Show of hands: who here is watching The Pitt, Max’s breakout medical drama starring Noah Wyle?
When I posed this question to a group of friends at a bar last weekend, I was surprised I wasn’t alone in my newfound obsession. Unbeknownst to me and to each other, we’d all been quietly watching the series and can agree: The Pitt is a perfect TV show.
Santos tries to buddy up with Javadi, Mateo enters with Hank who has a nail in his chest. (Warrick Page/MAX)Warrick Page
For the uninitiated: Each episode of the The Pitt‘s first season covers one hour of a single shift in the emergency room at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, adding up to a jam-packed 15-hour day/season. (It’s been described as ER meets 24.)
Leading our ragtag group of overworked doctors, nurses, and new hires is chief attending Dr. Michael Rabinovitch (Wyle), known by both his peers and his patients as Dr. Robby. He’s an easy-to-root for Good Guy and an even better teacher, though he’s not without his faults, as Nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) and Dr. Heather Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) are happy to point out to him.
The show also features breakout performances from Isa Briones, who plays the infuriating Dr. Trinity Santos, Gerran Howell as the bumbling student doctor Dennis Whitaker, and Taylor Dearden as the sensitive and quirky Dr. Melissa King. (Fun fact: Dearden is Bryan Cranston’s daughter.) Shabana Azeez, Patrick Ball, Supriyah Ganesh, and Fiona Dourif round out an outstanding ensemble cast.
And while the focus of the show remains squarely on the patients’ ailments and their needs, the writers do an excellent job of eking out just enough of the doctors’ and nurses’ personal histories to create a hum of drama in the background. The Pitt is no Grey’s Anatomy when it comes to relationships or sex in utility closets, but there’s enough there to sate the need for a little juice. Oh, Dr. Robby and Dr. Collins used to date? Fascinating. Tell me more, after we save this six-year-old drowning victim.
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