The Pitt

Is it good? Yes, it’s excellent, although it’s not groundbreaking or ingenious.

All I can say is, this is outstanding television. It never treats the viewer like an idiot, trusts them to cope with difficult dialogue and always pulls back from the schmaltz. Talking of outstanding, so too is Noah Wyle.

While The Pitt has realism to spare, it also balances the challenges experienced by its patients and staff with humor, dignity, and heart. .... The best new medical drama in years.

The Pitt will only work if viewers want to spend 15 hours in close, unchanging quarters with these characters — something that would be difficult to pull off if the cast weren’t so good. Wyle, a master at compassionate calm, makes Robby the perfect counterbalance for the series' often-bleak setting.

No, The Pitt is not an ER reboot, but it may just be TV’s best, most authentic medical drama since the one that made Noah Wyle a star.

The life-and-death reality of the setting gets played for the sacred and yet utterly quotidian thing that it is, rather than for operatic highs and lows. Yes, this is the ER special sauce, a story density reflected in a crowded set design and so many scattered shifts in focus that even the most emotionally blunt lines barely have time to register. And, yes, it’s fantastic.

What distinguishes one show from another is whether the writing and casting is any good. And “The Pitt” lands enough on both fronts to make it essential viewing. I’m just so pleased that someone finally decided it’s possible to take all the things that people love about network TV and make it work for streaming.

With the cameras swirling about in docudrama fashion and the captivating cast moving about in intricately choreographed fashion that must have been carefully blocked but feels utterly spontaneous, “The Pitt” is near-great TV. There are instances in which the real-time gimmick seems a bit forced and creates a situation where there’s an awful lot of character development and exposition crammed in, but it’s poetic license well-earned.

What makes “The Pitt” worth watching are its characters. .... Creatively, “The Pitt” succeeds by any measure.

The Pitt sometimes struggles under the heft of its obligation to all of them [characters], especially in this first episode. The show is best when it’s in motion and when it uses patient encounters to provoke more meaningful character moments and growth. .... Yet The Pitt is, ultimately, Wiley’s series, a showcase for him to shade layers of brilliance, fatigue, anger, compassion, and despair into a lead performance that feels truly lived-in.

The Pitt isn’t shy of drama and while it occasionally lapses into convenient contrivances, it largely remains grounded.

This bold and elevated medical drama doesn’t pander, instead offering a rewardingly tense and emotional first season that will be hard to beat.

It offers compelling drama, written well and performed by a talented cast — ably anchored by the world-weary Noah Wyle, 30 years removed from his debut as wide-eyed Dr. Carter in the “ER” pilot.

And yet I found “The Pitt” bingeable, even beguiling, for its portrayal of E.R. doctors as not only dedicated medical professionals but also unofficial social workers.

While “The Pitt” hits familiar notes (overcrowding is still a problem; understaffing is a given), it benefits from the “24” approach to storytelling. After one episode, it’s impossible to leave the “day in the life.” Binging is a likely diagnosis.

The Pitt may not reinvent the medical drama, but by following patients (and those impatiently waiting in chairs) over a long day, we feel their pain in a new way. [20 Jan - 9 Feb 2025, p.6]

Technically speaking, Max’s new medical drama The Pitt is not an ER sequel. Spiritually speaking—and, more importantly, in the fantasy world of ER superfan Kevin Fallon—it absolutely is a sequel. And, when viewed as such, I think it is way more gratifying to watch.

It has a convincing energy. The actors have an easy way with the medical dialogue, the various needles and knives and tubes and paddles their characters need to use, the Purell they casually pump onto their hands on entering a room. .... In its mix of cool authenticity and hot theatricality, of cases to solve and personal business to arrange, “The Pitt” reminded me of “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

We are meant to view the show as docudrama, but then some new big plot is wheeled in through the doors and the show swoops up into melodrama. Melodrama is, however, preferable to another of the show’s modes, which is didactic moralizing on a pertinent social topic. Still: The Pitt is awfully engrossing throughout, a show that strangely but effectively intertwines prestige TV trappings with the more basic tropes of network workplace dramedy. Wyle is an endlessly compelling lead.

The very good “The Pitt,” a show that reminds one of the simple charms of well-done procedural television.

The Pitt isn’t doing anything fancy — and, in fact, its biggest deviation from the familiar is by far its biggest weakness. But for the most part, it’s a powerful reminder of why certain formulas are so durable, how satisfying they can still be when done well, and why we shouldn’t be so eager to throw out all of the things that have made TV TV for so long.

The beats here are familiar and comfortable. Perhaps best of all, they are actually moving.

When it’s cooking along, “The Pitt” sweeps you up. You don’t need to be a revolutionary to make good TV, and it’s nice to see a show made with such a strong core. People need help, and capable professionals are here to provide it.

Is “The Pitt” as good as “ER?” No, at least not first few seasons, when "ER" was cooking with gas. But it’s certainly superior to the latter ones, and if “ER” had never existed, it would feel fresh and new.

The Pitt features clunky dialogue, ridiculous cliffhangers, and overly obvious messaging associated with easy primetime viewing. It also boasts propulsive filmmaking, endearing characters, and one seismic performance from star/EP Noah Wyle. Whatever ingredients The Pitt did or did not poach from E.R. come together to make a slight drama that nevertheless speaks to the existential angst of seeking or providing healthcare in 2025.

Once it gets going, though, The Pitt emerges as a well-executed medical procedural made by people who know from well-executed medical procedurals, boasting a structural twist that’s occasionally very effective and sometimes just a bit annoying and distracting.

It’s a decent enough medical drama with promising episodes as it develops. There are worse things to be, and having Wyle as the star and beating heart of the show goes a long way. .... I would rather watch “The Pitt” figure itself out than watch an “ER” revival that is “Weekend at Bernie’s”-ing a premise.

With so many subjects and so little time given to developing them, it means suffering through a whole lot of blunt exposition and even more clichéd or half-formed characters. That may feel familiar, even comforting, to fans of broadcast dramas, which thrive by creating self-contained arcs every week, but “The Pitt” isn’t operating at a high enough level to make them work.

The Pitt wants to be all things to all audiences, but it’s an ungainly hybrid, not sophisticated enough to be a great show, not satisfying enough to be a fun one. .... There are moments when The Pitt tries for something new, but it’s at its best when it’s in a well-worn groove. It’s not HBO. But it isn’t quite TV either.

The one exception to The Pitt's characterization struggles is Taylor Dearden’s Dr. King. .... Unfortunately, Dearden's Long is a light in an otherwise very dark, mostly mind-numbing trudge through fifteen episodes. The Pitt isn’t necessarily a show you want to watch going into the new year — it’s brutal and unkind, with very little going for it in the emergency department.