Noah Wyle returns as a doctor in the new hospital series The Pitt. Here we follow him and the rest of the ER team in a busy hospital in Pittsburg. One of the busiest emergency departments in the area is located in the middle of Pittsburg. In the new HBO Max series The Pitt, we follow the employees and patients in this hospital. Led by doctor Robby Rabinavitch (Noah Wyle, Falling Skies), the doctors and nurses have to keep their heads above water as the waiting room fills up with people. As if all this wasn't tough enough, the department is also dealing with money problems and Robby is struggling with unpleasant memories from the past.
As a viewer you cannot ignore the similarities with the most famous hospital series of all time, ER.
Dr. Heather Collins (Tracy Ifeachor, Showtrial) isn't feeling well at the start of her shift and seems to have something against Dr. Rabinavitch. However, it is not yet clear at this stage what exactly is going on between them. At the beginning of the first episode, a (new) group of students shows up for their workday. They are immediately thrown into the deep end, which one seems to be able to handle better than the other. Doctors Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) and Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) have to take care of the doctors in training. Head nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa, Imposters) oversees all cases that come in and helps the doctors where possible.
As a viewer you cannot ignore the similarities with the most famous hospital series of all time, ER. Not just because of the fact that Noah Wyle, who plays ER Dr. John Carter played, also has a role in this, but also because of the way The Pitt was made. From the sets to the camera work, everything is reminiscent of ER and looks like a modern copy of that series. It therefore does not surprise me that a lawsuit has been started against the makers due to the similarities between The Pitt and ER, especially since there are plans for an ER reboot.
The first episode is in the ER in one hour. If I can believe the titles of the upcoming episodes, they will maintain this system and each episode will be about one hour in the lives of the hospital employees. During an hour or so, a series of patients pass by, from simple alcohol poisoning to an almost severed foot. A lot of medical terms are thrown around and although I am used to this as a hospital series fan, I can imagine that it may be a bit much for most viewers. So far the focus has been very much on the medical side of the story, which does not do the character structure any good.
After watching this episode, I don't know much about the main characters of The Pitt. The only glimpse into the characters' private lives we get is a flashback to the COVID period. Here we see Robby in the hospital while he receives news about his colleague, who apparently later died. This day made a big impression on Robby and this is something that everyone around him is aware of. However, we have not yet found out exactly why this is the case, nor do we yet find out the backstories of all the other characters in the series. The acting is good, but the way the series is put together does not do justice to the qualities of the actors so far.
The acting is good, but the way the series is put together does not do justice to the qualities of the actors so far.
Halfway through the episode I noticed that the way the story was told really got me into it. It felt familiar, which is a good and bad thing at the same time. In my opinion, there has never been a hospital series of the same level after ER and with this start The Pitt makes a good attempt to match that level. However, the whole is anything but unique. As viewers, we have seen everything before. This makes you inclined to compare series with each other and with the abundance of hospital series on offer, I am afraid that The Pitt is no match for titles such as Grey's Anatomy and Chicago Med.
There are times when I really miss a series like ER, and I imagine that The Pitt can make up for this lack. However, the makers have not been able to fully convince me of this with this introduction. It wasn't a bad start, I had fun watching it and am curious about what's to come. But the story was not so interesting that I am now a complete fan of the show. In particular, a lot will have to be done in terms of character development and depth of the characters if The Pitt really wants to become a success. I'm very curious to see if this will actually happen later in the first season.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
First of all, thanks for your review. From the first minute you are in a kind of Roller Coaster. It is easy to watch and before I know it the episode in question is over. Maybe it is because I have never seen ER but I think The Pitt is great. And when it comes to character development and depth of the characters, you can't expect all of this in the first hour of this real-time series The Pitt. After watching the first 3 episodes, my score is considerably higher.
ER is my favorite hospital series and I understand your comparison a bit, but I still see this as a completely different series, especially because of the real-time build-up. I actually only started the first two episodes to see if it was any good, but those episodes flew by. If the series continues to maintain this level, my rating will also be a lot higher,