I hadn't thought of it this way, but it's an interesting point of view. The show has no downtime, no breathers. Even a private psychological breakdown hiding in an empty examination room gets barged in on. There's no time to parse or digest anything, so things are spelled out for you. That's the TikTok effect. If everything is cranked up to 11, you get numb watching it, which is actually a reflection of what social media does to us too. It flattens out experience. Instead of engaging with it intellectually, the way you might with 'Pluribus' or 'Severance', you're busy memorizing cool acronyms. There isn't even time for the soapier elements the older generation medical shows always had. Behind the medicine was another layer (romantic tropes, etc.) made to humanize the doctors and add another layer of interest. Shows like 'House' would pause the medical plot for philosophical arguments, sarcastic banter, moral debates or quiet character moments. Those pauses gave viewers time to process what just happened.
By contrast, 'The Pitt' appears to be designed around continuous escalation. It has elements signaling depth, like fast food imitating food. The fact that it solves multiple streaming platform dilemmas at the same time forced the show to become a new business model, and that means we are going to continue to see this kind of industrialized TV storytelling.
I kind of agree and disagree with what you said, but yeah, this is really interesting from your perspective. I watched Season 1 last month, and I’m waiting for Season 2 to finish so I can start it after it ends.
The sudden cuts and what you’re calling a short attention span aren’t really that. It’s more a way of showing the chaotic environment of emergency wards. A few friends of mine who have worked in the emergency department said the same thing - things are really chaotic there, especially when there aren’t enough doctors and patients are waiting outside. You have to treat them while also handling emergency patients. Things can become very complex and overwhelming.
If you watch stories about people who worked in the army and spent most of their time in a war zone, their life after leaving the army can feel very dull. If someone made a series about their lives, we wouldn’t say it was made for people who just want to hear the sound of grenades and guns to feel a rush of adrenaline.
I hope you understand the connection I’m trying to make. Although your connection and showing your perspective of things, I really liked.
There can be more than one reason for why the show is delivered the way it is.
The relentlessness perfectly mimics the feel of an ER, albeit from an omniscient viewpoint. It also mimics the texture of doomscrolling. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
Interesting. I hardly watch television, but my girlfriend got me invested in The Pitt and... let's just say more than one binge session followed. I also don't use TikTok or consume much short form video. Yet The Pitt hooked me.
Two things can be true at once. But if it was designed for TikTok brains I hardly think it was conscious. This is just the way the majority of brains work now. That being said: this is an authentic way to portray the chaos of an ER room in difficult times. I've worked in quite a few restaurants and, though the stakes are obviously much lower, it's a similar type of chaotic environment at times. So I completely recognized the accuracy of this type of environment... flowing from one storyline to another, one patient to another... eerily accurate to a busy night in the dining room! Your brain simply adapts to the chaos and you hop from person to person, task to task.
Also, I don't think the context really switches in The Pitt like it does on TikTok. It's all the same hospital. Same shift. Same room. I never had trouble juggling storylines. It all rings accurate to how I imagine the real experience must be.
Either way, we agree on something: excellent television!
I started watching it at the very beginning. After I'd watched a few episodes Loren, my husband, started watching. He still watches but I stopped long before the end of season 1. Analyzing that from your perspective is interesting because neither of us engage in ANY kind of social media. Ever. But he's an ADD guy and I am the polar opposite. Hmmmm.
I’d offer in contrast the show “Young Sherlock,” which I had to turn off 10
minutes in due to the frenetic and haphazard jump cuts. It isn’t the pace; rather, it’s writing supported with compelling and authentic acting. The pace is supposed to be reflective of a real ER
My wife loves the show and I have found myself watching small parts of it from another room. What's good about this post is that you don't claim to have cracked the code oof the bad guys and are therefore warning all of us about the secret plan. You love the show. I have to assume that you also enjoy things that move at deliberately slower paces. I recently watched The Leopard (1963) for the first time and thought it was great--but it's the opposite of The Pitt: deliberate, building, three hours ... I sometimes fear that attention spans are being rewired so that films like The Leopard (and 2001 and a hundred others) will never again be made.
If you like The Pitt, check out the film Boiling Point: one take, all stress, great drama.
Thanks so much and great call — the films and shows that struggle straddle the fence like Humpty Dumpty and inevitably fall. In this our dopaminergic world, it’s vital to pick a side (long or short), stick with your choice, and make great art. Compromise is nothing more than the fastest way to quick death or lasting irrelevancy.
Lastly, thanks for the recommendation — I’m going to check out Boiling Point this weekend!
Excellent! LMK what you think! (And if you don’t dig it, I won’t be disappointed, LOL.) It may be on Pluto or something with a million ads—in which case, I’d recommend renting it for the $4 because it’s all one unbroken take.
Great post! Haven't seen The Litt, but I'll try it. The slippery slope appeared several decades ago, epitomized by the distance between Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street. The former gently paced and thoughtful, the latter perhaps seeming slow now but at the time frenetic. I thought then that, despite its awards and popularity, Sesame Street was shortening attention spans.
That's really interesting. I never thought about putting those two shows besides one another to analyze their respective pacing. Moving to yet another genre, Saturday Night Live likely thrives because of the freneticism/absurdity inherent to sketch comedy.
All that being said, I wholeheartedly recommend the Pitt. Although, as I wrote, I'm entirely unsure why.
