The first day of “The Pitt,” actors, writers and producers weren’t sure how the look at emergency medicine might play out.
“That first day was pretty chaotic,” says producer R. Scott Gemmill. “Now we’ve got it down to a science and it’s pretty cool.”
Entering the Emmy-winning series’ second season, the regulars were so prepped, they looked almost too rehearsed, too choreographed, says star and producer Noah Wyle.
“Part of the rawness is bumping into things and not knowing exactly where you are,” says producer John Wells. He sent a memo to the actors and camera crew reminding them, “it’s not going to be a perfect view and you’re not going to see everything all the time. We had to remind ourselves to not get too good at it.”
In the second season, which takes place on July 4, Wyle’s character is about to go on a much-needed vacation. He has new student doctors to shepherd and some returning personnel who appeared to exit at the end of last season.
What he and others discovered from that first season was that audiences wanted more stories about the regulars. “It was less about coming up with sexy cases and more about being really faithful to the interior architecture of the characters and where they were and how these cases they are working on reflects on them.”
Soon after “The Pitt” started airing, members of the production started to hear from the medical community. “They embraced it loudly,” Wyle says. “And since that was the audience we were really aiming at and hoping to get the stamp of approval from, that was extremely gratifying. And then word began to spread.”
Viewers who loved “ER,” Wyle’s previous series, were eager to see what this new look at emergency medicine was like. Interestingly, the staff made a list of changes that had occurred since the NBC series went off the air and found it sizeable. That gave them a jumping-off point and a place to hook audiences.
Because Googling diseases wasn’t possible during the run of “ER,” “The Pitt” was facing a more informed viewership. To make sure they were presenting the best possible information, writers consulted experts and asked them what’s going on in their world. “What stories aren’t being told?” Gemmell says. “That’s how we get the nuggets of some of the medical stories that we do. Ultimately, the stories are told through our characters and what’s going on with them.”
In the days of “ER,” Wyle heard from his mother — a nurse — after almost every episode aired. “She would call me and say, ‘You never touch your face with bloody gloves … and I have to go to work tomorrow and I’m going to have to answer to that,’” he says.
“Now, thanks to the internet, I’ve got like eight million mothers calling me and telling me, ‘I think your stethoscope was backwards.’”
The relationship between doctor and patient has changed since the 1990s. Misinformation, cynicism and distrust have made it difficult to have that engaged conversation with your practitioner,” Wyle says. “We try to be so faithful to the medicine and the accuracy (of the diagnoses) that you could take this back to your own physician and open up that dialogue again.”
Wells says the show’s setting speaks to a crisis in health care. “That crisis is not getting better by pushing eight to 10 million people off the insurance rolls, which means they’re not going to be getting the primary care, which keeps them from showing up in the emergency room with far more significant problems.”
In the second season of “The Pitt,” the waiting room is filled with a variety of medical concerns and fear that too many are glutting the emergency department. Like the first season — which won five Emmys, including Best Drama Series — there are unforeseen circumstances that derail the best-laid plans. Those high-intensity moments can take a toll on the actors. “The body doesn’t really differentiate between the real or symbolic act, so there’s a lot of unwinding and unprogramming and releasing and flushing that needs to happen for all of us at the end of the season,” Wyle says. “That’s the masochistic aspect of what we do for a living.”
“The Pitt” returned Jan. 8 on HBO Max.
