Watercooler TV is back
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What is 'Water Cooler TV' and why is it making a comeback?
Remember the global COVID-19 pandemic? All of a sudden, everyone had to stay home and people didn't really know what to do. So they started watching TV, lots of TV. And we talked about all the TV we were watching. Not since way back then have more people been asking me about the TV I'm watching. Like, my dude, are you watching The Pit? Don't you have to know basic anatomy to become a doctor? He's a student doctor. Did you see that White Lotus monologue? Maybe what I really want is to be one of these Asian girls. Severance. Have you ever heard the story of the Gluckshupen?
Uh, let's assume we haven't.
Something's afoot with all these seemingly unrelated television programs.
What makes the shows The Pit, White Lotus, and Severance connected?
Yes, they actually have one very, very important thing in common that has directly to do with what you are saying, which is that they are released weekly.
Water Cooler TV is back on Today Explained.
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Megan Rapinoe here. This week on A Touch More, we are launching our much-anticipated book club, and we're doing it with Abby Wambach and Glennon Doyle, who will introduce their upcoming book, We Can Do Hard Things, Answers to Life's 20 Questions. Plus, we've got some fun and important updates from The W and the NWSL, and of course, we've got a new Are You a Megan or Are You a Sue? Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
You're listening to Today Explained. All right, so TV's got people talking again, and one of the shows they're talking about is The Pit. And if we're going to talk about The Pit, we got to talk about ER.
Who is Joe Sachs and how did ER influence medical dramas?
I'm Joe Sachs. I am an executive producer, writer, and also a real-world emergency physician. I came in halfway through the first season of ER and stayed for 14 and a half years.
For people in our audience who maybe weren't even alive in 1994, can you just help people understand how big a deal ER was and why?
Yeah, you know, back in the day, there was no streaming. There was no YouTube. Basically, there were four television networks. There was NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. So after I came on the show, there was a milestone.
One man's defining moment. Over 48 million people experienced it.
the show got a 50 share. That means that 50% of all televisions in America that were on were watching ER. So, you know, right now a big hit show that's two or 3% of the American public is watching you. And it was really the classic water cooler show. And what's fascinating about the pit is that I've heard so many stories and so many online postings from people who say that on Friday morning, everybody's talking about the pit in the office.
Joe had half the TV-watching country eating out the palm of his hand in the 90s, a feat that's basically impossible to pull off now unless you're the Super Bowl. So we asked him why he wanted to return to the medical drama with The Pit.
Well, after ER, I didn't have a strong desire to work on a medical show. And in fact, I worked for 10 years on a crime show. When John Wells, Noah Wiley, and Scott Gemmel first called me in to pitch the show, they said, well, what's changed? What's different? And my answer was everything. And I said... After COVID, you wouldn't recognize the place. There's this thing called the boarding crisis. Most of the beds and all the hallway spaces are taken up by patients who can't go upstairs to be admitted because they don't have the nursing staff. They don't have the beds. The waiting room is filled to the brim, and you have to try to practice medicine from the waiting room. So people are angry. People are frustrated. Waits are long.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is 'Water Cooler TV' and why is it making a comeback?
0:00–0:45
2
What makes the shows The Pit, White Lotus, and Severance connected?
0:45–2:21
3
Who is Joe Sachs and how did ER influence medical dramas?
2:21–5:48
4
Why is The Pit set in a post-COVID emergency room and what's the boarding crisis?
5:48–9:18
5
How does The Pit's continuous 15-hour shift format differ from other shows?
9:18–10:42
6
How have audiences and medical professionals responded to The Pit's realism?
10:42–13:37
7
What are some of the most intense medical scenes in The Pit and how are they created?
13:37–14:06
8
Where can listeners binge The Pit and continue following the water cooler conversation?
14:06–26:22