One of TV’s longest-running primetime hits, the former Must See TV fave ER is also among television’s most influential series of the modern era. And that influence hasn’t gone away in the 15 years since its series finale aired. Case in point, recent attempts were made to mount an ER revival for the 2024 TV schedule and/or beyond, but instead of Cook County General Hospital’s return, what has emerged is a lawsuit involving former lead Noah Wyle and his new streaming series The Pitt.
The Alleged Original ER Revival Plans
According to the lawsuit (via Deadline) filed by Sherri Crichton, widow of the Jurassic Park and Sphere author, discussions about about bringing ER back to television began in November 2022 when she received a call from O.G. producer John Wells informing her that a press release would soon go public announcing plans for a sequel series, with Noah Wyle getting involved later.
At this point, Crichton alleges that negotiations hit a wall once the estate requested that the author, whose 1974 film script Emergency Ward was revamped for the original series, receive a “Created By” credit for the new show. WBTV allegedly denied the request and became more difficult to deal with.
The lawsuit states that WBTV execs’ stance became more harsh, and their language in emails and other comms implied that John Wells was just as responsible, if not more so, than Crichton himself for ER’s success. The estate pushed back on this with the notion that the author actually helped Wells get back on his feet after settling a plagiarism lawsuit involving David Simon and Barry Levinson’s Homicide.
As well, Sherri Crichton’s suit draws attention and criticism to WBTV for allegedly pulling the Westworld director’s name from the HBO series based in part on his 1973 film, save for a lone “Based On” credit, and not the “Created By” credit that was sought at the time.
Why The Lawsuit Over The Pitt Happened
Following a year or so of conversations and attempted negotiations regarding the ER sequel series, it was clear that an agreement wasn’t forthcoming. Noah Wyle himself discussed publicly that a deal with the Crichton estate fell through, and reportedly not very long after the talks stopped, WBTV revealed The Pitt as a Max exclusive in March 2024, with a 15-episode first season ordered.
The new series stars Wyle not as Dr. John Carter, but as Dr. Michael Robinavitch, an attending physician within a hectic Pittsburgh hospital ER. The series is described as being a a realistic look at modern-day healthcare workers, with Wyle also serving as an executive producer and episode writer for at least two installments. Other ER creative vets such as David Zabel and R. Scott Gemmill were also brought into the fold.
Weeks after the first look at Noah Wyle in scrubs was revealed, the Crichton estate filed its lawsuit against WBTV, John Wells, Wyle, Gemmill, and more. The charges listed are breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and intentional interference with contractual relations. According to the suit:
The Pitt is ER. It’s not like ER, it’s not kind of ER, it’s not sort of ER. It is ER complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ER reboot.
The lawsuit alleges only three noteworthy differences exist between the initial ER sequel plans and the pilot script that will launch The Pitt: the location switch from Chicago to Pittsburgh, Noah Wyle’s character name, and that Crichton’s name wasn’t invovled at all.
For now, The Pitt is still set to debut for those with Max subscriptions starting in 2025, but it’ll be interesting to see if this lawsuit has any impact on the new drama’s fate.