TV Talk: Max's 'The Pitt' to film locally this week; WPXI reporter exits

Max’s upcoming 15-episode, Pittsburgh-set medical drama “The Pitt,” executive produced by Carnegie Mellon University grads John Wells and Michael Hissrich and starring Noah Wyle (“ER”), is filming the bulk of its scenes on soundstages at Warner Bros. in Burbank, Calif.

However, Wyle, producers and likely a few additional cast members will be in Pittsburgh through Friday to film scenes to be inserted into first-season episodes.

Most of the filming will take place in and around the North Side’s Allegheny General Hospital, which plays the exterior of the fictional medical center in the series.

Dan Laurent, vice president of corporate communications for Allegheny Health Network, said Hissrich reached out to him about six months ago about the possibility of filming at AGH, saying it was the production’s first choice due to views of the hospital from the city and looking toward the city from the hospital.

A team from “The Pitt” scouted AGH this summer, Laurent said, “to get a sense of where on campus they wanted to film. We had a lot of conversations back and forth about what they had in mind and what we could accommodate.”

Laurent said it was important the filming would not disrupt the active hospital.

“We’re very selective (about letting productions film at AGH), but we felt this one was one we could accommodate,” Laurent said. “They’ve been really great in terms of understanding the nature of what happens in a hospital, when you have to be careful when you’re staging things.”

No doubt it helps that the show will mostly film exteriors at AGH, since the show’s interior scenes are filmed on a soundstage in California.

“The Pitt” will film on the AGH helipad, on the roof of the Snyder Pavilion (with the cityscape in the background), in the old original rotunda entrance that’s no longer used much and in a park across the street from AGH.

“They are incredibly meticulous in trying to make sure the transitions from the exterior (filmed in Pittsburgh) to the interior (filmed in Burbank) were exact,” Laurent said. “We were trying to find the color palette for the yellow brick that makes up the old south tower of AGH, the part that is nearly 100 years old. We even thought about shipping a brick out to them, but then somebody from CMU came over to do color testing as they were trying to make sure the passage from outside to inside looks seamless.”

“The Pitt” will film its first season through February in Burbank, which suggests the series will likely premiere on Max later in 2025. The show has been the source of some controversy with the estate of Michael Crichton, who had a “created by” credit on “ER,” suing Warner Bros., claiming “The Pitt” is an “ER” reboot under a different title. “The Pitt” is set in a different city, and Wyle plays a different character than he played on “ER.”

WPXI reporter exits

Channel 11 reporter Pete DeLuca, who joined WPXI-TV in 2021, posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday that he’s departed Pittsburgh’s NBC affiliate for a job outside of TV in the Washington, D.C., area, where he’ll work as a communications officer for a county government.

Jonasi back on ‘AGT’

Pittsburgh comedian Learnmore Jonasi will perform again in competition on the “America’s Got Talent” semifinals at 8 p.m. Wednesday on NBC. Viewers will have the ability to vote on their favorite acts, with the results revealed in an episode airing at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Kept/canceled/adapted

Hulu renewed “Only Murders in the Building” for a fifth season.

Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” will end with its fifth season, which debuts Sept. 23.

Peacock ordered a series adaptation of the 1989 dark comedy film “The Burbs” that will star Keke Palmer.

MGM+ canceled “Beacon 23” and “The Winter King.”

“Bosch: Legacy” will end after its upcoming third season, debuting in March on Amazon’s Freevee and Prime Video.

Channel surfing

Livvy Dunne, girlfriend of Pirates star Paul Skenes and a student-athlete at Louisiana State University, is featured in Amazon’s Prime Video docuseries “The Money Game,” streaming Tuesday. … A movie finale for a former Syfy series, “Wynonna Earp: Vengeance” debuts Friday on Tubi. … CNN debuts the current events comedy quiz show “Have I Got News for You” (9 p.m. Saturday), based on a BBC series, hosted by Roy Wood Jr. with Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black as team captains. … HBO debuts the documentary “Stopping the Steal” (9 p.m. Sept. 17) about President Trump’s challenge to the results of the 2020 presidential election as told by former White House staff and appointees, including former Attorney General William Barr. … Although KDKA-TV won’t carry the third hour of “CBS Mornings” when it launches Sept. 30, the program will be available locally via the CBS News 24/7 free streaming news network. … New “Bluey” minisodes will stream Oct. 7 on Disney+ and roll out that week on cable’s Disney Jr., Disney Channel and Disney Jr. On Demand. … Parents of young children, consider yourselves warned: A new animated version of the old PBS purple dinosaur show “Barney” arrives next month with “Barney’s World” (Oct. 14 on Max; Oct. 18 on Cartoon Network). … NBC’s “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” will join the other late-night shows in reducing to four originals per week, Monday-Thursday, beginning this month.