I watched a bunch of shows that aired on the 2025 TV schedule, but none of them hit me as hard as The Pitt did. The series set in a hospital’s emergency room is a grounded, raw and intense take on what it’s like to spend a day in the ER, and I was enraptured during every second of it. In fact, the show became my favorite program of the year, and a big reason why has to do with how it depicts and represents healthcare workers.
What Noah Wyle Has Said About Keeping The Pitt Authentic
As Noah Wyle has promoted The Pitt, he’s also made it clear that their goal is to make an authentic show. During an interview with PBS, the Dr. Robby actor broke down how they do that too, explaining:
And the process begins with a lot of interviews, talking to experts from every vector of the health care system. We talk to people that specifically help practitioners get back their medical degrees after they have gone on a road of recovery for a drug and alcohol substance abuse problem. We have talked to people that deal in human trafficking, people that deal with ICE and immigration and how that's going to affect emergency rooms, which are no longer considered safe spaces, sanctuary spaces.
Then, after they do that, they ask these people what they want to watch. That informs what they write into the story, as the 2025 Emmy winner explained that they want to know what is “not on TV that needs to be.”
He continued by saying that after they write the episodes, they hand them off to healthcare professionals and experts who write “all the technical mambo jumbo.” That way, they are able to create an entertaining story that’s also accurate and authentic.
For viewers like me, this gives us an educational experience within a very entertaining and high-stakes story. Meanwhile, for healthcare workers, it helps them feel represented and seen by mainstream media.
Healthcare Workers Praise The Pitt
As the HBO Max series aired earlier this year, and in the months since its finale, healthcare workers have been praising it left and right, proving how authentic it is. LA-based nurse, Dan Taylor, wrote about why The Pitt represents this profession so well for EW. Explaining how the show depicts the intense complexities of working in the ER, he said:
Our work is often not as succinct or perfectly straightforward as it has been depicted historically in media. And the landscape of healthcare has shifted so much in recent years. The sheer number of patients that we see is higher than ever. And now, having experienced a global pandemic, and a political shift away from science, the anxiety surrounding medicine itself has increased.
A massive part of Season 1’s conflict stems from the full waiting room. The tension that creates is palpable, and it ends up causing real problems, as one patient even punches the charge nurse, Dana, after waiting for hours. However, by watching the show, it’s clear that the workers are trying their best to treat everyone as fairly as they can. Sadly, it’s the system that is failing, not the workers, and these patients are letting out their aggression on the wrong people. This isn't just a problem in the show; it's a major issue in real life, too.
To that point, the nurse explained that The Pitt gets that message across in a very effective way:
So yeah, sometimes there are unbearable wait times, and so many moving parts that may not be clear to our patients and their families, and that can lead to misunderstandings and fear. We in the ER have to constantly mitigate these situations to minimize negative outcomes, and I appreciate that the show sheds some light on this reality.
Watching these doctors, nurses and more work themselves to the bone in Season 1 certainly gave me a much better understanding of just how hard it is work in the ER. It also highlights systemic issues hospitals are facing in ways that make it very clear just how hindering they are to the work these professionals are trying to get done.
On a human level, the story The Pitt tells is realistic and important. However, that’s not where the realism ends, because it’s also medically accurate. In more than one case, healthcare workers have praised the HBO Max show for how it depicts these technical situations. At one point, a nurse practitioner who works in a Washington DC ER told People that they were thrilled when Noah Wyle “finally” said the right thing right before they shocked a patient.
As someone who knows very little about how these jobs really work, watching The Pitt has been an illuminating experience. And knowing that it’s authentic and caring in its representation of these professions makes it even better. Plus, along with this series being heartfelt, intense and entertaining, it also has an important message that people need to hear.
Now, it’s almost time to clock in for Season 2 of The Pitt, which will hopefully be one of the best shows on the 2026 TV schedule, because it premieres on January 8 for those with an HBO Max subscription.
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