Let's chat: What's your current TV obsession?
Mine is SO GOOD.
It’s been a while since I had a show that I religiously watched every week — most of my TV consumption is either through screeners for work or binging TV shows whose entire seasons land in one go (like the recent, delightful “Running Point.”) But nowadays I have three shows that I religiously wait for new episodes of: “Severance,” “The White Lotus” and “The Pitt.”
The latter one is a surprise. It’s been so long since I’ve regularly watched a medical TV drama, but “The Pitt” may be the best one ever, and not because its star, Noah Wyle of “ER,” is, in my eyes, more appealing than McDreamy and McSteamy combined.
If you’ve never watched “The Pitt,” which yesterday premiered its 10th episode on Max, the show tells the story of one shift in a fictional Pittsburgh hospital emergency room. It’s got a really big, gifted cast, with Wyle at the helm as the bearded, weary-eyed Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinovitch (yes, he’s Jewish, and you can read more about how Wyle’s own Jewish roots inspired the character on Kveller, of course). I love how richly every character is painted — the small town medical student trying to find his footing (Gerrin Howell), the 20-year-old medical prodigy (Shabana Aazeez), the kind third-year resident who maybe takes a little too long with each patient (Supriya Ganesh), the mother hen charge nurse (Katherine Lanasa). And I love the humanizing way we see the ER patients. I also love how accurate and visceral the medical procedures are (this show is not for the very squeamish) and the way it gets into the real challenges of running a hospital emergency room in America’s complex medical system.
I’m glued to my screen every second and spend all week waiting for Thursday at 9 p.m. ET when the next episode airs (there are five more left this season, in case you want to know) and looking up theories about characters online. It’s been a while since I’ve been this obsessed with a TV show and I’ve got to say, it feels pretty good.
What’s your current TV obsession? Let me know in the comments!
I also love The Pitt. I’ve watched various medical dramas, including ER, and this one is obviously unique in its one-hour-per-episode style. As a result, it is more realistic, but not bland as a documentary could be. Noah Wiley inhabits Dr. Wiley and makes him believable to the viewer. I can’t wait until next Thursday!
Best new show The PITT. Humanity in reality, ER and what these healthcare workers deal with every day. I do love how Dr. Robby (Noah Wylie) just casually mentioned he was Jewish in one episode.. Not a big deal and it just is what it is.