Watching season two of “The Pitt,” which HBO Max renewed for a third season late Wednesday, it’s so clear that this is a series made by TV veterans who understand that to keep a show going it needs to be both the same and different.
“ER” veterans John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill know viewers came to love “The Pitt” in Season 1 for many reasons, but especially because of its characters, their relationships and the medical drama. Wells and Gemmill also know that as much as viewers crave more of the same, that will get old unless the writers inject new elements that complicate and add drama.
Wells and Gemmill found their complexifier for Season 2 in a new character, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), a Vulcan-like attending physician. Dr. Al, as she’s called, arrives from the VA to take the place of Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle), who’s a day away from leaving Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center on a three-month sabbatical.
Dr. Al clashes with Robby instantly: She’s a stickler for rules; Robby goes with his gut. She’s worried about patient satisfaction; Robby’s just worried about healing his patients. Dr. Al embraces artificial intelligence-generated chart notes; Robby rolls his eyes at the new tech because of its unreliability.
But Dr. Al is more than just a fly in the ointment. Sometimes her empathy stretches further than Robby’s. And those AI chart notes might save time and prove useful — if the doctors proofread them for errors.
While Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) is gone — her absence gets explained in expository dialogue in episode four — two medical students arrive: cocky Ogilvy (Lucas Iverson) and already over-it Joy (Irene Choi). Ogilvy gets in an instant know-it-all competition with Javadi (Shabana Azeez).
Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball), wearing a Penguins-logo hat, returns from rehab a changed man, less cocky and more contrite, quieter and frustrated over Robby’s lack of forgiveness.
“The Pitt,” streaming its season premiere at 9 p.m. Thursday, offers a textbook example of how to write a second season that sticks to what made the show great: Complex characters, a real-time format and medical cases depicted with an unwavering dedication to authenticity. (Some viewers might need to steel themselves for the case of a man who comes into the ER on his wedding anniversary with a completely uncensored case of priapism.)
When another hospital closes its ER for unknown reasons, sending overflow patients to PTMC, the Pitt staffers take bets on a reason for the closure: Fire? Flood? One staffer bets on lanternflies; another posits the cause is a sinkhole, which seems pretty Pittsburgh.
______________________________
Related:
• HBO hosts free coffee truck for AGH employees ahead of ‘The Pitt’ season 2• ‘The Pitt’ team preps season 2, local references abound
______________________________
‘The Traitors’
Ian Terry, a 2009 Shaler Area High School grad who won Season 14 of CBS’s “Big Brother” in 2012, competes on the fourth season of Peacock’s “The Traitors,” streaming its first three episodes at 9 p.m. Thursday .
Terry, a former physics teacher who now works as a consultant in Houston, Texas, competes in the Alan Cumming-hosted series against Colton Underwood (“The Bachelor”), NFL stars’ mom Donna Kelce, Dorinda Medley (“The Real Housewives of New York City”), Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, “Top Chef” host Kristen Kish, Rob Cesternino (“Survivor”), Lisa Rinna (“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”), actor Michael Rapaport, comedian Ron Funches, Stephen Colletti (“One Tree Hill”) and Olympic figure skater Tara Lipinski among others.
“The Traitors,” filmed in Scotland, is a murder-mystery game where some contestants are Faithful while others are Traitors whose goal is to eliminate the Faithful and claim the cash prize, up to $250,000, for themselves. The Faithful attempt to suss out who is a Traitor and eliminate Traitors from the game.
“I think that I’m a quirky dude,” Terry says in the season premiere, “but I’ve got a lot of good heart in me, and I’m here to have fun. However, there is nothing more fun than winning.”
A Peacock publicist declined to make Terry available for an interview in advance of the season premiere.
The show’s rollout includes two episodes Jan. 15, one episode weekly after that until the Feb. 26 season finale and reunion episode.
An official “Traitors” podcast launched this week hosted by Boston Rob (“Survivor”) and Bob the Drag Queen (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”).
WQED update
In addition to a revamped daytime schedule, WQED says it raised $3.8 million between August, just after Congress eliminated PBS funding, and the end of 2025, a $1.3 million (or 53%) increase in donations compared to the same period one year earlier ($2.5 million raised in the same period in 2024).
That does not fully replace the funds WQED would have received from the now-shuttered Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was due to give WQED $1.8 million this year. WQED also lost around $700,000 in funding from federal agencies, including the Department of Education.
Channel surfing
Fox’s “Fear Factor” revival, hosted by Johnny Knoxville, will now debut at 8 p.m. Sunday following the NFL wild-card game. … Netflix debuts a “Stranger Things” making-of documentary, “One Last Adventure,” Monday. … Jelly Roll, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Chrissy Teigen will be judges for Netflix’s revival of “Star Search,” streaming live episodes at 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays beginning Jan. 20. … Netflix’s “Queer Eye” returns for its final season Jan. 21. … Netflix renewed “Emily in Paris” for a sixth season. . … Netflix’s “Virgin River” returns for its seventh season March 12. … FX renewed “The Lowdown” for a second season. … HBO renewed “Real Time With Bill Maher” through 2028 with the show returning for its 24th season at 10 p.m. Jan. 23. …. “The Pitt” directors John Wells (“7 a.m.” episode), a Carnegie Mellon University grad, and Amanda Marsalis (“6 p.m.” episode) received nominations for the 78th “DGA Awards” to be handed out Feb. 7.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with a corrected amount of what WQED raised from August through December 2025.
