Perhaps you know Michael Crichton as the man behind the Jurassic Park novels that spawned the iconic film series, but the accomplished writer and filmmaker was also the mastermind behind ER, one of the most renowned medical dramas to ever grace our screens. Not only did it bring storylines we still think about to this day and famous faces like George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies, John Stamos, Angela Bassett and countless other Hollywood bigshots to our screen, but it eliminated the fluff you so often find with medical dramas.
“There’s a rhythmic instinct to slow down in television,” Crichton said back in a 1994 interview with Time. “But our show had to go as fast as the real thing. We got rid of the pauses, those actors’ moments, the hanging looks that mean nothing. Medical shows have been at the Marcus Welby pace: meet a patient, portray the disease of the week and finish with some heart-wrenching solution. Here we just rip people in and out.”
Though Crichton passed away in 2008 at the age of 66 after a battle with cancer, the legacy of his work lives on—but as of right now, not necessarily in the way he or his family would have hoped for. On February 25, a judge ruled that Crichton’s estate could proceed with a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television with regards to the all-new medical drama The Pitt that recently hit the HBO and Max airwaves. The reason for the litigation? According to the estate, The Pitt is essentially a reboot of ER, brought to life without their involvement or approval. Here, all about the lawsuit and what this could mean for those involved.
What Is the ‘ER’ vs. ‘The Pitt’ lawsuit about?
As the story goes, Crichton’s estate was in talks with Warner Bros. regarding an ER reboot, but their negotiations were unsuccessful. As a result of such, the production company “simply moved the show from Chicago to Pittsburgh, rebranded it The Pitt, and has plowed ahead without any attribution or compensation for Crichton and his heirs,” stated the lawsuit.
Noah Wyle’s involvement—‘a personal betrayal’ or not the same?
The Pitt, similar to ER, follows a group of individuals working in the emergency room of a Pittsburgh hospital—and the show’s lead, Noah Wyle, is also being targeted in the lawsuit, as he played a significant role in ER. In the first series, he brought to life the character of Dr. John Carter. In The Pitt, he portrays Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch. As stated in the lawsuit, his involvement in this new series is “a personal betrayal of a 30-year friendship” he shared with Crichton.
In response to these claims, Wyle rebutted in a statement, saying, “ER and The Pitt do not have any of the same characters. Dr. Carter from ER was a blue blood, wealthy, and highly educated doctor. He came from a Waspy background. Dr. Robinavitch comes from a blue-collar background, he is Jewish, did his residency in New Orleans, and is recovering from PTSD.”
The next hearing for the case is set to take place on March 26.
