Supriya Ganesh’s exit from ‘The Pitt’ underscores TV’s broader representation problem. A heated online discourse about Dr. Samira Mohan’s departure only scratches the surface of a bigger issue.
Supriya Ganesh’s exit from ‘The Pitt’ underscores TV’s broader representation problem. A heated online discourse about Dr. Samira Mohan’s departure only scratches the surface of a bigger issue.
Part of it is that unfortunately The Pitt’s fandom has quickly gained a reputation for being kind of unhinged, so any meaningful discourse about the reasons for the actress’ exist is getting buried under the (not unwarranted) perception people already had that Pitt fandom doesn’t understand how TV shows work.
Financial-Painter689 on
> However, in the couple of weeks since, parasocial fans have run wild with conspiracy theories about her exit, including accusations of inherent racism
Give me a break. Trying to play this down to parasocial fans is infuriating. This is a tale as old as time with Hollywood and every few months/years we have the same discourse of representation (that never go anywhere) while POC (specifically WOC) will suffer the same outcome and be labelled difficult if they speak against it.
They’ll throw in another token character just to satisfy the ones who will accept it, but of course the actor won’t be paid a salary equal to her white costars because it will be a first season salary vs s3 salary and of course can’t have a WOC grow a name for themselves so just box them in for one/two seasons.
Also fuck fuck Noah Wyle
lostcat223 on
The Pitt’s showrunner and Wyle do themselves no favors by continuing to shift the explanation for her departure. As a lady who works in TV it is embarrassing!
KarmicCT on
you know it wouldn’t be such a big deal for her to exit because we don’t know what she might have behind the scenes but it’s been quite obvious (to me) when 3 poc women have been let go as of now. I am seeing a pattern and maybe jumping to conclusions too quickly but with Wyle refusing to even know how to pronounce the actor’s names (Supriya’s and Shabana’s) , it’s honestly ticking me off.
tamere2k on
I personally love when they blamed the network for how soft they were on ICE rather than owning how pathetic they are.
llamabooks on
Just a reminder that Supriya Ganesh goes by she/they pronouns, ty! 🥰
underthefirstelm on
is this really the best damage control they can do? lol theyre going to have to come up with something better than ‘that’s just the way the cookie crumbles – have you ever thought that we should fix SOCIETY before we criticize the pitt??? at least the pitt is trying!’
like uhhh sorry i think people can keep criticizing the pitt when the charge is that ganesh has been treated extremely carelessly in some of the exact same ways that ifeachor was just last year (eg, popular empathetic female character who has gone up against dr robby suddenly has odd storyline gaps; lots of uncertainty online toward end of season before departure of dark-skinned actress who plays character is officially confirmed; actress missing in bts photos; remaining cast possibly warned not to speak directly on departure; wyle and showrunners minimize significance of departure + say ‘we wish her luck/all the best’ in interviews, while emphasizing diversity and inclusivity of remaining cast; people who always seem to defend wyle online also defend departure by saying ‘maybe she was not a good fit/maybe other cast members disliked her and that is why she is not in bts pics/how dare you imply this has anything to do with race?/she is not necessary/the story will go on without her/dr robby is the only character that really matters’ etc etc)
junmpan on
The way this was framed in the finale just seems to confirm it was a decision made after the fact, not unlike how Heather Collins was sent-off last season. I’d be more willing to roll with it if these characters’ exits were approached more deftly in-show.
Conscious_Pension274 on
I feel like everyday there is a new article talking about the Pitt fandom lmaoooo. Even Fox News and barstool which are right wing platforms defending the show. That to me tells me this show is heading in the wrong direction and lost it’s path so quickly. This is what happens when a show is used as a vanity project for Noah wyle to relieve his ER days. Anyways, articles keep downplaying genuine critiques of the show and the treatment of women of color as characters within show is just nasty. I just read an interview where one of writers said that Samira mohan ( supriyah character) is not gonna be season 3 she will just have a “day off” when in reality the writers have decided not to care for arc. Samira is still a resident and in the show it does signify she will not be leaving anytime soon. The writers themselves said it was not planned. The cast have been shocked as well. Isa Briones (plays santos) also has liked a comment on Twitter suggesting that the show has not been giving right screen time and care to its WOC. Even Shawn who plays Dr Abbott was extremely disappointed because his relationship with Samira was something he wanted to play on screen. This will continue to happen to other WOC on show and I have been seeing the cracks with the other characters. It is not a coincidence that 2 main cast members who are women of color have left the show. I think the Pitt wanted to use clickbait with diverse cast members and truly does not care to give proper arcs and send offs to its WOC. Therefore, this show is using and profiting from women of color. Also the recent GQ article where Noah talks about how “the Pitt is the best place to be right now with its inclusivity” made me roll my eyes when the show cant give proper arcs and screen time for POC on the show that doesn’t revolve hyping up the white male lead. If people want true representation and arcs for POC please watch industry and how to interview a vampire! Which get no recognition!
steponcrackers on
they know what they’re doing. ride the line of ‘progressive representation’ without providing actual groundwork for these young up and coming actors who are not white to succeed. it pleases a conservative audience who are tired of ””’woke”” and throws a bone to the underrepresented who are eager to see themselves. but all in all this is just an example of what happens and has happened in television all the time. use the token to draw in a base dedicated audience and then spend that token without a second thought.
