Showbiz in recent months has been filled with allegations of sexual harassment and assault coming to light, with famous folks ranging from prominent movie producers to big-name TV stars facing accusations. Now, harassment accusations have been aimed at somebody behind the scenes at Fox's new medical drama The Resident. Zachary Lutsky is the medical consultant for The Resident, and news of past allegations of harassment have landed him under investigation from 20th Century Fox TV.
No complaints have been leveled at Zachary Lutsky due his behavior with regard to The Resident, according to 20th Century Fox. In fact, Fox didn't find out about allegations against Lutsky until a member of the media made an inquiry. The current investigation into Lutsky is the result of reports concerning his actions while working on past TV shows with different studios.
Zachary Lutsky is an ER doctor at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who broke into the TV biz at Warner Bros. TV and worked on shows including ER, Southland, and Miami Medical. He landed his first TV writing job on CBS TV Studios' medical drama A Gifted Man. Lutsky then switched to Sony Pictures TV for a multi-season gig on The Night Shift as writer, medical consultant, and producer. It was on The Night Shift that the first allegations were leveled at Lutsky.
While working on The Night Shift, Deadline reports that he made a habit of inviting cast and crew members to his room to see his hot tub. Another incident took place when Lutsky reportedly swatted a female member of the crew on the backside with a rolled-up script. A witness reported the incident, and Lutsky was asked to apologize for his action. Following two seasons on The Night Shift, Lutsky moved to ABC Studios and CBS TV Studios for the CBS medical drama Code Black.
On Code Black, Zachary Lutsky's alleged harassment resulted in his abrupt exit from the show. Back in December 2016, two women working on the show went to a senior producer/writer to relate tales of constant (primarily verbal) sexual harassment. Code Black showrunner Michael Seitzman was informed of the situation immediately, who met with Human Resources after hearing from the women. HR reportedly had enough evidence to justify giving Lutsky the axe right off the bat. Sources report that the misconduct on Code Black range from inappropriate comments to "demonstrating" a medical producer on a woman on set, allegedly using his position on power on the series to intimidate women on set.
After Code Black, Zachary Lutsky switched studios again, moving to 20th Century Fox for The Resident. He was reportedly vetted before being hired for The Resident. That said, Code Black was not contacted as one of his sources. The lack of information available to Fox concerning past investigations into Lutsky's behavior are the result of the status quo in Hollywood that prevents studios from sharing reports of sexual harassment allegations and investigations due to the risk of legal action. Switching studios can allow accused individuals to escape the stigma of in-house allegations.
We can only wait and see what happens next. For your viewing options now and in the not-too-distant future, be sure to take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule and our 2018 Netflix premiere guide.
