By Joe Flint | Photographs by Philip Cheung for WSJ

Doctors and nurses in "The Pitt" slip on blood puddles, drill holes in patients on the fly and improvise chest tubes.

Each episode spans one hour of an emergency-room shift that passes in a flash, but lasts an eternity for its characters. In an era when streaming shows give priority to big budgets and short seasons, Warner Bros. Discovery's "The Pitt," which runs on the Max streaming service, has succeeded by doing the opposite.

The hospital drama has one primary set and only one major star on its call sheet -- "ER" alum Noah Wyle. It was filmed quickly and its first season has almost as many episodes as a traditional network drama.

The show's ability to deliver prestige drama dressed up as a fast-paced medical show has delighted fans and helped it secure a second season, scheduled for next January. For Warner, which is grappling with a leaner Hollywood, "The Pitt" is proving that compelling stories can be delivered on a tighter budget.

The show captures a shift at a Pittsburgh hospital, whipping between drug overdoses, a child drowning and gunshot wounds. It is dotted with discussions about nursing shortages and private-equity investment in hospitals.

Wyle oversees the team as Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, a senior attending ER physician dealing with post-traumatic stress from Covid.

"It's a difficult show to do your laundry to," said executive producer and director John Wells, adding that the intent was to make a show that "people lean forward to watch, rather than lean back."

"The Pitt" made its debut in January and scored a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Its first season had a 15-episode order, with each episode costing between $5 million and $6 million, people familiar with the matter said. The new season of HBO's "The Last of Us," meanwhile, will have seven episodes at a cost of more than $15 million per episode, those and other people familiar with the shows' budgets said.

One of the most expensive budget items of "The Pitt" is the $4 million-plus emergency-room set occupying two sound stages on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. A typical episode takes about nine days to make. Meanwhile, Netflix's "Adolescence" spent three weeks filming each of its four episodes.

Not just another medical melodrama

"The Pitt" was a product of Covid. Wyle's fan mail had shifted from kind words about his "ER" character, John Carter, to comments about the trials of doctors and nurses during the pandemic.

Wyle contacted Wells, who had been showrunner and executive producer of "ER," which ended its run in 2009.

"Something is going on in healthcare and it probably should be talked about," Wyle said in an interview, recalling his conversation with Wells.

Wells was wary of yet another medical melodrama. The two of them, along with former "ER" producer R. Scott Gemmill, decided instead to do a show that would focus on a typical day in an ER.

Gemmill is the creator and showrunner of "The Pitt." Wyle is an executive producer and has written two episodes.

Wyle is a fan of longer seasons and has gotten frustrated when shows he liked watching seemed to be over too soon. He recalled his annoyance after finishing the six-episode second season of Netflix's "The Diplomat."

"I was like, 'That's it?' " Wyle said.

When Wells and Warner Bros. Television Group Chief Executive Channing Dungey started discussing the show in early 2023, they wanted a traditional broadcast model with more episodes and a regular production schedule. Many popular streaming shows, such as "Severance" and "Stranger Things," can go years between seasons.

Casey Bloys, who heads content for HBO and Max, saw "The Pitt" as an opportunity to bring some stability to the Max lineup with a recurring, longer-running show.

Bloys and Dungey are now talking about other potential series in the vein of "The Pitt," including a police show and a legal drama.

Reality TV

The cast of "The Pitt" prepared by joining a two-week boot camp with doctors and nurses. There are two ER physicians in the writing room, and as many as 15 actual nurses and physicians on set. The show has been praised by medical professionals for its realism.

"Noah is great at sutures," Gemmill said, "and I'm sure he could intubate if he had to."

The ER set is built in such a way that actors can be filmed at all angles, which means producers and directors wear scrubs during shooting in case they end up on camera.

With every episode covering one hour of the same shift, there aren't major hair or wardrobe changes -- except for one medical student whose constant need for new scrubs is a running joke.

Still, that approach to "The Pitt" comes with some complications.

"Nobody could gain a pound, lose a pound, get a tan, get a tattoo. We had to look exactly the same for seven months every single day. The fidelity to continuity was so intense," Wyle said.

Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 03, 2025 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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