One of the biggest epidemics of the streaming television era is the lack of library content, as it’s a challenge for services to develop a back catalogue when so many of their shows are cancelled early on. This has unsurprisingly provoked nostalgia for older shows. There have been some notable “sequels shows,” such as the underwhelming Dexter continuation Dexter: New Blood, the Justified revival Justified: City Primeval, or the That ‘70s Show reboot That ‘90s Show. There are also some universes that continue to take on new forms, as prequels to Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and The Big Bang Theory have found various degrees of success.
Max’s new medical drama The Pitt isn’t technically a sequel to ER, but that’s an issue of dispute. Set in a Pittsburgh Emergency Room over the course of a grueling 15-hour-shift, the series is banked on the return of Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael "Robby" Rabinovitch, a character that could be mistaken for ER’s Dr. John Carter. Max may have insisted that the premise and character of The Pitt are entirely original, but that hasn’t prevented the estate of Michael Crichton from the launch of a lawsuit that claims that the use of his intellectual property is a breach of contract.
Even if Wyle hadn’t been cast to play what looks like an older version of Carter, who’s now a mentor to a younger generation of medical professionals, it wouldn’t be hard to see that ER and The Pitt share DNA. The Pitt was created by R. Scott Gemmill, a writer and producer who won a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the sixth season of ER; the pilot was directed by John Wells, the ER showrunner wo also worked on The West Wing, Shameless, and Animal Kingdom. It wouldn’t be past The Pitt to include a cameo by George Clooney as a Chicago doctor determined to save the life of a patient at some point.
The Pitt is reliant on ER nostalgia, but it’s also a response to the general decline in the quality of hospital shows in the years since it went off the air. The most popular medical dramas of the last decade include The Good Doctor, The Resident, Chicago Med, and the never-cancelled Gray’s Anatomy, all of which merge “case-of-the-week” narratives with the plot mechanics of a soap opera.
The Pitt isn’t spectacular, but it does stand out due to the inventive structural conceit. Presented in the same real-time vein that turned 24 into a phenomenon a few decades prior, The Pitt’s first season is 15 episodes, each of which cover one hour of a busy shift. The narrative continues to unfold with each episode, as the medical staff has to work overtime to deal with the cases they’re responsible for. Sometimes, a patient can be in-and-out after a quick check up identifies the issue, but usually symptoms compound as the nurses, doctors, and trainees on sight are overwhelmed and overworked.
Given the length that shows remain in a streaming pipeline and the extended development, there haven’t been many examples of series that served as a direct response to Covid. The aftermath of the pandemic is a premise of The Pitt, as Robby has a panic attack in the first episode on the anniversary of the death of a colleague. This is a framing device that is meant to indicate the show’s relevancy, but the aftermath of the events of 2020 may have directly inspired the theme of The Pitt, which is centered on the lack of respect and resources granted to those who work tirelessly to save lives.
The Pitt is compulsively watchable. Within the first three episodes, Robby and his staff have to deal with a teenage boy pronounced brain dead due to a fentanyl overdose, a wailing mother with severe sickle cell anemia, a pair of middle-aged sibling that debate the resuscitation of their father, and a clan of rats that escape from the corpse of a deceased homeless man. Although the series has cut out mundane cases in favor of the most dramatically-compelling scenarios, there’s no sign thus far that The Pitt is in danger of a decline in momentum.
Although its debut on Max means that it can feature graphic bodily injuries and colorful language, The Pitt is a conscious attempt to implement the best qualities of broadcast television on streaming.