One of this season’s hot new shows is Max’s The Pitt, starring Noah Wyle as Pittsburgh doctor Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, with a first season of 15 episodes covering one eventful hospital shift in real time. Back in 1994, one of hottest new shows was NBC’s ER, in which Wyle played John Carter, a medical student who had never so much as started an IV before he landed in the emergency department of Chicago’s Cook County General Hospital.
While creators say The Pitt is not a spinoff of ER (though ER creator Michael Crichton’s estate is contesting that in court), Wyle’s attraction to medical TV is understandable. After all, ER made him, along with co-stars George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle and Julianna Margulies, a household name, and the show was a cultural phenomenon from the jump. Awards soon followed: The first season alone won eight Emmys, tying the then-record set by Hill Street Blues, and the series would go on to notch a stellar 124 nominations, including five straight supporting actor noms for Wyle, and 23 wins. A series regular for 11 seasons, he scrubbed in for 254 episodes, more than any other castmember, and by the 2009 series finale, Dr. Carter was a confident, respected physician opening his own new facility for underserved patients.
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In a THR article saluting the show on its 100th episode, Wyle said he was soaking it all in: “ER is never going to happen again, and I don’t want to miss any of it.” Perhaps not, but in today’s streaming landscape, he may have found the closest thing.
This story first appeared in a May stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
