For more than three decades, medical dramas have been mainstays of prime time TV and premier titles on streaming services.

ER started the trend in 1994, with a young and charismatic George Clooney as Dr Doug Ross leading the effort to save patients’ lives. Grey’s Anatomy took the baton and has just been renewed for its 22nd season.

Many others have come and gone but very few have reached the heights of those two shows – until The Pitt that is.

The Pitt, produced and starring former ER star Noah Wyle, follows the crew of an emergency room in Pittsburgh. Each episode tackles one hour of the day crew’s shift, starting with the first episode beginning at 6 am and the final at 9 pm.

This may seem like a bit of a gimmick but, by about the halfway mark of the first episode, it becomes clear that it is the perfect way to put the viewer in the shoes of an ER first responder.

Wyle returns to his medical drama roots, this time as the hospital’s attending doctor Dr Michael Robby.

He is our lead through and through. We see him pick up his morning coffee in the opening of the first episode and share a beer with his colleagues in the final minutes of the last.

Dr Robby is dealing with his own personal stresses following the death of his mentor during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and now has blocked himself off from sharing his feelings with his staff, which includes senior residents Dr Langdon and Dr Collins, charge nurse Evans, a bunch of junior residents and a handful of students on their first placements.

Each episode takes us through the eyes of different doctors in different roles. The senior residents are always on their toes, trying to give advice to their students. The nurses trying to navigate aggressive patients are frustrated with long wait times, and students are trying to stomach working in an ER for the first time.

What stands out is the episode format. Episode one is so different from episode eight and again from the finale, episode 15.

The series is less about drama and more about being a legitimate peek behind the curtains of the daily struggles of running a hospital.

The cast of patients star anywhere from one or two episodes to all the way through the show, depending on the severity of their condition.

It is about as authentic a show as I’ve seen.

Yes, there is drama here throughout and there is a particular event that occurs about two-thirds through that may deter some from finishing but it has a sense of realism.

The drama comes with the doctors trying to save their patients and the students coming to terms with the fact that they can’t save everyone.

Dr Robby balances teaching the students these lessons with meeting patient satisfaction, saving his own patients and dealing with clear PTSD that formed during the pandemic.

It’s brilliant because it’s timely and untapped by other forms of media.

I recommend watching this show in as short a time as possible. It feels like you are working the shift alongside these doctors. If you feel exhausted watching it, remember medical professionals deal with this reality for days on end.

Put simply, The Pitt is TV perfection.

Its writing is tight, its premise is brilliant, its acting is top-notch notch and, despite looking phenomenal, it is cheap to make, making it a darling for its production studio HBO.

A second season has already been announced and I’ll be there night one to watch without spoilers.

Every episode of the first season of The Pitt is now streaming on Australia’s newest streaming service Max (HBO Max).