‘The Pitt’: Optimism, A Hooky Gimmick, and Hot Docs

Way back in the 1990s, ER invigorated the medical drama by offering a gritty, fast-paced look into the lives of emergency room professionals. Now, Max’s The Pitt does the same, and its attitude is not the only thing it shares with its predecessor. Noah Wyle stars, a few producers are the same, and the ensemble cast is equally packed with superstars in the making. Even so,  that doesn’t mean Michael Crichton’s widow will win her lawsuit against the show.

The Pitt freshens up the hospital genre by splicing the intensity of The Bear, the urgency of 24, and a bit of House’s medical mystery into a viewing experience that starts off slow, but keeps on running once it gets its legs. The fifteen-episode season takes place over fifteen consecutive hours that make up a shift at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.

Though attending physician Dr. Michael “Robby” Rabinovich (Wyle) heads an emergency room saddled with newbie doctors and bursting at the seams with bedraggled patients, he’s never too busy to offer sad eyes and unrequested wisdom to someone in need. And in The Pitt, that seems to be everyone.

We learn right away that no-nonsense senior resident Dr. Heather Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) is pregnant, but only the benevolent charge nurse (Katherine LaNasa) knows. After watching Dr. Collins go toe-to-toe with Dr. Robby, it’s hard not to conclude the child is his, but the brisk pace allows little time to dwell on just one juicy secret in a building packed full of them.

The fresh batch of med students and residents barely say their hellos before personal baggage, patient traumas, and bodily fluids overtake their day. They’re in good hands, though, as family man Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) does his best to emulate his mentor Dr. Robby’s wise doctorly ways, though it’s obvious he’s clueless about the way relationships work outside of the hospital.

Every visit to the suffering masses in the waiting room offers a glimpse into the nightmare of modern medicine, and the structure of The Pitt allows those patients to be recurring characters, which builds an intermingled sense of concern and alarm for the state of their care. Social issues arise as the overworked doctors deal with their diverse clientele, which forces them to face their own beliefs and prejudices. The show is bursting with enough urgency and mayhem to swiftly drive down medical school enrollment.

Part of the magic of The Pitt is that there is so much happening between the sprawling cast, onslaught of medical horrors, and strange patient mysteries that the viewer forgets how contained both the environment and storytelling are. Really, the whole show is one giant tease, because viewers are investing their time getting to know tidbits about everyone on the screen that will never pay off in the typical TV way. If Dr. Collins waits til she’s showing to reveal her baby’s paternity, that will be in like season 35. The setup shouldn’t allow time to care about anyone, but somehow, it does.

While doctors, who love the show, have fallen over praising The Pitt’s accurate portrayal of the emergency room experience, as someone who merely brings a civilian’s knowledge to the table, there’s no room for that when a season only covers 15 consecutive hours. It defies the limits of imagination to envision a world where patients could have consults, tests, results, and plenty of face time with the compassionate, focused, and truly-present attending within a mere few hours. But it happens here because The Pitt has heart, optimism, and a hooky gimmick. While our actual medical system is totally broken, this show really works.