Warning: The Pitt season two spoilers ahead!
A month has passed since the Oscars, have you been enjoying the conclusion of awards season? Well break time is OVER! Not really, I hyperbolize. But thanks to the Emmys being so out of sync with all the other awards, we are seeing TV shows start to lowkey campaign. The timing works out nicely for The Pitt, as their season finale is (finally) airing this week. The timing also works out well for co-creator, writer, director, and star Noah Wyle, who just last week (finally) got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! Variety profiled Wyle to mark the occasion, in an interview that was fittingly conducted right outside The Pitt’s season three writers’ room. True to form, Wylie made salient points on Hollywood, health care, and HBO’s feedback on this season’s ICE episode. A few highlights:
Working with Shawn Hatosy after knowing him a long time: “Familiarity without intimacy was a really nice way of setting this table for us — and professional mutual respect,” says Wyle. “He brings out a little bit of a brother vibe in me. I want to play with him. I want to tease him. I want to physicalize with him. It’s an energy that lends itself to experimentation and improvisation. He’s so creative, and he’s not a precious actor. We have a lot of fun just riffing off each other. He’s a really beautiful guy. I really enjoy working with him, and it doesn’t hurt that the entire internet wants to have chemistry with Shawn Hatosy.”
His take on the WB-Paramount merger: “If there’s any concern, it comes from being a three union card holder who works with a lot of different people in this town who are looking at it very simply — fewer streamers, fewer studios, fewer networks, fewer shows, fewer paychecks,” he says. “It’s not good for membership. It might be good for shareholders, but it’s not good for labor, and that’s been an age-old battle.”
He read the ER script and thought it was a movie: He used to tell his agent he would only do movies or plays. Then he read the two-hour pilot script for “ER,” not realizing it wasn’t a feature, since it was written by novelist Michael Crichton (“Jurassic Park,” “Sphere,” and many other bestsellers). “I thought it was a movie, so I auditioned for it. When I found out it was a show, I didn’t really care, because I thought, it’s so good, they’re going to cancel it. There’s no way this is going to last,” he says. “But I kind of turned my nose up at the idea of a television career, which is ironic, because that’s exactly what I’ve enjoyed for the last 30 years. I love what I thought would be constricting. I found I love the consistency, and what I thought would get boring, I’ve managed to find infinite complexity. And instead of having variety, I’ve found family.”
HBO told them to make the ICE storyline ‘balanced’: “The negotiation was being driven by political reasons, creative reasons, fear, uncertainty, all sorts of legitimate reasons. I’ll be honest and say that I was concerned about the edits we were making initially,” says Wyle. “When I saw what we had done, I actually think we arrived at something more elegant and a little bit more restrained, which leaves a little bit more ambiguity in it than we may have started out with. I think it’s healthier for the storyline in the long run. It ended up being show the bear, don’t poke the bear in a lot of ways, which is enough. Because the context came out after we’d filmed that episode, we didn’t have to do half of what we had done. That had already been imprinted into the mind of most Americans.”
HBO demanding requesting that the ICE storyline be “balanced” is the same BS as “both sides” in mainstream media. I thought HBO was better than that, but now I’m wondering what notes they gave the writers for the season one episodes that dealt with measles and anti-vaxxers. Whatever changes they felt forced compelled to make, I agree with Wyle that the final cut of the episode is very effective. Very show, not tell. Plus, like he says, we the audience regretfully know the context. Too well. It’s been a heavy season, somehow even more so than the first one? Maybe I’ll feel differently after the finale airs and I can binge the whole season — the way this show is meant to be viewed, I’m convinced! I’m both looking forward to and dreading the inevitable meltdown Robby is due to have. Oh, this is a bit random, but is anyone else like me enjoying the heated spats between Robby and Nurse Dana? Two damn fine actors.
PS — Bless him, Wyle correctly said “fewer” instead of the often mis-used “less” in his comments about the WB-Paramount merger. What, it comforts me that Dr. Robby knows his grammar!
Photos credit: Warrick Page/HBO Max
I mean, and I’m being very generous here, I guess i get HBO or a studio not wanting to “isolate” half their audience with a firm political stance, but I really don’t think this is the show to do it on. I’ve never seen an episode of the Pitt, but from what I understand it’s a show that makes its stands pretty firmly.
I doubt half of their audience is MAGA and they’re literally the only ones who support Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Really tired of corps capitulating to Trump.
The vast amount of American voters are horrified by ICE and the detention centers–it’s ok to take a side here. In fact, I’d argue that it’s a moral imperative.
This show is 100% NOT meant to be binged. Not at all and I love the one a week have to come back for more set up. All tv needs to go back to that so you can actually enjoy the show.
I went to Paleyfest and saw the finale and get excited. But I agree the ICE stuff was effective and not shocking they were told to temper it. I don’t think they are getting those notes on anything else because this season was very political on the policies and how negative it is for Americans.
H
Very smart of HBO. The Felon already hates Hollywood for not accepting him and has targeted them in his hate-tweets. His minion at the FCC keeps threatening to yank the licenses of networks who’s news channels report on this admin truthfully. The Felon already issued dictates to Hollywood – news of a new Rush Hour 4 movie helmed by the problematic director has been confirmed after he told the studio to “make it happen”. Now, the Paramount/Warner Bros merger has run into some problems. I’d thought it was weird that after several deals fell through, Paramount was recently been sold to Skydance, then had outbid Netflix and was now buying Warner Bros. The Ellisons/Paramount might not have the billions in cash for the sale.
I love this show. I do hope the HBO/MAX does not have to water down their content with the merger. I hope it doesn’t happen. Every Black Friday I get a deal on HBO. There are only about 3-5 shows that are out now that I like and are well acted. I really abhor the formulaic murder/r@pe of the week television series. I really hope this show and streamer survives in its current form.