Emergency fans? Its “unauthorized remake” is coming soon to Max

EMERGENCIES may have ended in 2009, but that doesn't mean its star Noah Wyle and producer John Wells are done with white coats.

Here they are both back with The Pitt, a new series set in the hospital environment arriving on the streaming platform Max in January. A teaser has just been revealed and it reminds us of something…

At the crossroads ofEMERGENCIES and of 24 hours flat

At first EMERGENCIESNoah Wyle played John Carter, a medical student who takes his first steps in the emergency department of Cook County Hospital in Chicago. In The Pittthis time he plays the role of the veteran doctor of this service ready to train a new generation of doctors.

According to the official synopsis of the series, “The Pitt offers a realistic look at the challenges facing healthcare professionals in America today, through the experiences of the heroes who are on the front lines in a modern hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.”

So we are no longer in Illinois and The Pitt takes a different format than that ofEMERGENCIESsince its 15 episodes take place over the 15 hours of service of these emergency doctors, and therefore in real time in the manner of 24 hours flat.

• Watch the trailer for The Pitt :

The Pittan unauthorized remake ofEMERGENCIES ?

Even before being broadcast, The Pitt is the subject of a controversy between the family of Michael Crichton (author/screenwriter and creator ofEMERGENCIES died in 2008) at Warner Bros Television.

The family in fact accuses The Pitt to be an unauthorized remake ofEMERGENCIES that John Wells, Scott Gemmill and Noah Wyle would have put together after the project of making a sequel to EMERGENCIES fell into the water.

According to Sherri Crichton, the author's widow, the synopsis and format of The Pitt are exactly what Wells and company had planned for the ER reboot, but under a different name.

While Warner Bros. and Casey Bloys, the boss of HBO and Max, defend themselves emphasizing that the Crichton family cannot stop them from making another series in the hospital environment, Sherri Crichton argues with Deadline that this is not the aim of the trial.

“It's not about whether someone can make a show set in a hospital,” she declared. “It's a question of whether Warner Bros., John Wells, Noah Wyle and Scott Gemmill can spend two years developing an ER reboot, negotiating with the family for nearly a year to obtain their consent under the film's contract. Michael Crichton and, when they can't get the terms they want, decide to do the exact same show with a different title and location.”

She continues: “Mr. Bloys would like us to believe that, in the 72 hours following the breakdown of negotiations with the succession, the same creative team developed a completely new and original series which has nothing in common with Urgences and the planned reboot, beyond the fact that it takes place in a hospital and stars Noah Wyle It's absurd on its face, and the facts prove otherwise. EMERGENCIES.”

Casey Bloys, however, is not worried about the impact of the trial on the release of The Pittwhich will therefore be seen on Max next January.