If you missed The Pitt the first time around, here’s your golden chance to catch up — Season 1 is coming to TNT ahead of the explosive Season 2 debut on HBO Max this July. The countdown is on, and the drama is about to get even more intense. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss a single twist.
‘The Pitt’ Just Got a Huge Release Update Ahead of Season 2
If you’re one of the few people that haven’t been able to check out The Pitt on Max because you don’t have a subscription to the streaming service, you’re in luck. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere next January, Season 1 of the hit medical drama will air on the TNT network this fall. Debuting earlier this year, The Pitt stars Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, and follows the emergency department staff at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital as they navigate a 15-hour shift.
News of The Pitt‘s premiere on TNT was made today by Warner Bros. Discovery at their Upfront presentation in New York, though it wasn’t specifically stated when it would air. However, Channing Dungey, chairperson and CEO of the Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks noted that when it does, it will have an event-like feel:
“When we put Max programming on the T-nets, we want to make sure that we’re telling the audience, ‘this is something special, you want to tune in for this,’ And so we want to make sure that the schedule reflects that kind of event feel, and that we can make it feel consistent. And so people will hopefully tune in, and we can build a real cadence around it.”
Taking a cue from the classic FOX series 24, The Pitt takes place in real-time, with each episode representing one hour in the emergency department. Upon its debut, the series was lauded by medical professionals, not only for its accurate depiction of life inside an ER, but for the way it showed the pitfalls of the American healthcare system. Critics and audiences loved the series, as it’s Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95% rating, while its Popcornmeter sits slightly lower at 84%.
This Isn’t the First Time WBD Has Aired HBO and Max Content on Cable
Max
News of The Pitt airing on TNT shouldn’t come as a surprise, as WBD has already tested the strategy in the past. True Detective: North Country was broadcast on TNT, while Hacks made its way to TBS. “Those were really good experiments for us,” Dungey said, adding:
“We’re learning a little bit about how to platform the shows, how to make them feel more like an event. These have been some very good learnings for us as we go towards The Pitt launch in Q4 this year. Doing things like that is great for us, and it also is helping Max as well. If it drives viewers to Max for the new season, that’s a win/win.”
Other streaming platforms have also found success with the same strategy, as Paramount+ aired the first season of Taylor Sheridan’s crime drama Tulsa King on CBS last year before the premiere of Season 2, which helped boost their subscribers. In addition to The Pitt, WBD will most likely air Season 1 of Peacemaker on TNT as well before the Season 2 premiere this August, but details on its broadcast premiere have yet to be confirmed.
If you’ve yet to check it out and do have a subscription to Max, be sure to catch all 15 episodes of The Pitt streaming now, otherwise you can wait for its debut on TNT this fall.
