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US drama The Pitt is similar enough to medical series ER for a lawsuit against its producers to progress, a court in the US has ruled.
The widow of Michael Crichton, who created ER, argues The Pitt is effectively a reboot of the series, which has been made without proper permission or credit.
Sherri Crichton says her husband’s contract included a “frozen rights” provision that prohibited any spin-offs, sequels or reboots of ER being made without his express consent.
A three-judge panel said there are “clear and numerous similarities between The Pitt and ER,” which means the case can go ahead. Warner Bros previously described the lawsuit as “baseless” and sought to have it dismissed.
Listing the similarities between the two shows, the court cited the emergency room setting, the fast pace, use of medical jargon, graphic depictions of injuries, and younger doctors fresh from medical school being trained.
“We find the details here suffice for a prima facie case,” the judges said.
It means the case will now go to a jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.
But the judges dismissed separate claims against actor-producer Noah Wyle, executive producer John Wells and showrunner R Scott Gemmill.
The justices said there was insufficient evidence to show the three producers were aware they could be violating Crichton’s contractual rights.
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ER launched in 1994, based on original screenplay Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle and Maria Bello, and aired 331 episodes over the next 15 years
The show, which followed a group of doctors working in an emergency room in Chicago, was a hit with viewers and critics, and won 23 Emmy Awards during its run including outstanding drama series.
Discussions about a possible reboot of the show began in 2020, and studio Warner Bros spent months negotiating with Crichton’s estate.
Those talks were reported to have collapsed over credit and financial guarantees, and producers began developing The Pitt in its place.
But Sherri Crichton and the John Michael Crichton Trust argue the show is a rebranded but uncredited reboot of ER, using the same formula, pacing, style and setting, rather than an entirely original series.
They said producers “simply moved the show from Chicago to Pittsburgh, rebranded it The Pitt, and ploughed ahead without any attribution or compensation for Crichton and his heirs”.
Many actors and creatives from ER also work on The Pitt, including Wyle, Gemmill and Wells.
After legal action began in 2024, Warner Bros Television said in a statement that the lawsuit was “baseless”, arguing that The Pitt was a “new and original show”, adding that the studio would “vigorously defend against these meritless claims”.
But in a 33-page opinion published on Wednesday, a three-judge panel unanimously upheld an earlier ruling that Crichton’s estate had presented enough evidence to pursue its claim.
Warner Bros had sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on appeal, arguing the shows shared only “generic similarities” common to “any dramatic story involving emergency room doctors”.
The judges said they had compared the opening episode scripts for the two shows and found sufficient similarities in plot, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, graphic injury detail and sequence of events.
Sherri Crichton said: “I am deeply gratified by the Court of Appeal decision and look forward to discovery and to our case, which affects writers, creators, and their families and estates, being presented to a jury.”
Warner Bros has not yet commented on the latest ruling.