I hadn't thought of it this way, but it's an interesting point of view. The show has no downtime, no breathers. Even a private psychological breakdown hiding in an empty examination room gets barged in on. There's no time to parse or digest anything, so things are spelled out for you. That's the TikTok effect. If everything is cranked up to 11, you get numb watching it, which is actually a reflection of what social media does to us too. It flattens out experience. Instead of engaging with it intellectually, the way you might with 'Pluribus' or 'Severance', you're busy memorizing cool acronyms. There isn't even time for the soapier elements the older generation medical shows always had. Behind the medicine was another layer (romantic tropes, etc.) made to humanize the doctors and add another layer of interest. Shows like 'House' would pause the medical plot for philosophical arguments, sarcastic banter, moral debates or quiet character moments. Those pauses gave viewers time to process what just happened.
By contrast, 'The Pitt' appears to be designed around continuous escalation. It has elements signaling depth, like fast food imitating food. The fact that it solves multiple streaming platform dilemmas at the same time forced the show to become a new business model, and that means we are going to continue to see this kind of industrialized TV storytelling.
And yet, just like junk food, I can’t get enough!
Love the bit about Aurelius as precursor to doomscrolling
Thank you my friend!
I kind of agree and disagree with what you said, but yeah, this is really interesting from your perspective. I watched Season 1 last month, and I’m waiting for Season 2 to finish so I can start it after it ends.
The sudden cuts and what you’re calling a short attention span aren’t really that. It’s more a way of showing the chaotic environment of emergency wards. A few friends of mine who have worked in the emergency department said the same thing - things are really chaotic there, especially when there aren’t enough doctors and patients are waiting outside. You have to treat them while also handling emergency patients. Things can become very complex and overwhelming.
If you watch stories about people who worked in the army and spent most of their time in a war zone, their life after leaving the army can feel very dull. If someone made a series about their lives, we wouldn’t say it was made for people who just want to hear the sound of grenades and guns to feel a rush of adrenaline.
I hope you understand the connection I’m trying to make. Although your connection and showing your perspective of things, I really liked.
There can be more than one reason for why the show is delivered the way it is.
The relentlessness perfectly mimics the feel of an ER, albeit from an omniscient viewpoint. It also mimics the texture of doomscrolling. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
“You are always being pulled somewhere new. In a way, the ER is a perfect metaphor for the feed.” — I agree!
I'd say it's 24. Although Dr Robbie is a lot nicer than Jack Bauer.
A great call! It definitely borrows from that template.
Interesting. I hardly watch television, but my girlfriend got me invested in The Pitt and... let's just say more than one binge session followed. I also don't use TikTok or consume much short form video. Yet The Pitt hooked me.
Two things can be true at once. But if it was designed for TikTok brains I hardly think it was conscious. This is just the way the majority of brains work now. That being said: this is an authentic way to portray the chaos of an ER room in difficult times. I've worked in quite a few restaurants and, though the stakes are obviously much lower, it's a similar type of chaotic environment at times. So I completely recognized the accuracy of this type of environment... flowing from one storyline to another, one patient to another... eerily accurate to a busy night in the dining room! Your brain simply adapts to the chaos and you hop from person to person, task to task.
Also, I don't think the context really switches in The Pitt like it does on TikTok. It's all the same hospital. Same shift. Same room. I never had trouble juggling storylines. It all rings accurate to how I imagine the real experience must be.
Either way, we agree on something: excellent television!
Every nurse I know hates this show
Interesting! All the nurses that I know appreciate the respect and importance it sheds on the profession.
I liked the first 15 mins I watched with my fiancée but that was as long as she could stand. Maybe I'll watch it in secret.
I started watching it at the very beginning. After I'd watched a few episodes Loren, my husband, started watching. He still watches but I stopped long before the end of season 1. Analyzing that from your perspective is interesting because neither of us engage in ANY kind of social media. Ever. But he's an ADD guy and I am the polar opposite. Hmmmm.
I’d offer in contrast the show “Young Sherlock,” which I had to turn off 10
minutes in due to the frenetic and haphazard jump cuts. It isn’t the pace; rather, it’s writing supported with compelling and authentic acting. The pace is supposed to be reflective of a real ER
It sounds dreadful!
My wife loves the show and I have found myself watching small parts of it from another room. What's good about this post is that you don't claim to have cracked the code oof the bad guys and are therefore warning all of us about the secret plan. You love the show. I have to assume that you also enjoy things that move at deliberately slower paces. I recently watched The Leopard (1963) for the first time and thought it was great--but it's the opposite of The Pitt: deliberate, building, three hours ... I sometimes fear that attention spans are being rewired so that films like The Leopard (and 2001 and a hundred others) will never again be made.
If you like The Pitt, check out the film Boiling Point: one take, all stress, great drama.
Great post.
Thanks so much and great call — the films and shows that struggle straddle the fence like Humpty Dumpty and inevitably fall. In this our dopaminergic world, it’s vital to pick a side (long or short), stick with your choice, and make great art. Compromise is nothing more than the fastest way to quick death or lasting irrelevancy.
Lastly, thanks for the recommendation — I’m going to check out Boiling Point this weekend!
Excellent! LMK what you think! (And if you don’t dig it, I won’t be disappointed, LOL.) It may be on Pluto or something with a million ads—in which case, I’d recommend renting it for the $4 because it’s all one unbroken take.
It sounds absolutely DREADFUL.
I can’t stand videos and this sounds like non-stop videos.
Wouldn’t you rather watch something that makes you think a little tiny bit?
Great post! Haven't seen The Litt, but I'll try it. The slippery slope appeared several decades ago, epitomized by the distance between Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street. The former gently paced and thoughtful, the latter perhaps seeming slow now but at the time frenetic. I thought then that, despite its awards and popularity, Sesame Street was shortening attention spans.
The Pitt
That's really interesting. I never thought about putting those two shows besides one another to analyze their respective pacing. Moving to yet another genre, Saturday Night Live likely thrives because of the freneticism/absurdity inherent to sketch comedy.
All that being said, I wholeheartedly recommend the Pitt. Although, as I wrote, I'm entirely unsure why.