The doctors are in on Max! The streaming service's new procedural medical drama series The Pitt made its premiere on Thursday, Jan. 9 with its first two episodes.
In the new series, Emmy Award-nominated ER star Noah Wyle plays Dr. Michael "Robby" Rabinavitch, the lead of the emergency room at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. He leads his seemingly overworked and understaffed team throughout one 15-hour shift in The Pitt's 15-episode first season. Similarly to 24, each episode takes place in a single hour.
Here's how Max describes the series in the official synopsis:
"THE PITT is a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh."
Based on the synopsis, you can tell The Pitt isn't your average medical drama series. It's a bit different to the most popular of the genre on the small screen, like Grey's Anatomy and Chicago Med, as those tend to be a bit more character driven within their ensemble of characters. In this new series, we're in the thick of an emergency room shift for an entire day.
Wondering whether you should check out The Pitt or skip the series for a different option? We're sharing our spoiler-free review of the series and recommending which viewers will best be served by its fresh take on the medical drama genre.
ER fans should watch The Pitt
It almost goes without saying, but if you are a fan of the medical drama genre at all, you will enjoy the familiar beat of The Pitt. Aside from the scope of its timeline, the general makeup of Max's new series isn't much different to the biggest medical drama hits from the small screen. The series could easily fall right into place on NBC's primetime schedule, but just without the profanity.
Since the show shares so much DNA with ER, particularly behind the camera with its producers and star, those who adored the series that ran from 1994 to 2009 will feel right at home with The Pitt. More than anything, seeing Noah Wyle back in action in scrubs will be the nostalgic treat ER fans have been waiting for since he left the show as a series regular after season 11.
Wyle's surrounded by a captivating ensemble cast that further fleshes out the staff of The Pitt's emergency room (or what Robby refers to as The Pit), though with the show's breakneck pacing with patients and cases, it's a bit tough to get to know each individual character in the first episode.
Each case the team tackles brings excitement and thrills as they work together to save lives. The camerawork can be dizzying at times, but its handheld quality make the viewer feel like they're in the mix and part of the action along with the medical staff. That sense of closeness is what separates The Pitt from other, glossier medical dramas on television.
Medical gore, uneven writing, and reasons to skip
But with any new show, there are some downsides, some kinks to work out as the series sets out to find its footing. The writing, specifically the dialogue, feels uneven. For as realistic as The Pitt sets out to be, there are some things that these doctors and nurses say that you will find hard to believe would every actually come out of the mouth of a medical professional (in front of patients, no less).
Apart from the clunky and on-the-nose dialogue, the real-time aspect of the narrative puts the show in box that some sequences are begging to fight their way out of, like character introductions or scene setups. The opening sequence drops us right into the middle of the mundanity of a new day, a new shift in the emergency room, which isn't an immediate hook.
As previously mentioned above, The Pitt features profanity that isn't used in your average broadcast medical drama. These doctors and nurses are allowed to say f-ck, and they do quite frequently. In addition to the heightened language, viewers should also look out for increased medical gore that's slightly more graphic than you would see on most procedurals.
Overall, whether to watch or skip The Pitt will be to the discretion of each individual viewer. But our objective consensus and recommendation would be to skip the new series if you aren't a fan of medical dramas or aren't up for the task of sticking with the show until it settles into its groove. It's an intense watch that's not always smooth with its execution, but it's not the worst new show you could watch.
New episodes of The Pitt stream Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Max.