Noah Wyle is back in the white lab coat, this time playing Dr. Robby in The Pitt. This feels like a natural continuation of his 1994 breakthrough.

He's immersing himself in work, but he's doing exactly what anybody would be doing in his job on shift,' says Wyle.

A medical drama going for bracing realism is anchored by a strong central performance from a veteran TV doctor.

Possibly the best way to have watched The Traitors premiere. Noah Wyle is back in the ER, thank God! It’s 2024 and I’m still talking about the Chicago movie. The Real Housepresidents of the Funeral. Smiling during a hard time.

The Pitt,” on HBO’s streaming platform Max, is a weekly medical drama that emulates the kind of shows that have long been — and remain — a staple on network TV. It’s an instructive blueprint for other streamers to follow suit.

Noah Wyle returns to the emergency room in The Pitt, a great new hospital drama on Max whose season follows one day in a Pittsburgh ER.

“The Pitt” is the derisive nickname given to the rundown Pittsburgh hospital where Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Rabinavitch leads a dedicated team through the daily horrors and miracles that comprise an ER. In a Zoom interview, Wyle noted that this return was a choice with perhaps a sprinkling of earned wisdom.

That landmark show, lauded for its character-driven, gritty realism (which set the standard for future IV-infused TV) launched on NBC in 1994 and gave Wyle his breakout role as an earnest medical student,

Victoria Javadi (Shabana Azees) is a third-year medical student and fast-tracked prodigy who experiences an embarrassment on her first day but is determined to prove her worth. Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) is the charge nurse who has three decades of experience and knows at least as much about how things work as the doctors.

Consider this example both an enticement and a warning. Created by ER alum R. Scott Gemmill, The Pitt takes a ruthlessly realistic approach to its depiction of our beleaguered/broken healthcare system — but it’s also the most engrossing and addictive medical drama to come along since Grey’s Anatomy and, well, ER.