The Pitt on HBO is one of the best new shows on television and, like The White Lotus, it’s a true water cooler show. It’s riveting, addicting and you want to know what happens next. Most of that is due to the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it quality of the show, which seems to capture the stress and drama of an emergency room in real time. It also seems incredibly accurate to a layperson like me. As I said in this week’s Gossip With Celebitchy podcast, I feel like I learned some things about medical conditions and procedures. It turns out that doctors love how accurate the show is, and appreciate that it gives their loved ones a glimpse into what they deal with at work. Medpage Today interviewed two ER doctors who watch the show. They also have an overview of how many medical experts The Pitt used to create such a compelling true-to-life series. It turns out that one of the co-producers, a former ER producer named Joe Sachs, still works as an ER doctor. That explains a lot.
Doctors were heavily involved in the creation of the new medical drama “The Pitt” — from determining medical storylines to helping with scene choreography — which many doctors say has resulted in a show that hits differently than other fictional forays into the emergency department.
The series takes place at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, a fictional emergency department in Pennsylvania, and each of the inaugural season’s 15 episodes covers 1 hour of a shift in real time…
Show runner and executive producer R. Scott Gemmill and co-producer Joe Sachs, MD, say they’ve received compliments on the show’s accuracy from many healthcare professionals since the series premiered in January.“Healthcare workers in emergency medicine say, ‘I’ve never been able to explain in words what I go through at work. I have never been able to tell people what my shift is like,’ and now they’re seeing it in real time,” Sachs told MedPage Today.
Gemmill and Sachs previously collaborated on “ER,” and were actually trying to reboot it, which fell through, leaving an opportunity to create a new medical show. Gemmill said they began to think: What’s a new way to tell the story? — which is how they landed on showing cases in real-time.
“Making it a real-time show essentially forced us to really dig into the medicine,” which has led to a different level of authenticity, Gemmill said. However, he cites Sachs as the show’s “secret weapon.”
While in medical school in California, Sachs also attended film school. Sachs says continuing to work as an emergency physician a few weekends a month keeps him connected. “There are things that happen that only a true insider knows,” Sachs said…
In addition to Sachs, many other physicians play a role in making “The Pitt.” While filming, they had emergency physicians on site to watch for discrepancies, help choreograph medical activity, and correct medical pronunciations. The show also had medical technical advisors and medical consultants supply writers with the technical details of medical stories. Gemmill and Sachs said their set designers, makeup and prosthetic artists, and prop team went above and beyond to make every laceration, bruise, and visual detail accurate.
There’s more in the full article, including quotes from ER physicians Dr. Dara Kass, who screens the show with her family and pauses it to explain the medical details, and Dr. Seth Trueger, who said the show hits too close to home and watching it feels like work. I definitely can relate to that, as I have a hard time watching certain shows that I need to see for my job. The Pitt does not fall in that category and I usually watch it on Thursday nights when it premieres. It took some getting used to, as it’s really frenetic and stressful. If you’re a fan of those type of movies, like Uncut Gems, Baby Driver or Run Lola Run, you’ll appreciate The Pitt. You also have to have a high tolerance for blood and gore.
Without revealing spoilers the last episode, number 10, featured a standoff between two senior physicians that had Emmy-worthy performances by both actors. I also want to give a shout out to a German emergency room show that has a similar vibe to The Pitt, Berlin ER on Apple TV. That premieres on Wednesday nights and is helping fill the void as I wait for new episodes of The Pitt. There are five left in this season. Luckily The Pitt has already been renewed for season two.
Photos via Instagram/Warrick Page and credit Getty
I have a nurse in the family. As opposed to some of the other more soapy medical dramas (which I’m not knocking), the look of satisfaction on my family member’s face when they diagnose or call something out, adds another layer of enjoyment for me!
My current favorite show, and Noah Wiley (forever Dr. Carter) has still got it. He’s a brooding cutie-patootie. He can come get it.
Yes he CAN!!! Love that show. Obviously mostly because of him <3
I’m willing to say this b/c they’re always willing to say how this was SUPPOSED to be an ER re-boot: I hope there will be another ER cameo at some point. The show is good and it holds its own but come on, throw us a bone! Anthony Edwards IS NOT DEAD in real life, people!
YES! I’ve been waiting for someone from ER to wander through all season. This is torture for all the olds in the audience (like me) who watched every episode of ER.
That would be amazing, but The Pitt creators are being sued by the ER team for making a show that appears to be to similar to the original.
Which IS a shame, because it’s brilliant and I love The Pitt/ER possibilities.
So it would actually be to their benefit to have Anthony Edwards pop by for a cameo!
Not only would he not be called “Dr. Mark Greene” but it would be an actor who is dead in the ER universe.
Thanks for the suggestion, will check it out!
No amount of accuracy can fully reflect the sme!is of an ER or OR.
I heard The Pitt is really good. But I am torn on watching it since it’s clearly an ER ripoff. With the same lead with Noah Wylie and producer team. That is going through litigation with Michael Crichton’s estate.
What is there to be torn by? It’s a show about a ER? Is no one ever to do a show about ER medicine ever again? Also fuck Chritchon’s estate.
You should watch it, it’s absolutely fantastic. Better than ER, and this comes from a true ER fan. I think you will like it A LOT.
I watched the pilot, but unfortunately, like the medical student in the episode, the blood and gore was too much for me. I need more relaxing fare at this point in time.