The Pitt gives TV a much-needed shot in the arm

After years of delays, HBO Max has finally launched on Irish shores.

Thanks to the needlessly complicated world of media rights and distribution (which is why movies keep dropping off Netflix) the service only launched in the UK and Ireland in late March, years after it launched in the rest of the world.

To make up for the wait, HBO Max has a great selection of movies, such as the Oscar-winning hits One Battle After Another and Sinners, all-time classic shows such as The Sopranos and The Wire and more recent hit shows such as Industry and The White Lotus (and yet, The Larry Sanders Show is not on there – what gives?!)

The big selling point to sign up for HBO Max, however, is The Pitt.

A show that dominated every big TV awards ceremony last year, the show is finally available to watch legally for Irish audiences, and it has been worth the wait (and then some.)

The Pitt is a spiritual successor to ER, right down to the casting of Noah Wyle as the show’s star and former staff writers working on the show, along with an unwavering commitment to medical realism.

Where The Pitt succeeds, and expands on the classic medical show formula, is that the show doesn’t have to adhere to pesky broadcast TV regulations surrounding content or length, meaning that the show doesn’t have to stop for an ad break or shy away from the more grisly details of human medicine.

ER couldn’t get away with showing a person’s knee hanging off them, but The Pitt can and will show it, in stunning high-definition.

The Pitt is fond of throwing around medical jargon and lingo like how Heat uses specific terminology when describing bank robberies; if you like shows where actors shout out the names of obscure medical procedures or medications with calm authority, your prayers have been answered.

Before watching The Pitt, most people would not be aware of what an “intubation” is, or what happens when a body part is “degloved”; if you have a Junior or Leaving Cert science textbook to hand, be sure to consult the biology section when watching this show.

The promise of the streaming era was that shows didn’t have to play by traditional TV rules anymore and could show whatever they want; for the first time since House Of Cards, The Pitt feels like a rejuvenation of the medical drama.

The hook for the show is simple; each episode is an hour in real time, and a season is one shift in the emergency department of a busy Pittsburgh hospital.

Combining the best parts of ER and the ticking clock momentum of 24 sounds like a match made in TV heaven, The Pitt is the number one reason to shell out for HBO Max (or cut another streaming service from the monthly bills).

Noah Wyle is the captain of the team in The Pitt

Streaming era shows have been subject to bloat and excess; the final season of Stranger Things represents everything wrong with modern television, where the budgets and runtimes are bigger than ever, but the spark is gone.

In this case, The Pitt feels as revolutionary as House Of Cards did back in 2013, creating this sense of “oh, this is what TV should be all the time.”

With The Pitt, it leaves shows like Grey’s Anatomy or House in the dust; the personal lives of the medical staff do get airtime, but the main focus is the nitty-gritty of how gnarly the human body can be.

The Pitt feels radical because it feels like a show that is using the potential and scope afforded by the streaming era, but still feels very traditional and classical in other respects; the show follows a weekly release schedule, which allows the show to build up word-of-mouth just like the good old days.

Whereas the Netflix model of binging every episode at once has proven successful and has redefined how television is produced, the old school release method deployed by The Pitt makes it radical in the 2026 landscape.

Of course, it’s not like you’d want to wait a week to see what happens next; the show is fiendishly addictive.

Each episode has a propulsive tick-tick-tick rhythm to it; a patient is introduced with a medical ailment, the cast of characters deploy their specific skillsets, then it’s onto the next patient being wheeled.

The audience barely has time to breathe as the episodes bounce from one patient to the next; it makes you feel like you are in the thick of the action along with the doctors.

The procedural element of The Pitt makes the show incredibly satisfying to watch for fans of legal dramas like Law and Order or CSI, and people who gorge themselves on Grey’s Anatomy or ER will find plenty to love here.

Noah Wyle shot to fame for his role as Dr John Carter on ER, appearing in 254 of the show’s 331 episodes; watching his performance on The Pitt makes you wonder why he didn’t become as big a movie star as his former stablemate George Clooney.

Wyle is the Roy Keane of The Pitt, the team captain who everyone looks up to, someone who holds his colleagues to the same standards as him and is the guy everyone turns to in a pinch.

In journalism circles, Michael Keaton’s performance in Spotlight is cited as a modern example of “yes, this is what a real deal professional in our field looks like” and Wyle’s performance in The Pitt has been cited as a modern example of how a medical professional acts; the performance is really that good.

Like all good TV dramas, The Pitt explores the social issues of the day; COVID is a recurring plot point through the show, the creeping drive towards privatisation is explored, and the very real risk of burnout and stress among medical professionals is addressed in a candid way that Grey’s Anatomy would never touch.

The show has a strong inclination to explore medical show dilemmas that haven’t been covered at a high level before; topics such as the right to die, organ donation, reproductive health care would not have flown on traditional broadcast television in the 1990s, but the freedoms of the streaming era means that no topic is off limits.

The show’s most recent season, which is near the end of season 2 at time of writing, has garnered criticism for a plotline involving ICE, but that’s what all great shows do – they are a snapshot of a given moment in the culture.

Indeed, watching how dysfunctional the American healthcare system is makes Irish viewers count their lucky stars; the Irish healthcare system isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, at least it isn’t the American system, where profit is the motive.

While much has been made about the death of traditional, linear TV, it is hard to imagine them competing with a show like The Pitt – why should viewers have to settle for ever-decreasing budgets and content restrictions when The Pitt does everything viewers want, and at a high quality level?

The idea of adding yet another streaming service to the monthly bill might sound as appealing to most people as shoving glass under their toenails, but word to the wise: cut every other streaming service and sign up for HBO Max.

The Pitt is the only show you will ever need.