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The series, which wrapped up its first season, has built up a rabid following, with social media memes and fan crushes on its star, Noah Wyle.
If you’ve recently found yourself Googling complex medical terminology, fighting the urge to rewatch the 1990s drama “E.R.” or nurturing a budding crush on the actor Noah Wyle, you may be “Pitt”-pilled.
The new Max show “The Pitt,” which follows Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (played by Mr. Wyle) and a motley cast of medical workers during one chaotic 15-hour shift in a Pittsburgh emergency department as it unfolds hour by hour, has become a somewhat unexpected hit. With its first season ending on Thursday, fans are already hankering for more episodes, even though the second season — which will take place over 4th of July — will not be back until January 2026.
That’s because fans of the show don’t just like it — they’re seemingly obsessed. Not since the early days of another Max show, “Succession,” has a TV program inspired such social media ardor. Fans post fan from the show celebrating the “aesthetic” of the characters on TikTok, romantic fan fiction on Tumblr and out of context screenshots on X.
Kenzie Vanunu, the editor in chief and founder of Offscreen Central, a platform for female and nonbinary TV and film critics, said she started watching “The Pitt” after seeing ads for it around Los Angeles. “I actually grew up watching ‘E.R.’ with my mom,” she said. “So I saw a lot of the bus stop ads for it and I recognized Noah Wyle. I was like, ‘Oh, he’s back in a hospital.’ So I watched the first episode, and I was immediately interested.”
Ms. Vanunu now watches episodes as soon as they’re released online and posts live commentary and memes about the show on X.
The discourse on X is what convinced the film and culture critic Cody Corrall to watch late into the season. “I think it’s one of those shows where a lot of people are like, ‘It’s not really like my genre or the kind of show that I’m into,’ but there’s this sort of fan community that’s so organic in a way,” Mr. Corrall said. “I think it just had this sort of perfect storm of people talking about it and people making fan cams that totally convinced us. And now we’re obviously all watching.”
