In a genre dominated by the classics like ER and long-running titles like Grey’s Anatomy (currently in its twenty-first season), Max medical drama The Pitt has become somewhat of a dark horse.
Showered with stellar reviews and already renewed for a second season, The Pitt recreates the tension of a single day in a Pittsburgh hospital. The 15-hour work shift plays out in 15 pulse-pounding episodes, the workplace chaos mirroring the intensity of The Bear’s kitchen nightmares and The Studio’s one-take moviemaking madness.
So, expect waiting rooms filled to the brim with patients, med students passing out at gnarly sights, and an understaffed medic team racing against time. For a show almost entirely playing out in a hospital, The Pitt’s newly converted fans would wonder about the locations that double for the series’s many emergency rooms and care facilities. More importantly, the question of the hour: Is the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital ER (aka ‘The Pitt’) real?
What is The Pitt about?
Premiering this January, The Pitt stars ER alumnus Noah Wyle as senior emergency physician Dr Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch as he grapples with a single 15-hour work shift.
Each of the 15 episodes covers one hour of this arduous shift, with Robby and his overworked staff combating staff shortages, underfunding and post-pandemic blues.
With its real-time approach and Wyle’s committed lead performance, The Pitt has become a streaming sensation, defying the usual sappy hospital drama tropes. Yes, Robby is a doc with a lot of emotional baggage of his own, but he also has an arduous day ahead of him that unfurls in binge-worthy chaos.
Where was The Pitt filmed?
The medical drama was mainly filmed on an LA soundstage, along with some real-life hospitals making brief appearances. And yes, for a series called The Pitt, Pittsburgh also features. Despite each episode’s reported $5 million budget, the series kept location costs under control thanks to its single-setting storyline.
Los Angeles
The heart of the action lies in a Warner Bros. sound stage in Los Angeles, one of many that the studio keeps ready for network television. The stage works as the hospital’s Emergency Department for the show’s intense, Steadicam-style sequences.
With a budget of over $5 million per episode, HBO chairman and CEO Casey Bloys told Vulture that there wasn’t much of a debate on filming elsewhere or shooting in more affordable locations like Canada (where Max’s streaming hit The Last of Us was filmed).
Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh
Three days of filming were also devoted to Pittsburgh’s actual Allegheny General Hospital. The institution dates back to 1882 and stands in for the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. Allegheny’s entrance is used with new signage along with its helipad.
The standout rooftop scene from the pilot episode was also shot here with Dr. Robby and Dr. Abbott (Shawn Hatosy). With Pittsburgh’s East Coast skyline in the backdrop, Abbott contemplates taking his life as he stands dangerously close to the edge of the roof. This is the result of yet another gruelling shift in the Pitt. Spoiler alert: Abbott survives as Robby sarcastically remarks, ‘If you jump on my shift, that’s just rude, man.’
Pittsburgh
Many other real-world environments in Pittsburgh feature throughout the series, particularly in the opening episode, as we see Robby head to work. Before he starts his hellish day shift at the hospital, Robby is greeted with establishing shots of the Steel City waking up to work.
Some aerial views also give a wide-scale look at the Pittsburgh skyline with glimpses of plenty of skyscrapers, such as the 64-story US Steel Tower, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Mellon Institute (which stood in for Gotham City Hall in The Dark Knight Rises).
Who stars in the show?
Noah Wyle (ER) returns to the medical drama genre as Robby, a senior physician grieving the death of his mentor, who died during the pandemic. In a move that would impress Hugh Laurie’s Dr House, Robby’s idealism in the workspace also comes with brutal honesty and sarcastic bluntness. Battling his own demons and leading an understaffed team, Wyle’s Robby is an unlikely hero in a very real setting. Wyle previously broke out as the medical student-turned-resident doctor John Carter in ER, earning three Golden Globe and five Emmy nominations.
The rest of the cast includes Tracy Ifeachor (The Originals) as Dr Heather Collins, a senior resident who’s usually displeased with Robby’s impulsive nature, and Katherine LaNasa (Truth Be Told) as Dana Evans, a nurse in charge of the ED. The series’ medical ensemble also includes newcomers like Patrick Ball as Robby’s right-hand, Dr Frank Langdon, and Supriya Ganesh as Dr Samira Mohan, a third-year resident.
Will there be a second season of The Pitt
Yes, season 2 has already been commissioned on the back of its massive US ratings.
Where can I watch The Pitt?
All 15 episodes of The Pitt season 1 are streaming on Max in the US and Binge in Australia now. There’s no firm date for a UK release yet.
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