The Pitt was one of the big winners at last night’s Emmy awards, picking up the Outstanding Drama Series award (over The Last of Us, Severance and Andor, among others) and bagging the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award for its star, Noah Wyle. Had there been an award for ‘Outstanding Saddest Eyes or Outstanding Sad Labrador on TV Right Now’, he’d have been a dead cert for those awards too.
That’s not all. Katherine LaNasa got a well deserved award in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, and while it didn’t win them The Pitt was shortlisted in multiple other categories including Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing.
Why all the love? Because The Pitt is TV at its best, delivering 15 utterly engrossing episodes and leaving at least one viewer (hello!) in floods of tears every single time. But I think there are three reasons in particular why it’s resonated with people so much.
It’s in a different league to other dramas
There probably isn’t a topic or character trait in The Pitt that you haven’t seen in other hospital- or hospital-adjacent shows, and there are plenty of such shows to stream. But the quality of the writing and acting here – and by acting I mean not just Wyle and LaNasa, but the whole ensemble – is one of the key things that sets The Pitt apart.
It’s really apparent if you do like I did and try to scratch your post-Pitt itch with other current ER-set dramas such as Apple TV’s Berlin ER.
I really enjoyed Berlin ER and there’s lots to like about it, but it simply isn’t in the same league – and because it covers some of the same issues, the difference is glaringly obvious. I can’t go into details because I don’t want to spoil either show so I’ll keep it simple: most hospital dramas are OK. Some, like Berlin ER, are good. But The Pitt is great.
It’s like a Swiss watch, but made of show
The direction and camerawork in The Pitt is astonishing, and that’s in part because this is no ordinary TV show set. This is a fully-functional, 360-degree set that enables the camera to stay in constant movement with the story, delivering a sense of realism and intimacy that makes the drama even more compelling. There’s a fantastic interview with cinematographer Joanna Coelho that I’ve embedded below that spills the beans on how the set was built, lit and shot. It’s absolutely fascinating.
It looks for the helpers
There’s a famous Fred “Mr” Rogers quote: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me ‘look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'” And in The Pitt, the entire ER is full of people who are helping. Flawed, imperfect, messy people for sure. But helping, or trying to, nevertheless.
When opening my iPhone is to invite endless horror livestreaming from around the globe, that’s powerful. The Pitt doesn’t pretend bad things don’t happen – the first season moves inexorably towards a genuinely horrific, traumatic event – but in a time of inhumanity there’s something wonderfully, beautifully human about it. And God knows we could do with more of that right now.
Season 1 of The Pitt is on HBO Max now. Season 2 is scheduled for January 2026.
