Even before its debut, Max’s new medical drama series The Pitt has had a challenge getting to screens thanks to being embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit. The Pitt, which has enjoyed a solid Rotten Tomatoes score ahead of its debut, follows the team of the emergency department of PTMC, a fictional trauma hospital in Pittsburgh. The Pitt‘s excellent cast of characters revolves around Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, the chief resident and head of the ER at the busy hospital, as he and his team navigate a taxing, challenging shift.

Those who grew up watching ER will undoubtedly love seeing Noah Wyle back in a pair of scrubs, albeit as a new character in a new show. this time teaching and leading a new generation of medical students instead of being the student himself. It’s so nostalgic that it has caused some audiences to wonder if The Pitt is an ER spinoff. While the answer is “no,” that question is essentially the one that lies at the heart of a lawsuit aimed at the new series.

The Widow Of Michael Crichton Is Suing The Team Behind The Pitt

Sherri Crichton Alleges The Pitt Is A Carbon Copy Of ER

Ongoing since August, The Pitt lawsuit was filed by Sherri Crichton, the widow of writer and ER creator Michael Crichton. Her claim is that The Pitt is ostensibly an ER reboot, or rather a copycat, and thus, she and Crichton’s heirs are owed money for the new Max series. As her lawsuit said

“The Pitt’ is ‘ER. ‘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.

Rather than afford Crichton the ‘created by’ credit he deserved, Defendants would pretend their reboot was not his creation at all, thereby enriching themselves to the tune of millions of dollars — potentially hundreds of millions or several billion dollars in success — and depriving Crichton’s heirs of their rightful share.”

According to Sherri Crichton, she was contacted back in 2020 by former ER showrunner and executive producer John Wells, who informed her that an ER reboot was happening. Crichton asserted the “frozen rights” clause of her late husband’s estate, meaning that she and the estate had to approve any sort of ER revival or anything involving ER, signing off on the final concept. At the time, she was allegedly told that she was told her late husband would receive a credit for the revival.

The development of the show evolved, however, as negotiations with the Michael Crichton estate fell apart. The erstwhile ER reboot was scrapped and Wyle, Wells, and former writer-producer R. Scott Gemmill had to rework the idea. The result was The Pitt, for which the late Crichton receives no credit. Thus, Sherri Crichton’s argument in the lawsuit is that the new medical drama is still so close to ER that Michael Crichton should have received a credit, and any financial compensation owed to his estate from the show.

Warner Bros. Filed A Motion To Dismiss The Lawsuit

The Studio Claimed The Accusations Of Copycatting Have No Merit

At the time that the Crichton estate lawsuit was filed, Warner Bros. released a brief statement denying the validity of the claim:

The lawsuit filed by the Crichton Estate is baseless, as ‘The Pitt’ is a new and original show. Any suggestion otherwise is false, and Warner Bros. Television intends to vigorously defend against these meritless claims.

In early November, Warner Bros. went a step further and filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that the suit from Sherri Crichton and the Michael Crichton estate was baseless. The studio’s counterargument is that the lawsuit goes too far in its demands. As the redacted filing says (via Deadline)

“The Pitt is a completely different show from ER. Plaintiff cannot use Mr. Crichton’s ER contract as a speech-stifling weapon to prevent Defendants from ever making a show about emergency medicine.”

Warner Bros.’ argument is that The Pitt is a wholly different show from ER. After its overhaul and the complete reworking of the idea, the only DNA that The Pitt shares with ER, aside from some of the creative team, is that they’re both medical dramas. The motion to dismiss argues that a person or estate can not lay a claim to an entire genre, so the lawsuit is a vast overreach:

“The Pitt is not a “derivative work” of ER. And it would be absurd to interpret the ER Agreement as prohibiting WBTV from ever again making a medical drama about emergency medicine (and Wyle, who was not even a party to the Agreement, from ever starring in one) without Mr. Crichton’s consent.”

