Medical dramas as a tried and true TV genre, and there are a number of them currently on TV. I'm a hardcore Grey's Anatomy fan, who had continued to watch new seasons on ABC and streaming with a Hulu subscription. I've finally begun watching The Pitt on HBO Max, and there are a few reasons why that new drama feels like classic Grey's. Let's break it down.
The Pitt Season 1 is available now for those with a HBO Max subscription, and I've spent the last few days binge watching it. While it's thrilling to see Noah Wyle return to the genre, I'm really feeling the same vibes of early Grey's Anatomy. Namely because there is such a huge focus on the medicine of the Emergency Room.
The Pitt Is All About The Medicine
Because early years of Grey's Anatomy were focused on surgical interns and their education, the medicine was key. Meredith, Cristina, Alex and the rest competed for surgeries, and to show their breadth of knowledge. And along the way their cases would reflect back their own personal lives and move a larger story forward.
While The Pitt does have compelling lead characters, the medicine and work of the hospital is more of a focus than their personal lives. This is something I've felt was missing for some time on Grey's. While there's always new patients, they're rarely featured multi-episode arcs the way the show did in its early seasons.
Since The Pitt isn't on network TV, it's also to shore more horrifying gore and graphic surgery footage than Grey's. That, as well as its format that's like a medical version of 24, and The Pitt is thoroughly bingeable.
Plus, Perfect Penny is in the cast.
Aside from their obvious, similarities The Pitt also harkens back to classic Grey's Anatomy with its casting. Namely Samantha Sloyan, who played Dr. Penny Blake throughout Seasons 11 and 12. This time she's on the other side of things, as the mother of a patient who goes brain dead during Episode 2. Her grieving process is a recurring plot line throughout Season 1, and I loved seeing the connective tissue with Grey's.
Nowadays Sloyan is best known for her work on Mike Flanagan projects like Midnight Mass and Fall of the House of Usher (both of which are streaming with a Netflix subscription). But she'll always be Perfect Penny to me, Callie's girlfriend and one of the doctors responsible for McDreamy's death. So seeing her back in a medical drama was an unexpected delight in catching up on The Pitt.
The Pitt was already renewed for Season 2, and the first is streaming in its entirety on Max as part of the 2025 TV schedule. Hopefully we get even more Grey's Anatomy connections in the next batch of episodes.
