No, "The Pitt" is not a direct spin-off of "ER" — let's get that whole thing out of the way, lawsuit notwithstanding. Still, star Noah Wyle, who worked to craft the show with fellow "ER" veterans John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill, did intend to resurrect the legendary medical drama created by Michael Crichton originally, and he's glad he went with a different approach instead.

In an interview with TVLine after the first two episodes of "The Pitt" dropped as a Max exclusive, Wyle, speaking to Ryan Schwartz, said that his reunion with Wells and Gemmill came about during the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, as doctors across the world made enormous sacrifices in the midst of genuine horrors ... and as "ER" lit up the streaming charts. "The idea was to take a look at what was happening to the people that were on the front lines, and also take a...