Noah Wyle is again in scrubs within the 2025 TV schedule as star of The Pitt, a brand new medical drama out there streaming now with a Max subscription. Whereas the brand new present is ready in an emergency division, Wyle undoubtedly is not taking part in John Carter 2.0 and The Pitt actually is not ER. Nonetheless, the actor lately mirrored on certainly one of ER‘s arguably most iconic plot twists from 1 / 4 century in the past, and his feedback jogged my memory of how he (and ER) had been robbed on the awards circuit for that season.
Followers who watched ER dwell on NBC again within the day, caught up through cable reruns (like I did), or stream the sequence with a Hulu subscription can doubtless all agree that Season 6 was a traumatic time for Dr. John Carter, with a drug habit that spiraled uncontrolled. It began, although, when a psych affected person stabbed Carter in addition to med scholar Lucy, with Lucy dying from her accidents and Carter left with power ache, a broken kidney, and survivor’s guilt.
Talking with Folks about Carter’s stabbing, Noah Wyle stated:
Lucy dying and the Carter stabbing was the precursor to the drug habit storyline, which I assumed was one of many extra revelatory storylines for the character.
It is value remembering that ER was an absolute rankings behemoth again in its day on NBC, airing in an period earlier than exhibits like Gray’s Anatomy and Chicago Med debuted to make explosions, assaults, and fundamental character deaths extra commonplace.
The stabbing twist was such a standout that ABC’s The Good Physician seemingly paid homage to it and The Resident‘s physician with a drug downside appeared to me like a nod to Carter as effectively. Wyle went on to replicate on how his character handled the trauma and ended up hooked on painkillers:
He actually bought to see the stress that he felt that he was beneath, coming from such a patrician upbringing and such an prosperous household, to make good that he grew to become extraordinarily vulnerable to what so many individuals turn into vulnerable to. I assumed it was a very nice, profound storyline.
Not solely was it a “nice, profound storyline,” but it surely was additionally one which I’ve at all times felt deserved some awards love. Noah Wyle admittedly did not even have that a lot performing to do within the episode that handled Carter’s stabbing because the character was unconscious for a lot of the hour, however Carter slowly however absolutely unraveling over the remainder of the season as a consequence of drug use was fairly superb to see.
And Wyle was nominated for the Excellent Supporting Actor in a Drama Collection for 5 years straight on the Primetime Emmys within the early-to-mid ’90s, he wasn’t nominated for Season 6. In reality, the one Emmy nominations for that season had been for Excellent Dramatic Collection, Julianna Margulies for Excellent Lead Actress, and Excellent Directing for 2 episodes.
A type of two episodes was the one by which the medical doctors and nurses had been racing to attempt to save Carter and Lucy, however all in all, no Emmy wins for Season 6. Whereas I admittedly watched the present through reruns years later and due to this fact missed when ER was snubbed for its sixth season, I used to be nonetheless shocked after I discovered.
The chances do appear good for Noah Wyle to get some awards consideration for his work on The Pitt, although. The medical drama was renewed for Season 2 earlier than even half of the primary season had aired, and he solely appears to be producing optimistic buzz together with her efficiency as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch.
If you have not been tuning in, you’ll be able to catch new episodes of The Pitt on Thursdays on Max, in addition to stream each episode that has launched to this point. ER additionally is not exhausting to search out nowadays, with all fifteen seasons – together with the stellar sixth – out there on Hulu.