I haven't watched all the top-ranked television shows of 2025 so far, but The Pitt certainly is in the conversation as the best new program of the year.

Noah Wiley has never been better and what makes this Pittsburgh emergency room drama so scintillating is the focus on each hour of their shift along with a brilliant cast.

The BBC writes:

Noah Wyle gives a shattering performance as the department head, the dedicated, harried, emotionally wracked Dr Robbie, still traumatised after failing to save his mentor during the Covid-19 pandemic. He is surrounded by other doctors and a group of students and interns, each adding a different dimension, from Supriya Ganesh as a brilliant medical prodigy to Isa Briones as an abrasive intern and Taylor Dearden as the caring Dr Mel, whose neurodivergence makes her especially empathetic with her patients.

Unlike most medical shows, The Pitt never lets their personal melodrama overwhelm the focus on their work. Each absorbing, fast-paced episode takes place in real time during one 15-hour-long shift, and each veers between the devastation of losing patients and the relief of saving them. You'd think a series so blunt about death would be depressing, but instead The Pitt is exhilarating in its focus on people for whom life and death are everyday events.

I've written that episode three of the great series "Adolescence" was my top episode of the year so far, but episode 12 of The Pitt was exhilarating.

Open thread and keep the crash cart ready...