Los Angeles — A California appeals court found that “ER” and “The Pitt” share enough similarities that a lawsuit filed by the widow and estate of “ER” creator Michael Crichton alleging “The Pitt” is an unauthorized reboot can move forward.
A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled Wednesday that the trial court judge ruled that “The Pitt” production company, Warner Bros., which also produces “ER.” It ruled that it was correct to deny Television’s request to dismiss the case. However, the jury rejected Noah Wyle, star of both series and producer of “The Pitt,” as defendants, as well as two other producers who worked on both series.
The case centers on a conflict between the producers of multiple Emmy-winning TV series, each of which are among the most important and acclaimed programs of their respective eras.
Crichton, the author of “Jurassic Park” and many other novels that became popular movies and TV shows, wrote the pilot script for “ER,” the NBC show about an emergency room in Chicago that redefined the medical drama genre and drew tens of millions of weekly viewers from 1994 to 2009.
Sherri Crichton’s lawsuit was filed two years ago, before a single episode of “The Pitt” had aired. The HBO Max series, which charts a real-time day in a Pittsburgh emergency room, has since become perhaps the most praised series on television, winning two Emmys for best drama for its first two seasons and a best actor Emmy for Wyle.
Warner Bros. Television and CBS News have the same parent company. last month’s purchase It was developed by Warner Bros., the parent company of CBS News, then known as Paramount Skydance and now called Skydance. Discovery’s.
Aside from more technical legal issues, judges had to decide whether the shows had at least the minimum similarity that would provide sufficient value for the case to proceed. Their decision applies only to this early legal challenge and did not rule on whether the plaintiffs have proven that “The Pitt” is derivative of “ER.”
The court found that “both shows offer commentary on the healthcare system, focusing specifically on the emergency room and the difficult conditions in which medical staff work. Both shows take place in the emergency room, with very few exceptions, unlike other medical shows that follow patients as they leave the emergency room or never actually enter it.”
The opinion also said both were characterized by “very rapid pacing and responses to multiple overlapping crises.” The fast-paced dialogue is often incomprehensible (to the layman) shorthand and jargon, giving off an air of directness and accuracy.”
Warner Bros. “WBTV continues to maintain that ‘The Pitt’ is an entirely original series and that the allegations against it are unfounded. There is nothing in the Court of Appeals’ decision to suggest otherwise, and WBTV looks forward to defending its position as the case progresses,” the television station said in a statement.
In their legal filing, the defendants argued that the series had “general similarities” that could be found in “any dramatic story” involving “overworked doctors and staff.”
The board also unanimously rejected defendant Wyle, John Wells, who created “The Pitt” and worked on “ER,” and R. Scott Gemmill, who executive produced “Pitt” and worked on both series. The judges found there was no evidence that the three men knew of the terms of the Crichton contract, which they claimed to have interfered with in the case.
Sherri Crichton’s lawsuit alleges that “The Pitt” is a rebranded version of the unauthorized “ER” reboot that she rejects.
Her husband had secured a coveted “rights freeze” provision in his contract for the series, barring Warner Bros. from pursuing any sequels, remakes, spinoffs or other productions derived from “ER” without Crichton’s permission or the consent of his estate following his death from cancer in 2008.
The lawsuit alleges that after the production company failed to reach an agreement with Sherri Crichton on the proposed “ER” reboot, the TV studio continued to develop and produce a series based on the same premise without permission.