Candid_Explorer_4970 on
i feel like the studio paid for a smear campaign against the fans upset at Supriya’s exit, because why are so many articles targeting people who are upset yet another woman of color in the main cast is written off? those articles should be aimed at the fans who hate santos with a misogynist passion. the production team and wyle have a history of mistreating female cast and their storylines on ER and this just seems like a horrible pattern by now. some of her cast members have also expressed disappointment with the news, especially shawn hatosy who plays dr. abbot, who was so excited about their relationship/subtle flirtation in the show and praises supriya’s characterization of mohan. it’s just weird all around and disrespectful to Supriya.
it’s hard seeing women used as a vehicle for storytelling revolving around Robby/Wyle, while their scenes/arcs are being actively cut and suppressed. two women of color, who carried huge emotional arcs and served as a foil to robby, were dismissed with no real conclusion or finished arc. mohan especially has been made into a vehicle for robby’s story, totally ignoring her storyline from last season and her connections with other characters.
pinkrosyy on
This show/its producers have been very sloppy with how they handle actors of color as well as women in general. *Multiple* female cast members have expressed that key scenes (to further their characters storylines) were cut from this season in exchange for more Noah Wyle Emmy bait. That on top of THREE WOC who were in season 1, not being brought back for season 2. I also think it’s telling that Dr.Robby is written/comes across as misogynistic and NW laughs off that narrative. Insisting that thats not the case. Like YOU are in the writers room, writing this character and see no issues with how he treats women? I’m side eying
marshmnstr on
Well she definitely opened some eyes with her performance. She is beautiful and the camera loves her. I hope for bigger and better things for her.
minatozakiparty on
The notion that people identifying patterns indicative of potential systemic racism = parasocial delusion is so vile and utterly racist honestly. It’s also really strange that so many articles are coming out at once low key trying to gaslight fans of the show and encourage them to see systemic racism as not a thing, feels like a paid campaign atp.
Terrible_Cycle_5983 on
This show has fox news and barstools defending them from “woke fans”, it’s more than over. Fuck Noah Wyle.
15 Comments
Part of it is that unfortunately The Pitt’s fandom has quickly gained a reputation for being kind of unhinged, so any meaningful discourse about the reasons for the actress’ exist is getting buried under the (not unwarranted) perception people already had that Pitt fandom doesn’t understand how TV shows work.
> However, in the couple of weeks since, parasocial fans have run wild with conspiracy theories about her exit, including accusations of inherent racism
Give me a break. Trying to play this down to parasocial fans is infuriating. This is a tale as old as time with Hollywood and every few months/years we have the same discourse of representation (that never go anywhere) while POC (specifically WOC) will suffer the same outcome and be labelled difficult if they speak against it.
They’ll throw in another token character just to satisfy the ones who will accept it, but of course the actor won’t be paid a salary equal to her white costars because it will be a first season salary vs s3 salary and of course can’t have a WOC grow a name for themselves so just box them in for one/two seasons.
Also fuck fuck Noah Wyle
The Pitt’s showrunner and Wyle do themselves no favors by continuing to shift the explanation for her departure. As a lady who works in TV it is embarrassing!
you know it wouldn’t be such a big deal for her to exit because we don’t know what she might have behind the scenes but it’s been quite obvious (to me) when 3 poc women have been let go as of now. I am seeing a pattern and maybe jumping to conclusions too quickly but with Wyle refusing to even know how to pronounce the actor’s names (Supriya’s and Shabana’s) , it’s honestly ticking me off.
I personally love when they blamed the network for how soft they were on ICE rather than owning how pathetic they are.
