Copyright Variety
The cast and creatives of “The Pitt” are teasing Season 2. Star and executive producer Noah Wyle tells me that they’ve completed filming 10 of the season’s 15 episodes. “I’m really proud of the season,” Wyle, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of Dr. Robby, told me Sunday at The Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House annual brunch at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “We’ve obviously set a very hard bar for ourselves. We’re competing with our own shadow now.” On the pressure to live up to the success of Season 1, Wyle said, “I feel it in the sense that the show became a popular show and then I felt like it became almost a lighthouse show where people were tuning in to have a sense of their humanity reaffirmed and to remember that there are still people out there in these jobs that are selflessly dedicated to picking up our broken pieces.” Season 2 takes place over July 4th weekend. “Our prosthetics team has been working overtime,” Wyle said. “You’re in for some treats. It’s Fourth of July weekend – Americans hurt themselves in all sorts of ways.” Katherina LaNasa, who won an Emmy for her work as Nurse Dana, said just reading the scripts could prove difficult. “A lot of it is super disgusting, disturbing [and] heartbreaking.” She continued, “Sometimes they are really sad experiences that you’ve been through in your own life, like with death and things like that that are really painful, and then other ones that are just shockingly grotesque and really difficult even to read about.” Wyle also said there are no celebrity guest stars making appearances in Season 2. “We’re not a really stunty show that way, but everybody that comes on is so great,” he said. “Cathy Sandrich won the Emmy for casting this year and rightly so. Everybody she’s brought onto our show has hit the ground running, and you know, it’s no longer a sort of speculative venture. Everybody that comes on knows what they’re coming on to, and they’ve all hit the ground running.” “The Pitt” will continue telling stories that focus on the U.S. healthcare crisis but won’t veer into politics, said executive producer and director John Wells. “What we’re proudest of is actually being able to dramatize what’s been happening in healthcare and it’s only going to get worse with these Medicare changes, rural hospitals closing and a lot of hospitals under tremendous amounts of pressure,” he said. “In some small way, if we can contribute to educating how much of a crisis we’re in in healthcare…It’s not getting any better. It’s getting worse. “I think you have to stay out of the politics of it and just talk about the human stories because the reality is we tend to think about politics at 10,000 feet. The human stories, what’s actually happening to people, is really right in front of you,” he continued. “It’s very human, very emotional and very specific. As long as we just tell real stories and don’t try and get into the politics — just say what’s happening — we are not really then a target for being accused of one thing or another.” LaNasa smiled when I asked if friends and family now turn to her for medical advice. “People think I’m an expert in compassion,” she said. “I had a friend who had to take his mother to the emergency room, and he called me and he said, ‘I just want Nurse Dana.’” Taylor Dearden, who plays Dr. Mel, said, “I get lots of texts of weird swollen parts and I’m like, ‘I don’t think I need that. I still can’t help you.’” Wyle returned to co-hosting the benefit for the UCLA Health-based Rape Treatment Center after first doing so about 25 years ago when he was on “ER” and introduced to the organization by Wells and his wife Marilyn. This time around, he was joined by his “The Pitt” co-star Katherine LaNasa and several of their castmates. The RTC consulted on an upcoming storyline for Season 2. “They were invaluable in helping us prepare for it,” Wyle said. “It’s the most realistic look at that procedure and that process that I think has been depicted on TV yet and I really hope it honors the work that they do at the Rape Treatment Center.” LaNasa said, “Your legacy is who you are so by showing up for things like this, you’re setting an example of how to be an actress in the world, saying yes to things that matter for people.” The afternoon raised $2 million and featured a live auction; one item — the use of Magic Johnson’s Crypto.com Arena suite during a Los Angeles Lakers game — sold twice for a total of $55,000.
