Sarah Weil talks about the reliability of ‘The Pit’ set
Sarah Weil got lost on the set of her husband Noah Wyle’s hit show, The Pit.
Noah Wyle, the star doctor on “The Pit,” said he only learned about the changes to the show’s controversial ICE episode after editorial negotiations were held with HBO.
In the March 19 episode titled “5:00 PM,” ICE agents bring a detained patient into a Pittsburgh emergency room, causing fear and confusion among patients and medical staff, resulting in the arrest of a nurse.
Executive producer John Wells previously revealed that HBO had requested changes to episodes highlighting hot-button political topics.
Speaking to Variety in an article published April 9, Wiley, the show’s executive producer, said he was initially surprised when he learned of the change.
“Negotiations were being driven for political reasons, creative reasons, fear, uncertainty, all the right reasons,” Wiley said. “To be honest, I was worried about the edits we were doing initially.”
But the slightly toned down final result was “showing the bear” rather than “poking the bear,” Wiley said. It made for a better episode.
“I think we’ve actually arrived at something that’s more elegant and a little more restrained. The result is that it’s a little more ambiguous than it originally was,” Weil said. “In the long run, that’s healthier for the storyline.”
This episode was conceived and filmed in December. But before the release in March, the issue of ICE officers in emergency rooms became even more politically charged after President Donald Trump ramped up enforcement in Minnesota and the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Preti led to increased scrutiny of ICE nationally.
Wells told the podcast “The Town” in February that HBO supports the show. “But the company wanted a change.
“They just wanted to make sure it was balanced,” Wells said. “What we have to be careful about when presenting these issues is making sure we are presenting both perspectives.”
Wiley agreed that focusing on this topic allows for a more nuanced approach.
“We didn’t have to do even half of what we did because the context became clear after we shot that episode,” Wiley said. “It was already engraved in the minds of most Americans.”
The echoes of the ICE episode are still being felt in “The Pit,” with staff emotionally reeling as the award-winning series prepares for its Season 2 finale on April 16th.
