10 Shows Like The Pitt, Because There’s A Dr. Robby-Sized Hole In Your Life Now
They don’t star Noah Wyle, but they’ll do.
If you haven’t watched The Pitt yet, what are you even doing with your life? (OK, OK, maybe you were finishing White Lotus.) It’s ushering in a new wave of medical drama fans who, once they wrap up the 13 episodes in Season 1, are hungry for more shows like The Pitt to fill the Dr. Robby-shaped hole in their evenings. You’re probably aware of how many primetime medical dramas have come and gone over the years, but not all of them have been winners with critics or viewers. These are the ones with the best ratings and the most recommendations from critic sites and the most critical site of all, Reddit.
The Pitt has been heralded as the most realistic medical drama ever — by actual doctors, nurses, and ER staff. Noah Wyle stars as Dr. Michael “Robby” Rabinavitch, an ER doctor at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital with each episode covering one hour in real time of the characters’ 15-hour shift. It covers all the modern-day pitfalls of working in health care, from a nursing shortage affecting staffing and patient care to the trauma the staff experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But if you’ve already watched every episode and need your next fix, here are 10 more shows like The Pitt.
01ER
You can see young Noah Wyle in action as Dr. John Carter in ER. It aired from 1994 to 2009 and followed the personal and working lives of a group of doctors at County General Hospital in Chicago. You may have heard there’s been a lawsuit filed by Sherri Crichton, the widow of ER creator Michael Crichton, against Wyle over his new show, which he created after apparently first planning an ER reboot with Crichton.
Stream it on Hulu and Max.
02Grey’s Anatomy
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. If The Pitt was your first full leap into the medical drama genre, then you should go back and watch its foundational text, which would be Grey’s. It has 21 seasons already with No. 22 in the works, and no signs of stopping. It follows Meredith Grey and a group of other young doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital (formerly Seattle Grace Mercy West), though as you might gather from this Season 21 trailer, they’re not lowly interns anymore. The vibe is definitely a bit more soap opera-like, which can be jarring after the grittiness of The Pitt, but now you know.
Stream the first 20 seasons on Netflix and Season 21 on Hulu.
03The Knick
Clive Owen can do no wrong, and he’ll pull you right into The Knick, a period-piece medical drama mashup set in the early 1900s. The show follows Owen’s character, Dr. John Thackery, and the rest of the staff of The Knick — a fictionalized version of the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City, which cared for predominantly underprivileged patients.
Stream it on Max.
04This Is Going To Hurt
Dry humor, accents, and an OB-GYN angle? Sign me up. This Is Going To Hurt is based on a memoir of the same name. Main character Dr. Adam Kay and his team take us through their grueling days in the labor and delivery unit, where birth, life, and death happen all day, every day.
Stream it on Sling.
05Transplant
This show aired in 2024, so it’s a newer release like The Pitt. The premise: Dr. Bashir Hamed is an experienced emergency medicine doctor from Syria who flees his country for Canada, but his medical degree doesn’t transfer. He’ll have to start his medical education all over again, beginning a residency at a hospital with the biggest emergency department in Toronto while trying to make a better life for himself and his younger sister.
Stream it on Peacock.
06Five Days At Memorial
This mini-series is not for the faint of heart — it’s a fictionalized retelling of the real-life events at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans immediately following the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Vera Farmiga plays Dr. Anna Pou, who had to make life-or-death decisions for her patients far outside the scope of medicine amid rising floodwaters, a heat wave, and no sign of help coming to save them.
Stream it on Apple TV and Prime Video.
07Code Black
There is a documentary by the same name this show is based on. In Code Black, the busiest ER in America is absolutely overrun with patients, and their resources can’t match the need, resulting in a code black. Watch as Dr. Leanne Rorish, senior nurse Jesse Sallander, and a team of other doctors and residents face insurmountable odds but try to save lives anyway.
Stream it on Prime Video.
08The Night Shift
Anyone in health care knows that day shift and night shift are not the same. This show follows a motley crew of doctors and nurses on night shift at San Antonio Memorial as they grapple with running a hospital in the American healthcare system while trying to actually save lives. Many of the characters have a military background and also struggle with PTSD, which comes into play.
Stream it on Prime Video and AppleTV.
09Nurse Jackie
ER nurse Jackie Peyton is the most dedicated nurse you could ever want, who does everything in her power to help her patients navigate a broken healthcare system. But that wears on a person, and Jackie has a secret addiction to Vicodin and Adderall to help her cope. Will it threaten her job, and maybe even her life? You’ll have to watch to find out.
Stream it on Philo and Prime Video.
10Adolescence
It’s not a medical drama, but hear me out. Adolescence is a lot like The Pitt in that the show occurs in real time. You quite literally follow the characters through time; there are no cuts from one scene to the next. And you’ll get some of that same procedural feel in the first few episodes while watching the detectives and a forensic psychologist work.
Stream it on Netflix.
Which series will you binge next?
