Grey’s Anatomy might have lasted longer – at 21 seasons, it’s starting to outlast most things on television – but its best days were long, long ago and its tendency to lean on sappy, Starbucks-soundtracked melodrama made it more of an acquired taste.
