Have you heard? The Pitt ! If your instinctive reaction to that exclamatory prompt wasn’t responding “ The Pitt !” with gusto, perhaps you haven’t yet thrown yourself into Max’s instantly compelling new medical drama. Like my colleague Kathryn VanArendonk , I also “found myself powering through The Pitt with so much delight that I became actively annoyed when I had to pause to watch something else,” because also like Kathryn, I was privileged to receive early screeners of the first ten episodes, which I mowed through in less than three days and then became instantly despondent that the final five episodes of the season were not available to me. I was addicted to The Pitt , a show whose propulsive hour-by-hour storytelling structure is tailor-made for a binge-watch experience.
It’s also tailor-made for a weekly viewing experience, which is how Max has chosen to roll out the season for general audiences (who are surely and understandably annoyed with me for flaunting screener privilege right now). The Pitt is an intense show, its nearly real-time structure careening from one stressful emergency scenario to the next, only occasionally pausing to wallop us with an inevitable yet emotionally devastating moment of mortal tragedy. I emerged from my binge energized by the show’s right-out-of-the-gate greatness, but also emotionally exhausted and slightly dehydrated.
Taking a week to recover between episodes is probably advisable, but a difficult sell to the newly Pi.
