During Jack Bauer's worst day ever on "24" — nine days, or seasons, in total, each was worse than the next — he'd thwart assassinations, dodge terrorists, and prevent nuclear catastrophe. There was no time for food or love or sleep or any of the other creature comforts the rest of us normies require. There was a whole world to save. No time for naps. 

On "The Pitt," which earned a prime-time Emmy nod for best drama Tuesday, Noah Wyle's Dr. Robby Robinavitch's worst day ever unfolds over 15 hours instead of 24 — in both shows, one episode equals one of those fraught hours. Here the mayhem is in more concentrated form, compressed for streaming consumption, in one long nearly continuous and utterly chaotic take.

No one escaped that chaos this first season in the ER of the aptly named Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. As a mass casualty event unfolded (a shooting at a local music festival), Robby had a searing breakdown; ER charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) got punched by a crazed patient; second year resident Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif) tried to destroy her ankle monitor; and senior resident Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) stole drugs to manage his withdrawal from other illicit drugs he also probably stole. Poor Dana walked around with a black eye the last few episodes. Yet together they along with the rest of the crew still saved over 100 shooting victims (six died). All in nearly a day's work.

"The Pitt," which streams on HBO Max, is the most celebrated new series of 2025, and by "celebrated" I mean this is the one new series everybody seems to have an opinion about — invariably positive. Forget about the Emmys this September. To the growing fan base, it has already won.

People love "The Pitt" which is no small feat in this post-strike, post-COVID, post-peak TV era where true love has been hard to find. But why "The Pitt," why now? This is essentially a return to form (if not exactly a reboot of) "ER" (1994-09) where Wyle was, of course Dr. John Carter — baby-faced at first, but all grown up by the time he'd left in the 11th season. 

We also love this show because we know those familiar beats and rhythms so well, with the high drama in one instance followed by that deep settling slow take in the next. "The Pitt" pushed hard on that formula — maybe too hard — because "Grey's Anatomy" waited all the way until the sixth season before getting to a mass shooting, and "ER" until the 12th.

But "The Pitt" is better than the formula or mechanics that sustain it. The obvious reason is the lead himself. As Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch — in psychic pain, conflicted, overwhelmed — Wyle turned in the performance of lifetime (he too landed a nomination Tuesday). 

And just like "24," at the heart of "The Pitt" is a superhero story. Jack and Robbie are loners whose enemies aren't merely the obvious ones — terrorists, shooters, the remorseless passage of time — but the tangle of human life itself, which has entangled them. Yet as Pogo might add, Robby has seen the enemy and the enemy is also him.

In fact, his late-season meltdown wasn't his alone but that of every other striving, imperfect, feeling, thinking human being who has ever felt the full weight of the universe come crashing down. If Robbie (or Jack) can't overcome, then what hope do the rest of us possibly have?

"Life is hard," says first year resident intern Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) in one of the great understatements of this entire freshman season. Love is hard too, harder to find. But found it we have and we can't wait to see what Robby's next worst-day-ever will be.