Just a reminder that Supriya Ganesh goes by she/they pronouns, ty! 🥰
is this really the best damage control they can do? lol theyre going to have to come up with something better than ‘that’s just the way the cookie crumbles – have you ever thought that we should fix SOCIETY before we criticize the pitt??? at least the pitt is trying!’
like uhhh sorry i think people can keep criticizing the pitt when the charge is that ganesh has been treated extremely carelessly in some of the exact same ways that ifeachor was just last year (eg, popular empathetic female character who has gone up against dr robby suddenly has odd storyline gaps; lots of uncertainty online toward end of season before departure of dark-skinned actress who plays character is officially confirmed; actress missing in bts photos; remaining cast possibly warned not to speak directly on departure; wyle and showrunners minimize significance of departure + say ‘we wish her luck/all the best’ in interviews, while emphasizing diversity and inclusivity of remaining cast; people who always seem to defend wyle online also defend departure by saying ‘maybe she was not a good fit/maybe other cast members disliked her and that is why she is not in bts pics/how dare you imply this has anything to do with race?/she is not necessary/the story will go on without her/dr robby is the only character that really matters’ etc etc)
The way this was framed in the finale just seems to confirm it was a decision made after the fact, not unlike how Heather Collins was sent-off last season. I’d be more willing to roll with it if these characters’ exits were approached more deftly in-show.
I feel like everyday there is a new article talking about the Pitt fandom lmaoooo. Even Fox News and barstool which are right wing platforms defending the show. That to me tells me this show is heading in the wrong direction and lost it’s path so quickly. This is what happens when a show is used as a vanity project for Noah wyle to relieve his ER days. Anyways, articles keep downplaying genuine critiques of the show and the treatment of women of color as characters within show is just nasty. I just read an interview where one of writers said that Samira mohan ( supriyah character) is not gonna be season 3 she will just have a “day off” when in reality the writers have decided not to care for arc. Samira is still a resident and in the show it does signify she will not be leaving anytime soon. The writers themselves said it was not planned. The cast have been shocked as well. Isa Briones (plays santos) also has liked a comment on Twitter suggesting that the show has not been giving right screen time and care to its WOC. Even Shawn who plays Dr Abbott was extremely disappointed because his relationship with Samira was something he wanted to play on screen. This will continue to happen to other WOC on show and I have been seeing the cracks with the other characters. It is not a coincidence that 2 main cast members who are women of color have left the show. I think the Pitt wanted to use clickbait with diverse cast members and truly does not care to give proper arcs and send offs to its WOC. Therefore, this show is using and profiting from women of color. Also the recent GQ article where Noah talks about how “the Pitt is the best place to be right now with its inclusivity” made me roll my eyes when the show cant give proper arcs and screen time for POC on the show that doesn’t revolve hyping up the white male lead. If people want true representation and arcs for POC please watch industry and how to interview a vampire! Which get no recognition!
they know what they’re doing. ride the line of ‘progressive representation’ without providing actual groundwork for these young up and coming actors who are not white to succeed. it pleases a conservative audience who are tired of ””’woke”” and throws a bone to the underrepresented who are eager to see themselves. but all in all this is just an example of what happens and has happened in television all the time. use the token to draw in a base dedicated audience and then spend that token without a second thought.
i feel like the studio paid for a smear campaign against the fans upset at Supriya’s exit, because why are so many articles targeting people who are upset yet another woman of color in the main cast is written off? those articles should be aimed at the fans who hate santos with a misogynist passion. the production team and wyle have a history of mistreating female cast and their storylines on ER and this just seems like a horrible pattern by now. some of her cast members have also expressed disappointment with the news, especially shawn hatosy who plays dr. abbot, who was so excited about their relationship/subtle flirtation in the show and praises supriya’s characterization of mohan. it’s just weird all around and disrespectful to Supriya.
it’s hard seeing women used as a vehicle for storytelling revolving around Robby/Wyle, while their scenes/arcs are being actively cut and suppressed. two women of color, who carried huge emotional arcs and served as a foil to robby, were dismissed with no real conclusion or finished arc. mohan especially has been made into a vehicle for robby’s story, totally ignoring her storyline from last season and her connections with other characters.
This show/its producers have been very sloppy with how they handle actors of color as well as women in general. *Multiple* female cast members have expressed that key scenes (to further their characters storylines) were cut from this season in exchange for more Noah Wyle Emmy bait. That on top of THREE WOC who were in season 1, not being brought back for season 2. I also think it’s telling that Dr.Robby is written/comes across as misogynistic and NW laughs off that narrative. Insisting that thats not the case. Like YOU are in the writers room, writing this character and see no issues with how he treats women? I’m side eying
Well she definitely opened some eyes with her performance. She is beautiful and the camera loves her. I hope for bigger and better things for her.
The notion that people identifying patterns indicative of potential systemic racism = parasocial delusion is so vile and utterly racist honestly. It’s also really strange that so many articles are coming out at once low key trying to gaslight fans of the show and encourage them to see systemic racism as not a thing, feels like a paid campaign atp.
This show has fox news and barstools defending them from “woke fans”, it’s more than over. Fuck Noah Wyle.