For the past decade or two, the pinnacle of TV has been this concept of “prestige television.” These are typically thought of as shows with higher production values, lower episode counts, and more dense storytelling. And I love prestige TV, with some of my favorite shows being The Leftovers, Succession, Better Call Saul, and The Haunting of Hill House.
But somewhere along the way of chasing prestige TV, many networks and streamers lost sight of making… regular TV. Sometimes after a long day of taking tests at school or working your job, you don’t want to be greeted with something aiming for prestige. Sometimes you just want TV to take your mind off of things. And that doesn’t mean these other shows are somehow inferior, they’re just truer to the original model of the form – more episodes, more B-plots, and likely more lights turned on.
Thankfully, two new shows have managed to capture the magic of non-prestige TV in a couple of the most tried and true formats, the hospital drama and the political thriller.
First, Max’s new show The Pitt stars Noah Wyle as an emergency room doctor. Every episode of The Pitt follows one hour of time, and the whole season will equate to one 15-hour shift in the ER. With a fun cast, traditional hospital show hijinks, and an absolutely commanding lead performance from Wylie, The Pitt reminded me of just how rewarding a hospital show can be.
If political thrillers are more your speed, Hulu’s new show Paradise re-teams This Is Us creator and head writer Dan Fogelman with star Sterling K. Brown to tell the admittedly bonkers story of a Secret Service agent working to uncover the truth behind the assassination of the president, played by James Marsden. I don’t want to give the big episode one turn away, but as any This Is Us fan can tell you, Fogelman is a master of television sleight-of-hand, revealing absurd twist after absurd twist to create something compelling and eminently watchable.
Both The Pitt and Paradise are traditional TV offerings, delivered via the traditional week-by-week TV release schedule. And I will be tuning in to both every week.
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