I had forgotten that ER was on for fifteen years. From 1994 to 2009, the NBC drama aired 331 episodes, winning 23 Emmys and a legion of fans along the way to becoming one of the most popular and revered television dramas of all time. I myself was a huge fan of the show and still find it incredibly re-watchable as it lives on in syndication. It continues to find new fans as it is easily available not only on streaming (Max or Hulu), but on regular cable every day.
Don’t worry, this week’s Binge Alert isn’t ER–although it certainly isn’t a bad choice, especially if you’ve never seen it. No, this week’s binge recommendation is a show called 
The Pitt, which is available to stream on MAX. If you’re wondering, however, why I’m talking about ER in a review of The Pitt, well, it’s impossible not to.
The Pitt is a medical drama that stars Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael Rabinavitch, the head of a busy emergency room of a Pittsburgh hospital. The show centers around the nurses and doctors as they treat the myriad patients who come into the ER in various states of trauma.
If you’re thinking that sounds awfully familiar, just wait.
The Pitt was created by R. Scott Gemmill, who was a producer on ER, and one of the executive producers is John Wells, who was the showrunner for ER. And we all know that Wyle starred as Dr. John Carter on ER, a character who was a fan favorite, for 254 episodes.
Even the estate of late author Michael Crichton, who created ER, sees the similarities, as they are suing Warner Bros. over the show, calling it an unauthorized reboot of ER, made without their consent or participation. So how can you NOT talk about ER when you talk about The Pitt.
But the real question is, can you watch The Pitt without comparing it to ER?
For me, a huge fan of ER, I must be honest: no. I was thinking of ER constantly. Ten episodes have aired so far of the first season of The Pitt (there are fifteen episodes in the season and new episodes drop each Thursday), and I have compared each one to ER.
BUT.
I am still incredibly invested in The Pitt and am finding myself loving it. I’m loving it for the same reasons I loved ER: the characters, the stories and the stakes. Noah Wyle is the only front-of-camera face that is the same, all the other cast members are new and even though it’s hard to separate Wyle from Dr. Carter (and probably always will), and he might even lean into that familiarity a little bit, the rest of the characters are so interesting, it makes him the one I am actually the least drawn to.
Particularly compelling are Isa Briones as a too-cocky-for-her-own-good resident, Tracy Ifeachor as a warm but no-nonsense Attending, Taylor Dearden (Bryan Cranston’s daughter) as a resident who does things a bit differently, Gerran Howell as a resident who can’t catch a break, and Patrick Ball, who seems poised to be the next Clooney. The whole cast is fantastic, including the ensemble of patients who stroll, roll, wheel or sometimes run through the emergency room.
There are so many similarities to ER, but those are mostly obvious. It’s what The Pitt does differently that makes it stand out. The format is the most obvious difference, and some may love it and some may hate it. The entire season tells the story of just one day, and each episode is in real time, that is, in one hour of that day, for example, the first episode is 7:00am – 8:00am. Episode 2 is 8:00am-9:00am. And so on. The good news is, if you binge this show and you’re into it, it will feel like a long movie and you will get really invested in these stories. The bad news is, if you don’t like these stories, you’re out of luck, because some of these stories literally take the entire season to play out.
Other differences are the pacing. ER was much more frenetic, The Pitt is much calmer, which is nicer in a lot of ways, to be honest, but it does make me a little anxious when I think about those 50+ people sitting in the waiting room as two doctors discuss lunch.
There’s really no music in The Pitt and the lighting/production design is much, MUCH brighter and whiter than ER. ER was on network television and The Pitt is on a streaming pay channel, so The Pitt can have cursing, nudity and plenty o’ graphic visuals, so prepare yourselves. Strangely enough, however, even though The Pitt feels more graphic, I remember ER being bloodier, but maybe that’s just me.
The one thing that is really different, so far, is that ER left the hospital. So far, The Pitt has been contained completely within the emergency room, and that is a big difference. Character development seemed a bigger priority with ER, but maybe The Pitt is just taking it a bit slower or approaching it in a different way, because I am getting to know these characters, it’s just being done in a much more subtle way. And I like it.
So, long story short: if you liked ER, you’ll likely love The Pitt. If you love great dramas, you’ll probably love The Pitt. Beyond all comparisons, there really isn’t anything else on TV like The Pitt at the moment (and it was even what all the stars were talking about on the Emmy red carpet). If ER had never existed, we all would be calling The Pitt the greatest thing ever created. But, unfortunately, we are only now calling it another show’s little brother. But it really is so much more than that. We should all give it a chance to breathe on its own and see how far it can go.
The Pitt debuted on MAX on January 9, 2025 and new episodes air every Thursday. It has been renewed for a second season.