Interestingly, Warner Bros.’ motion to dismiss cited an earlier example of another ER star, George Clooney, to support its case. Regarding the original lawsuit using Noah Wyle’s involvement as an example of it being an ER copy, the filed motion pointed to the fact that, prior to breaking out in ER, star George Clooney had actually starred in another medical drama, also as a doctor, also based in Chicago, titled E/R.

After Warner Bros. filed its motion to dismiss the Michael Crichton estate lawsuit, Sherri Crichton fired back. Releasing a statement through her spokesperson, the statement read

“The defendants’ motion is a transparent attempt to dodge discovery and prevent the true facts from coming out. That the defendants filed their meritless motion on the anniversary of Michael Crichton’s death is emblematic of the studio’s callousness and utter disregard for Crichton’s legacy. Warner Bros. negotiated with the estate for nearly a year, knowing it could not proceed with its ER reboot without the estate’s permission. When those discussions failed, Warner Bros. slapped a new name on the series, changed its location, and proceeded anyway in clear violation of Crichton’s contract. The defendants’ last-minute attempt to rebrand their ER reboot as The Pitt is not fooling anyone. The estate looks forward to presenting its case to a jury and is confident it will prevail.”

That is where the lawsuit currently sits; it’s unclear whether the judge will grant Warner Bros.’ motion to dismiss or if Sherri Crichton’s lawsuit will proceed. Still, it hasn’t stopped The Pitt from being released: the first two episodes debuted Thursday, January 9, on Max; subsequent episodes will be released each week on Thursday. As it stands, that is the planned episode rollout schedule for The Pitt, and it does not seem that will change or that the lawsuit will affect the show’s airing.

The Pitt Was Originally Conceived As An ER Revival Spinoff

It Was Completely Overhauled After Negotiations Fell Apart

As noted above, The Pitt was originally supposed to be an ER project. Rather, the project that Wyle, Wells, and Gemmill all reunited to work on was one they wanted to be an ER revival or spinoff. Wyle first started thinking about it in 2020, as he ruminated on the fact that he’d heard from so many first responders and healthcare workers about how much they loved ER and that it inspired them to go into a career in emergency medicine. He contacted Wells with his idea: a quasi-revival of ER, but on a much smaller scale, and focusing only on one character from the show – less a sprawling medical drama and more a character study.

“We came up with a concept, and it really never got out of the starting gate,” he explained. “And the negotiations… became a non-starter.”

Wells contacted Gemmill to help them flesh out the idea, and the three got a story idea worked out. However, Noah Wyle alluded to the failed ER revival rights negotiations with the Michael Crichton estate falling apart in an interview earlier this year: “We came up with a concept, and it really never got out of the starting gate,” he explained. “And the negotiations… became a non-starter.” As such, the trio went back to the drawing board and, as mentioned above, ended up completely overhauling their idea to be a completely separate, new series that eventually became The Pitt and pitched that show instead. In March 2024, Max gave The Pitt a series order.

The Pitt Is Ultimately Quite Different From ER

Outside Of A Few Commonalities, There’s Little DNA Shared Between The Shows

While Sherri Crichton may have had a fair argument for her lawsuit early in the process, looking at the finished product, it’s hard to argue that The Pitt is a carbon copy of ER. Yes, they are both medical dramas, they both star Noah Wyle (albeit as a completely different character), and some of the creative executives behind ER are also behind The Pitt. That’s ultimately where the similarities between the series end, however. The Pitt has seemingly carved out its own identity and concept distinct from its predecessor in the medical drama genre.

While Sherri Crichton may have had a fair argument for her lawsuit early in the process, looking at the finished product, it’s hard to argue that The Pitt is a carbon copy of ER.

For starters, The Pitt has a unique format for a medical drama, one akin to 24: each episode of the series follows one hour in a single ER shift of Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch. The result is an intense, immersive experience as the audience is caught up and moved at the same pace as the doctors as they receive and treat patients in real-time. Adding to that intensity is the fact that, with it being on a streaming service, The Pitt has free rein to get gorier and more realistic than ER ever was, and to up the cursing, adding to the realism. It remains to be seen if the judge will agree it’s enough to drop the lawsuit.

New episodes of The Pitt will release Thursdays at 9pm on Max.