“The Pit,” which premieres Thursday on Max, is set in the emergency department of a Pittsburgh hospital. It's a noble, chaotic environment staffed by wise teachers and enthusiastic students, where monitors blare, bereaved families weep, and waiting rooms grow increasingly full.
There is an overwhelming sense of deja vu about everything. This is the elephant in the trauma room. Is this a sideways reboot of “ER” set only in Pittsburgh instead of Chicago? The show's creative team includes “ER” veterans, with creators R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells is one of the executive producers and directors. The film stars Noah Wyle, who is also the executive producer. It does seem like he wants to be “ER,” but that's not a big vice. Shouldn't everyone want to be an “ER”? But it lacks ideas, movement, energy and specialness. With 10 episodes available for review (out of 15), “The Pit” doesn't redefine the pace of television or pioneer its visual language.
Instead, it's a decent medical drama with promising episodes as it develops. It could be worse, but having Wiley as the star and beating heart of the show goes a long way. He plays Dr. Michael Robinavich, the boss and leader known as Robbie. This day is a difficult day as it is the anniversary of the death of the instructor and also the first day of school for a new group of students.
These newbies look like they were pulled from “Grey's Anatomy” rather than the “ER” folder. This is someone whose mother is a famous surgeon (Shabana Aziz). Here we have a sad sack guy (Jerran Howell) who is nervous and loses a patient during his first shift. And here's a cocky mean guy (Isa Briones) who's covering up for a bad childhood. These versions of Meredith, George, and Alex would also benefit from the Christina and Izzie versions.
The crazy thing about this show is that everything takes place during a 15-hour shift, and each episode of the show follows an hour of real time. When deployed on “24,” that gimmick provided the story's underlying urgency. In “The Pit,” the emergency itself provides the urgency, and the clock aspect only erodes the show's realism. Most hospital shows feature a pompous administrator who periodically stops by to complain about budget issues and harp on our heroes. The same thing happens here, but multiple times a day.
That day was also one of the most instructively good changes in human history, giving the characters the opportunity to correct the gender of transgender patients in their computer systems. Supporting homeless mothers who are worried they may need help. Identifying potential human trafficking victims. Addressing fatphobia within medicine. Addressing anti-Blackness in healthcare, particularly as it relates to the treatment of sickle cell anemia. Provide services tailored to patients with autism. Reject scolding as an educational method. Educate viewers about Freedom House Emergency Services.
But hey, when it's good, it's good. Robbie's advice to grown brothers and sisters grappling with their elderly father's final hours struck me with its appropriate and tragic beauty. In another scene, a mother cries over the body of her brain-dead teenage son, her cries so painful and powerful that all the other patients turn and utter a brief spell of unified sympathy. . The Third Doctor's character's enthusiasm for corny puns adds some fun personality to later episodes. When colleagues criticized Robbie for giving false hope to patients' families, he shrugged. “Hope is hope,” he says.
And to its great credit, The Pit looks like ER in every way, but it's not really a revival or reboot. (The estate of “ER” creator Michael Crichton disagrees and is suing.) Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces “The Pit,” said the lawsuit is “baseless.” ) This is common in this era of reboots. I was thinking, “Just make another show.” I thought the “reboot” aspect was greedy and misplaced, and that struggling to recapture the magic was a miserable and futile pursuit compared to trying to create something new. magic. I'd rather see “The Pit” resolve itself than see an “ER” revival with the premise of “Weekend at Barney.”
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