'The Pitt' Works Because It's R-Rated 'ER'

In the 90s, it was hard to find a drama as popular as ER. The show took over network TV as a real and gritty look at what it meant to be a doctor in the emergency room setting.

The show also caused a giant surge in medical dramas, from Grey's Anatomy to House, and everything in between.

But in recent years, we've seen a bit of a dip in those shows. But this past year, we saw the introduction of The Pitt on HBO Max.

What the show does amazingly is just deliver an even more realistic and gritty version of ER.

It even stars ER alums John Wells and Noah Wyle.

To put it bluntly, The Pitt is just an R-rated ER. And that’s a brilliant lesson in genre.

Let’s dive in.

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Let's Get The Obvious Out Of the Way

The Pitt is at the center of a legal dispute over its origins. While it's officially a new medical series, it stars former ER lead Noah Wyle and involves numerous ER producers and writers.

The show is awesome, but there's a lot of controversy around it.

Basically, they were trying to make an ER reboot that fell apart while negotiating with the Michael Crichton estate.

Then, they went off and made The Pitt, which takes place in an ER and has all the same people they thought would be involved in the new ER.

This personnel overlap led Michael Crichton's estate to sue, claiming the show is a stolen concept from the ER sequel.

The show's creators and Warner Bros., however, deny the allegations and insist they set out to create a completely original show.

So, all my opinions here are based on just enjoying both series.

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Why The Pitt Works

What I like about this medical drama is that it feels like it has all the network elements stripped away. It's really focused on the job and the kinds of people who do the job. That reminds me of vintage ER. And what I also like is that it's real and it's gross. I have had to look away multiple episodes.

And the characters behave and speak like they would in real life. That echoes for me as a viewer and locks me in.

I don't love it because it's gross, I love it because this feels like what it is really like. We get to see what these people deal with every day and steep ourselves in that world. It's a really bold choice that pays off on Max, where you can see and show more than you would elsewhere. This is visualizing the stakes.

The Pitt's central conflict isn't romantic or some rival rich hospital or a love triangle. It's the collapsing healthcare system and the hard choices doctors have to make while doing their best to save lives.

Network TV needs resolution. It needs a tidy win before the final commercial break.

The Pitt doesn't do that.

It's a show about impossible choices made by doctors. People have to die. It moves our characters to breaking points faster, and lets the show dig deeper into thematic elements.

I think that had a huge lesson for writers: Your script doesn't always need a happy ending. It needs a satisfying one.

That might be sad and unfiltered, but if you earn it, the audience will follow.

Summing It All Up

The Pitt is one of the best new shows of the year. It’s a perfect case study in taking a proven genre and modernizing it.

Let me know in the comments.