It’s time to say goodbye to programming like Game of Thrones on HBO Max. Following the success of The Pitt earlier this year, HBO Max has unveiled a new slate of titles that will replicate the model fans of network television are all too familiar with for streaming.
Per Deadline, HBO Max is looking to develop more shows that will have 15+ episode seasons, a smaller budget, and a yearly release. The first two projects that will potentially be released under this new model are the cop drama American Blue and the family drama How To Survive Without Me (working title). Both have received pilot orders from HBO Max and hail from Warner Bros. Television. Of course, despite this new development model, HBO isn’t doing away with big-budget programming entirely, as Lanterns, Harry Potter, and a new Game of Thrones spinoff are all on the way. However, if American Blue and How to Survive Without Me can replicate The Pitt‘s success, it’s possible that they may end up being some of the last series on HBO Max to feature big budgets, smaller episode counts, and multi-year gaps between seasons.
Why HBO Max Is Returning to a More Traditional TV Model
Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch in The Pitt
Speaking with Deadline, HBO Max Head of Originals Sarah Aubrey explained how this model came about, sharing, “Casey [Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO and HBO Max Content] and I saw this white space in the streaming landscape of people not making network-style shows with 15+ episodes that return annually. And both of those are very important factors, because one, with 15 episodes, you really give people an opportunity to sink into a world. It’s one of the reasons why certain older shows, people binge them like crazy, because they’re able to watch more than eight episodes every two years.”
Aubrey continued, “We saw that and thought, ‘Oh, this is this is an opportunity,’ and made that bet that audiences would flock to that kind of storytelling. And simultaneously, John [Wells] and Scott [Gemmill] and Noah [Wyle] were really itching to tell a story set in a hospital in 2025, that was the very important part to them, what does medicine look like today post-Covid, and their kind of creative passion we always really want. We can have ideas about shows that are going to work but we always need partners that have a real focus and passion about the story they want to tell. So, this all aligned perfectly, and The Pitt is the result.”
Created by R. Scott Gemmill, The Pitt is a medical drama series following the emergency department staff at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center as they attempt to overcome the hardships of a single 15-hour work shift. The series, headlined by former ER star Noah Wyle, received critical acclaim upon its release and was quickly renewed by HBO Max for a second season, which is set to premiere in January 2026.
As for the shows that could ultimately serve as companions to The Pitt, American Blue hails from former Supernatural showrunner Jeremy Carver and centers on native son Brian “Milk” Milkovich who returns to his hometown of Joliet, Illinois, to rescue a beleaguered police force while seeking redemption of his own. The cop show is expected to evoke such classics in the genre as Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue. How to Survive Without Me, on the other hand, is “essentially about a group of adult siblings and their father, about grief and love and their lives in Los Angeles,” according to Aubrey. The family drama was developed by top TV creator/producer Greg Berlanti, Bash Doran, and Robbie Rogers, and will be filmed in Los Angeles like The Pitt.
Release Date
January 9, 2025
Network
Max
Showrunner
R. Scott Gemmill
Directors
Amanda Marsalis
Writers
Joe Sachs, Cynthia Adarkwa
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Noah Wyle
Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch
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Tracy Ifeachor
Dr. Heather Collins
