The Pitt & ER Have A Musical Connection That Happened Entirely By Accident

For a show about the harrowing realities of being an emergency medicine practitioner, "The Pitt" sure is addictive. Season 1 of the HBO Max series proved to be a breakout hit, which is impressive considering it's full of some of the most gut-wrenching emotion you're ever likely to experience in a TV show. Part of the reason audiences were so hooked by the medical drama has to do with how it so effectively conveys a sense of realism, not just in terms of medical accuracy, for which "The Pitt" has been endlessly praised, but in terms of the characters and their lives. Every member of "The Pitt" cast feels like they're playing a fully-formed person, which is a testament to the talented actors and the writers who brought those individuals to life.

But there's more that goes into the series' sense of realism. For one thing, "The Pitt" doesn't feature any music. That is, it doesn't feature much in the way of non-diegetic music — i.e., a score or any music that doesn't come from a source within the world of the show itself. Star Noah Wyle, who plays the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center's attending physician Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, explained the choice to limit music as a way of "remov[ing] the artifice" from the series and letting viewers experience the emotion of scenes in the same way the characters do. The effect is powerful, not only because it's unique to experience a show that eschews musical cues, but because you realize how unnecessary those cues are when the acting and writing are as good as it is on "The Pitt." The scenes speak for themselves.

This aversion to music wasn't as hard and fast a rule as Wyle makes it sound, however. The series opens with a sequence that's accompanied by a song from the band Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise. Not only was the song's inclusion notable for being one of the few times "The Pitt" actually did use music (though, this particular track did have an in-universe basis as the track being played in Dr. Robby's headphones), but because it gives the series a musical connection to "ER" — a show which already has close links with "The Pitt."

When we first see Dr. Michael Robinavitch in "The Pitt," he's commuting through Pittsburgh in some of the only scenes that were actually shot in the city (the rest of "The Pitt" was filmed on an expansive (and expensive) emergency room set back on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California). On his journey, we hear that Dr. Robby is listening to "Baby" by Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, and this song comes to act as the score for the doctor's journey through Pittsburgh.

During a TVLine interview with showrunner R. Scott Gemmill, who previously produced and wrote on seminal NBC medical drama "ER," the outlet pointed out a surprising link between the song and the show that also gave Noah Wyle his breakthrough role. It seems Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise formed in 1994, which is the year "ER" premiered, before disbanding in 2009, the year the show ended. Asked whether this was a coincidence or an Easter egg intentionally placed in the show for fans of "ER," Gemmill confirmed that it was all a happy accident. "That's a coincidence," he said. "I would love to say [it's an Easter egg], but that would be a huge and outright lie."

Instead, it seems the showrunner was simply a fan of the band, with Gemmill telling TVLine, "I just love those guys." He went on to explain how a surprising amount of thought actually did go into picking "Baby" as the song Dr. Robby listens to on his commute. "Music in a show is tricky, and we were very much opposed to having any real music," he said. "But you want something off the top, and everyone has their opinion. We wanted something that had propulsion but wasn't too hard-assed, and was in contrast to what goes on once he hits reception, and I think that was just a really good pick."

Of course, if this was supposed to represent a secret link between "ER" and "The Pitt," Gemmill likely wouldn't confirm it, seeing as the similarities between the two shows were enough to prompt a lawsuit alleging that "The Pitt" was an "ER" spinoff in disguise.

R. Scott Gemmill and Noah Wyle aren't the only links between "ER" and "The Pitt." John Wells was executive producer for both series, and the trio actually developed "The Pitt" together as a way to chronicle the struggles of emergency doctors in a post-COVID world. As such, a sneaky Easter egg linking the two shows would have been a nice way to acknowledge the link, but it seems "Baby" really was just the right song for the commuting sequence and nothing more.

According to Gemmill, "Baby" was the perfect song not only because he was a fan of the band and the song had the right energy, but because it resonated with those involved in the series and came to represent good fortune for the crew. "Noah [Wyle] would listen to it every day," explained the showrunner to TVLine, "and I would listen to it on my drive in. I still am listening to it, even though I'm working on season 2, just to remind me of how that felt good and got us into the right groove. It has become a bit of a talisman for me."

Whether much will change in terms of the music for season 2 of "The Pitt" remains unclear, but the writers would do well to stick with the excellent formula for realism they developed with season 1. That said, we'll likely get the odd needle drop, possibly via another Dr. Robby commuting scene. We'll have to wait to see whether the song Gemmill and co. chooses this time also has a secret link to "ER."