‘The Pitt:’ Addictive TV drama where the nurses are portrayed by Filipino actors

By Wendell Gaa

“The Pitt” is a supremely excellent and highly addictive TV medical drama. I find it to be one of the most innovative series in its genre in succession to its classic predecessors “St. Elsewhere” and “ER.” 

Just like the latter series, “The Pitt” stars “ER” alumnus Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, a senior attending physician who oversees and helps supervise a team of a hospital Emergency Department staff as they battle the overwhelming challenges of 15-hour work shift at a fictional trauma medical center in Pittsburgh. Hence, the title “The Pitt.” Each episode is set in real-time format and covers a one-hour period of the work shift of all the hospital staff members, a viewing style very reminiscent of “24,” another favorite addictive TV series of mine from the 2000s.

An interesting aspect I find about “The Pitt” which makes it stand out as a series is how it highlights ethnic inclusivity amongst its hospital staff without coming across as being too forced, contrived or even “woke.”  Rather, each cast member — from the doctors to the nurses and to the surgeons — are portrayed as realistic everyday human beings naturally fighting the good fight in helping to save lives, and the matter of either their cultural or religious background does not feel like an issue.

And just like in “St. Elsewhere” and “ER,” this series conveys a graphic and gritty pragmatism in each episode in the struggles of the trauma center team to keep their patients alive, some of whom make it, some of whom don’t.  Having undergone a minor albeit non-serious surgery myself on the operating table late last year, the unafraid intense visual scenes of incisions conducted on the hospital patients here hit pretty close to home.

This is also the first medical drama I have seen which significantly casts Filipino healthcare workers in leading and competent roles, most noteworthy are FilAm actors and characters: Isa Briones as Dr. Trinity Santos; and Kristin Villanueva and Amielyn Abellera as nurses Princess Dela Cruz and Perlah Alawi, respectively. 

Of these three, Dr. Trinity Santos most definitely stands out as an attractive young up-and-coming, slightly overeager, and ambitious yet good-hearted medical practitioner.  I for one am definitely excited to see how Isa Briones further progresses both as an actress and as a character on “The Pitt,” for without trying to sound bias given that she is one of our own, she represents everything about why I find “The Pitt” so engaging as one of the best new series of the 2020s thus far, for as audience members we feel as if we are also along for the ride with her on the path to career success. 

Nurses Princess Dela Cruz and Perlah Alawi are also pleasing to watch especially as they occasionally converse with each other in Tagalog, yet another sign of today’s increasingly internationalized TV pop culture climate. 

Leading actor Noah Wyle is of course another big anchor of the show and a prime reason why I love watching “The Pitt.”  I remember watching his character Dr. John Carter on “ER” evolve over the years from being a young idealistic and sometimes naïve medical student in that show’s early seasons from the 1990s, to a seasoned attending physician by the time of the series’ end in 2009.  His journey on that classic medical drama is in some ways reflective of the current one of young Dr. Trinity Santos.

Simply one of the best TV series to come out in recent years, “The Pitt” is already an Emmy-winning series, and available for streaming on HBO Max.