Former ER government producer John Wells opened up about battling with community executives over a number of the medical drama's hard-hitting story strains.
“I actually respect not coping with Requirements and Practices every day anymore,” Wells, 69, admitted to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview printed on Thursday, August 7. “It's fear-based and doesn't respect the viewers's intelligence and class.”
NBC's Peabody Award-winning medical drama earned a fame for pushing the boundaries of what could possibly be proven on prime time TV within the Nineteen Nineties. Memorable episodes handled delicate topics like sexual harassment and abortion, as effectively traumatic medical issues throughout being pregnant. (ER aired for 15 seasons between September 1994 and April 2009.)
Nonetheless, Wells has now revealed that a few of his hardest battles with community censors revolved round displaying interracial relationships on ER. (Networks make use of censors, often known as Requirements and Practices inside the business, to find out what content material might set off viewers complaints or violate FCC broadcasting requirements.)
“I had large discussions in the course of the ER days about racial story strains. ‘May this Black character truly kiss this white character?'” he recalled. “This [was] in 1998! I used to be like, ‘Guys, what are we even speaking about?'”
The producer remembered one other struggle with NBC brass over a season 3 story line through which Gloria Reuben's character, Jeanie Boulet, examined optimistic for HIV.
“There have been actual conversations the place they mentioned, ‘So, she's going to outlive? Ought to she survive?' It's HIV. It's terrifying,” Wells alleged. “However there have been already many, many individuals on the earth coping with it. And to counsel that anyone who turns into contaminated dies, that's not the message that we needed shifting via the world.”
‘ER solid members Alex Kingston, Eriq La Salle, Anthony Edwards, Gloria Reuben, Noah Wyle, Backside, Laura Innes, George Clooney, Julianna Margulies and Maria Bello. Courtesy NBC/Courtesy Everett Assortment
After leaving ER, Wells went on to provide The West Wing and Shameless, earlier than reuniting with ER star Noah Wyle on HBO Max's medical drama The Pitt. The gripping sequence revolves across the emergency room crew on the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Middle as they face down extreme medical instances amid employees shortages, funds cuts and an absence of assets.
Regardless of his large success, the six-time Emmy Award-winning producer admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that he nonetheless has to take care of government notes on The Pitt.
“I wish to dissuade anybody from pondering that having had success implies that the job itself modifications considerably,” he insisted. “It offers you extra credibility in responding to notes, however it doesn't change the quantity coming in.”
Nonetheless, The Pitt has been a breakout hit for HBO Max, having obtained 13 Emmy nominations for its first season. The streamer formally renewed The Pitt in February 2025, with the second season anticipated to debut in January 2026.
“We're excited and delighted with the viewers response for our first season of The Pitt and may't be extra appreciative of our companions at Max and Warner Bros. Tv for all of their extraordinary help all through our first season,” Wells said in a press release.
The Pitt has additionally obtained public help from former ER solid member George Clooney, who lavished his former costar Wyle, 54, with reward throughout a June 2025 look on Late Night time With Seth Meyers.
“I've to say, we've been actually expensive associates since [ER] — since we did the pilot of the present,” Clooney, 64, talked about. “He's simply essentially the most honorable, gifted younger man, [which] I get to say as a result of I'm an previous man. I can't be happier for his success on the present. The present is only a stunning present, and he does only a nice job with it.”
The Pitt is on the market to stream now by way of HBO Max.
