HBO Max just ordered two pilots for the Warner Bros.-owned streaming service, with The Pitt being seen as the model for success going forward. The Pitt debuted in January 2025 to stellar reviews and multiple Emmy nominations and wins later in the year, including for star Noah Wyle, who plays Dr. Robby Robinavitch on the medical procedural.
According to Deadline, HBO Max has ordered pilots for American Blue, a police drama being developed by Supernatural showrunner and producer Jeremy Carvey, and How to Survive Without Me, a family drama created by none other than multi-hyphenate TV producer Greg Berlanti, Robbie Rogers and Bash Doran.
Not only is Carvey overseeing the pilot of American Blue, but he's writing the script and executive producing as well. His fellow executive producer is Brian Udovich.
On American Blue, Brian "Milk" Milkovich is called back to his Illinois hometown to save a troubled police force. Along the way, he'll look for redemption, though it's unclear at this point the reason behind that goal.
HBO Max executive Sarah Aubrey told Deadline that the series will be "very much in [the] vein" of NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues, and revealed that Carver and Udovich traveled to Joliet, Illinois, to learn from the police officers there as they started developing American Blue.
Meanwhile, Berlanti, Rogers and Doran wrote the pilot script for How to Survive Without Me, with Sarah Schechter and Leigh London Redman on board as executive producers alongside Berlanti. This series follows adult siblings as they deal with grief and love in Los Angeles.
HBO Max's Aubrey explained that the streamer was "eager" to work with Berlanti on How to Survive Without Me, especially after the producer's success on other family dramas like Brothers and Sisters and Everwood.
Berlanti has produced an endless amount of content for the small screen over the years. Aside from Brothers and Sisters and Everwood, he also developed the Arrowverse for The CW, which includes Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Superman & Lois.
Even though American Blue and How to Survive Without Me are not medical dramas, the reason they're being compared to The Pitt has everything to do with the format and the budget.
Dr Robby walks into the hospital in The Pitt
While HBO and HBO Max have created very expensive shows like Game of Thrones, The Pitt's success demonstrated to HBO executives that they can produce shows with 15 or more episodes per season, all while staying at an affordable budget and releasing new seasons every year.
It's become more common in recent years for streaming services to have two- or three-year breaks in between seasons, and those seasons tend to include very few episodes, resulting in a lot of criticism from audiences on social media for shows like Wednesday, House of the Dragon and Stranger Things.
The Pitt season 2 premieres Thursday, January 8, 2026, on HBO Max.
