Is my favorite new TV show this year a ripoff?
episodePreviously titled “Is my favorite new tv show this year a ripoff?” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 6, 2026
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What is the episode’s opening premise and why does it matter?
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Welcome to Search Engine. I'm PJ Vote. This week a question, a medium sized question. When is it okay to copy somebody else's idea, their song, their joke, their story? What is the difference between inspiration and a ripoff? Most of us agree that stealing ideas is wrong. But we also all know that it's complicated. All artists borrow. There's such a thing as inspiration. If the thing borrowed is changed enough, transformed, recontextualized, reimagined, it's okay. So the actual determination, unless we're talking about word for word plagiarism, can be hard to make. Hard for most of us. Not so hard for most of the creative people I know. Most of them are dead certain in their hearts that they can tell exactly when they're being ripped off.
And it bothers them. Most people I talk to who make stuff have this gremlin, this voice in their head that gets a little obsessive, that tells them they can see exactly who has copied their homework and how, and wishes on some deep level that they did not have to smile and pretend to not notice it. They wish they could get a creative restraining order. I'll be honest with you. I have this gremlin too. And I've had this feeling. And when I have, I've just told myself not to give into it. I remind myself that I borrow too, that no idea is really truly original. And sometimes that even works. But it's work trying to be better than your worst impulses. And so this week's story is emotionally satisfying to me because it's just about someone having one of these fights in public.
Publicly feuding about whether or not a story had been stolen. Stolen from a person who at the time the story was written was dead. And this possibly stolen story. happened to have been one of the more celebrated TV shows this year.
Good morning, Sunshine. You obviously haven't seen this board. Ah, we've seen worse. Nothing like a little challenge every now and then to keep everybody on their toes. Doctor
Rubinovich?
The pit is an emergency medical drama set at a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This is Nicholas Coolish, the person I first heard the story from. Nick works at the New York Times, where he's known for his sharp, deeply reported investigations.
The Pit is a show where doctors and nurses save the lives of patients who come into the emergency room. I think the thing that is most different about it from other shows is that it takes place in real time. Yes. So an hour of the show is an hour of the shift in the emergency room.
Melissa King, I will be joining you today. I just came from two months in the VA.
Hey, welcome to the pit. This is Dr. Jack Abbott.
Nice to meet you. I can't tell you how excited I am to be here today, so Talk to me at the
end of the day. Ignore it. So that's the
pit, a critically acclaimed, highly streamed medical drama that I lost some sleep binging this year. And now I'm gonna play you a clip of the show it's been accused of brazenly stealing from. Perhaps the most famous hospital drama ever created. ER.
John Carter. Yes, sir. Peter Benton. You the surgical student? Yep. Third year. Good. We're gonna be spending a lot of time together, so let me show you around so you'll be oriented. This is the admitting desk.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the episode’s opening premise and why does it matter?
0:00–4:44
2
When is it okay to copy someone’s idea, and how do we tell inspiration from theft?
4:44–8:25
3
How do creators’ “gremlins” influence their perception of being ripped off?
8:25–19:51
4
Who was Michael Crichton and how did his career lead to ER?
19:51–42:45
5
Who is suing the makers of *The Pitt* and why?
42:45–46:32