Max's newest original medical drama is officially a runaway streaming hit, after previously scoring with Rotten Tomatoes s to the tune of a 91% audience score. Launched in 2020, Max offers an array of movies and shows plucked from WBD’s extensive library of content, including iconic HBO series. The streamer’s slate of original dramatic shows may be small, but it includes numerous interesting projects by major filmmakers.

No less a figure than Ridley Scott contributed to the former HBO Max's very first original drama series, the strange sci-fi excursion Raised By Wolves. The streamer has since explored a variety of other genres with help from some big names in movies and TV. They did true crime with 2022’s buzzy The Staircase, starring awards-season darlings Colin Firth and Toni Collette. Also in the true crime space, 2023’s Love & Death was penned by TV veteran David E. Kelley, and starred Elizabeth Olsen. The streamer even took a trip to Yakuza-controlled Japan with Michael Mann's real-life crime drama Tokyo Vice.

The Pitt Is One Of The Top 5 Most-Viewed Premieres In The History Of Max Originals

It’s A Hit Both Globally And Domestically

2025 sees Max still ticking items off its checklist of genres, hitting the medical drama space with its newest series, headline the Pitt cast, dropping the first two episodes on January 9, with new installments arriving weekly thereafter.

Max’s The Pitt season 1 is indeed proving a big hit with subscribers already, posting one of the top 5 biggest premieres in the history of Max originals, both globally and domestically (via The Wrap). After its two-episode premiere, the Wylie-led drama in its first week saw its viewership increase tenfold, double the growth rate of the streamers' other series.

What This Means For The Pitt And Max

The Streamer Hopes It Found The New ER

ER was a game-changer when it hit NBC back in the 1990s, bringing a greater realism to the classic medical drama form, much as the contemporaneous NYPD Blue did to the cop show genre. Grittiness and edge help make The Pitt realistic as well, as the show endeavors to capture the hour-by-hour goings-on in a bustling emergency room, with a level of graphic - and sometimes downright gory - detail befitting a 2025 streaming series.

The Pitt producers were sued last August by the widow of ER creator Michael Crichton, who claims Crichton's heirs are owed money from what they argue is essentially an ER reboot.

It’s yet to be seen how things shake out for The Pitt, but early returns suggest Max has a major hit on its hands. The streamer has already produced a signature comedy in Hacks, whose fourth season is set to arrive in 2025. Perhaps their gritty hospital-set pulse-pounder can step up and become the first ongoing Max drama series to make major waves, both in of streaming numbers and awards.

Source: The Wrap