5 of the top Yinzer-approved moments from HBO Max hit ‘The Pitt’

HBO Max recently renewed its breakout hit “The Pitt” for a second season. Based in Pittsburgh and led by veteran actor Noah Wyle (who recently visited Pitt’s School of Medicine), the drama follows the emergency department staff of a city hospital through a particularly harrowing shift. Including a nod for outstanding drama series, the show’s debut season recently received 13 Emmy nominations. Wyle (outstanding actor) and co-stars Katherine LaNasa (outstanding supporting actress) and Shawn Hatosy (outstanding guest actor) each earned individual acting nominations.

Doctors and nurses have praised the show for its refreshingly accurate portrayal of life in a hospital. That’s thanks in part to Pitt’s Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, an assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine, who served as a consultant for the show’s writers. 

“For a lot of us, it’s hard to watch because it’s so real, but you make us appreciate what we do, and I just want to thank you for that,” Owusu-Ansah told Wyle during his campus visit. 

In addition to its breakneck pace and cover-your-eyes realism, “The Pitt” is also loaded with familiar Pittsburgh references, from Wholey’s and Mount Washington to the Pirates and the T. 

Best product placement

This one’s a toss-up between Episode 6, when doctors and nurses are treated to Primanti’s sandwiches in the break room, and Episode 15, when they celebrate the end of a shift by tossing back a few cans of Iron City in Allegheny Commons Park.

Best use of nostalgia

You can’t set a show in Pittsburgh and not reference “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” An early, multi-episode story arc involves a man who once helped to build sets for the iconic children’s television program. Fittingly, he takes his last breath in the ER’s pediatric unit, surrounded by murals 
of woodland animals.

Best Pitt connection

In Episode 8, doctors treat a genial patient named Willie who is so well-versed in medical jargon, they think he’s a doctor. Turns out, he was once a medic with Freedom House Ambulance Service, the country’s first emergency medical service. Founded by Pitt Professor Peter Safar and staffed entirely by African American trainees, Freedom House set the standard for emergency care in the United States.

“They were the heroes of the Hill District — a bunch of young Black dudes saving lives every day,” Willie’s son explains to the doctors, who are duly impressed.

Best sports reference

When two women in the ER waiting room get into a fight in Episode 9, an unsuspecting patient ends up in their crosshairs. “She’s got a left hook like Billy Conn,” the patient says, comparing one of the women to Pittsburgh’s light heavyweight boxing champ, the original “Pittsburgh Kid.”

Best Ohio joke

What Pittsburgher doesn’t love a good swipe at our neighbors to the west? When the attending physician played by Wyle suggests an ethically dubious solution to a resident’s problem in Episode 5, she immediately shuts him down. “Someone finds out I falsified medical records, I’ll get booted from the residency program,” she says. “You’ve got tenure. Worst case, you have to take a job in Youngstown.”