The Pitt

I worked in EMS after training at a large teaching hospital. I rarely watch medical shows because the portrayal of medicine is so dumbed-down and inaccurate. I understand that it's a show and some license will be taken, but at least put in some effort to help me suspend disbelief. The Pitt puts in major effort to get it right (which I expect from creator of 'Southland' John Wells, one of the few cop shows that did it more accurately than most). ER's are places of extreme excitement, sadness and humor (the rat scene alone beat many comedies made today). It's fun to be a couple episodes into a medical show and looking forward to more instead of rolling my eyes and moving on.

Being Hollywood we get the usual moralizing, but most shows lecture while delivering inane dialogue with one dimensional characters. Give me a solid story in a realistic setting with great characters and I can sit through a fair share of finger-wagging. It's great seeing Noah Wylie in a hospital again, especially as a veteran doctor surrounded by fresh-faced medical rookies like he was in ER. The acting has been great from everyone. I recognize so many of these personalities from a career around this environment. The Pitt is a great new show.

When I first saw an ad for this, I thought why are we recreating ER with Noah Wyle again? So many shows seem to just be recreations these days. But this is a completely different show. This show is real and raw with excellent acting and storylines. It does get very intense and emotional but appropriately so. This is probably the most realistic hospital show I've seen. We get glimpses in the medical staff's lives without any "soap opera" stories. Even though we are thrown into a day in a busy ER, we get to know the characters quickly due to great writing with surprises scattered throughout the season. I look forward to seeing season 2 of this great new drama. Noah Wyle is excellent!

I never watched many medical shows until I retired. Didn't want to bring the hospital home with me. Shows like House may have had good actors but were unrealistic fantasies when it came to real medicine. After retiring I watched all 15 seasons of ER over a few months. That show captured the reality of ER medicine as well as hospital politics, although it compressed time. Things happen fast, but not that fast or intense over an entire day, and not nearly as many open chest heart massages occur. But you really did get to see what it was like. Now The Pitt brings the same flavor of show as ER was. So if you enjoyed watching ER, you will like this.

There are a million doctor/hospital shows out there so you really need to be special to stick out and The Pitt absolutely does that. It's not hyperbole when I say it's by far the most realistic hospital show that's ever been made. I'll be shocked if this show doesn't get nominated for a bunch of awards, especially Noah Wyle in the lead role. I've always like Wyle but this is career defining performance. He's fantastic in every scene. I'm a binged, I love to binge watch shows, so much so that even for the shows that come out weekly I wait until the entire season is over before I start it so I can binge it. This is the first show I've ever seen that I can only watch a few episodes at a time because of how intense each mood each episode is. I'll still watch a few episodes each day and binge the entire season within 5 or 6 days but it's a work out doing it. I'm so glad that people have enjoyed it so much that it's already been renewed for another season.

A rare occasion when all of the elements come together and engage the viewer completely. The pacing is fast but with the right rhythm. The writers have done their research, and the little I know about emergency procedures feels convincing. They must have some great medical consultants supervising. But the personal stories, complex interactions, and character development are where it shines. And it's not always the highest profile actors carrying it - Noah Wyle is polished for sure, but all of the young residents are individuals whose uniqueness, sensitivity, strengths and weaknesses, will have you holding your breath and sighing in relief when they save a patient. This is seriously a top tier series. I never anticipate a new episode of a show dropping, but I do for The Pitt. I wonder if season two will be able to match it.