Really enjoyed this from longtime Chicago Tribune critic Nina Metz. I've been thinking a lot about how this feels like a really traditional TV show from a bygone era (with, of course, some modern conventions), and you don't get a lot of shows like that anymore. It's interesting to see Metz connect that to broader trends in media consumption.
I think this chunk kind of sums it up:
Yes, the characters and their connections are important. But “The Pitt” is a snapshot of their worklife on one day, there’s only so much interpersonal drama the story can support. If viewers want more, there are 22 seasons and counting of “Grey’s Anatomy” for the watching.
That’s not what “The Pitt” is doing, and applying this kind of fandom energy to it is screwy.
I think it’s happening because some viewers don’t know how to watch a show like this, because they have no real experience with it. I have to assume they grew up primarily watching streaming shows that were written as puzzles to be solved, with a narrative culminating in winners and losers.
Has that warped expectations? Or how younger generations engage with storylines?
Here’s one observation I saw:
The problem with most critical thinking today — whether watching TV or movies or reading books or whatever — is that most people think good creators are trying to deliver answers, when they’re really just posing interesting open-ended questions. This doesn't necessarily mean they aren't guiding your feelings and emotions toward certain possibilities or themes, but merely that you should never feel settled in one perspective.
by MCJokeExplainer
27 Comments
Most people are pretty simple white hat black hat types. That gets turbo charged online.
I watch The Pitt because I want to see highly competent doctors and nurses save lives. I also watch because there is a debate for every single patient, to intubate or not
I don’t care if a doctor is hooking up with a surgeon on the DL
Fandom is so fucking annoying. I wish people could enjoy things without turning them into their wholeass annoying personality.;
Stay off the internet. Most people aren’t obsessed with saying characters are good or bad
It’s so weird to me that a show like The Pitt has such a vocal fandom about the morality of characters, when the majority of characters on the show are doctors who are saving people’s lives.
It’s not just this show
Because they treat the show like it’s an integral part of r/Fauxmoi or r/popculturechat
I usually hate these shows because of personal drama bullshit that I don’t care about. The Pitt stuck with me because it has none of that.
The worst thing a TV creator can do is listen to their online audience. Keep the core focus. Stay the course. Don’t listen to the fandoms.
Man, so this is going to be the thing that we have articles about every week.
I think the best summary of it is “the Pitt is a prestige show with a CW audience.”
The “fandom” does not have to be right. In fact, the more popular the show, and the more polarizing the topics presented, the more toxic elements begin to surface within the fandom.
My favorite question I saw was someone asking why Robby is still in the hospital since its 8pm and past his shift as if Robby didnt spell it out to Duke last episode lol. Its become more apparent that people just watch shows and movies with a phone in hand..otherwise that kind of question wouldn’t even need to be asked lol. He wasn’t subtle at all about why.
The most insufferable fanbase since Taylor Swift
Puriteen culture where virtue signaling and demonizing anyone deemed problematic is the norm.
I think there’s also a factor here that online discourse tends to funnel discussion into extremes. You see it in a lot of other mediums where everything is either great or trash and the idea that you can still enjoy things that are imperfect and flawed seems the somehow a more radical idea than discarding an entire thing because it’s not perfect.
The characters in The Pitt are all flawed and imperfect. But they are also capable of growth, kindness and decency because that’s humanity.
Generally I would say a vast majority of fans aren’t participating in this pissing match. They’re just off enjoying the thing.
Hot take…
The issue is this show attracts an audience that
wants characters to be more morally clear as bad or good cause thats how they view the world.
You either have th3 correct values fully or you are bad.
We seen this in a lot of tv shows where characters are very one dimensional lately and get trolled outside these demos as so basic and dumb.
Reality is the main character and many others say the right things publicly but privately also deeply flawed…annoys them as they dont have nuance.
“Dr Al pushed AI tech so she must be bad but wait she is nice and compassionate….nooooooo!
They are used to moral absolutes in today’s culture wars and political debates.
Just gonna go ahead and file the Pitt in my brain as “shows I enjoy but am cool telling no one about because of weird ass fans” alongside Rick and Morty and pro wrestling.
I had no idea fandom were so weird. Luckily I don’t engage in fandom talks in basically any show so I avoid these….
Social media thrives on creating division. More extreme opinions get more views. Every time we pause and react to something that we emphatically oppose, we begin to see more of that not less of it. Because they’re measuring engagement, not just what we prefer to see. So measured, nuanced thorough in-depth discussion gets less and less time in our schedules.
This is just the downside of more amplified discussion I think. The Pitt is deliberately made with its week to week viewing in mind so there’s more discussion going on for it than even the bigger binge release shows. More talk means even more heat naturally. I think sentiment across social media has gotten generally negative so it’s a bad combination these days.
Where the fuck is this even happening besides Reddit? Damn people used to be allowed to be inconsequentially stupid without rattling tv writers.
Does this show have a segment of fans who finding out art imitates life and in that pursuits does portray humanity’s inherent flaws?
Another show proving that fandoms destroy what they love.
And don’t really get because one of the things that makes this show good is that there is no “good” or “bad” character in a traditional sense – sure, Robby sucks but we love him. Santos is a bitch but is lovable af. Dana is just the show’s truest representation of Pittsburgh. Lol
DECADES of TV that did just that trained people. It takes time and work and a willingness to be untrained from it. Don’t hold it against people when often, it’s all they know.
Because every fandom does this.
Online Fandoms get way into the weeds and rarely actually represent the audience.
The fandom isn’t even that bad, lol. No death threats are being sent to anyone and no one is accusing the actors of being in PR relationships. Doesn’t even make it into the top 100.