If you loved The Pitt, here are 5 best ER episodes to watch

After The Pitt season finale premiered on April 10, 2025, fans of the Pittsburgh Medical Emergency Room are craving more medical dramas. The Pitt has been renewed for a second season, which is reported to air in January 2026, but until then, fans of the show can keep up with the medical dramas by going back to the original medical drama that forever changed the TV landscape.

The genre of medical drama has been evolving for a long time, from ABC's The Good Doctor, Doctor Odyssey, and Grey's Anatomy, which seems never-ending, to Fox's House, but the original medical procedural series E.R. was the one that popularized this genre in the first place.

It helps that The Pitt has borrowed a lot from the E.R., including its lead actor, Noah Wyle, who played John Carter in E.R. 30 years ago. The show was conceived by E.R. alums John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill, and Wyle as an executive producer. It cannot be disregarded that the appeal of watching Wyle in scrubs again was partly responsible for the show's success.

Here are 5 episodes from E.R. that you can watch to cure your The Pitt withdrawal.

5 best E.R. episodes to watch if you loved The Pitt

The E.R. was critically acclaimed with several Emmy nominations and wins as well as a fixed spot in the top 5 ratings for its first 8 seasons. The show was responsible for jump-starting several acting careers, including George Clooney's, who appeared as a pediatrician on the show. Here are a few episodes that you can watch to enter into the E.R. world, and the show is available to stream on Hulu and Max.

24 Hours (Season 1, Episode 1)

When it comes to pilot episodes, the Rod Holcomb-directed pilot for E.R. was an absolute masterpiece. This two-hour premiere of the series has everything, from the fast-paced chaos and precision of surgery to the slower moments of connections between its characters. The plot of the show is pretty simple, spread across 24 hours in County and different cases that come into the emergency room while introducing us to the cast of the show. Fans of the gruff and in-control Dr. Robby from The Pitt will be surprised to see him as an anxious med student struggling to keep up with his fast-paced environment.

Love's Labour Lost (Season 1, Episode 19)

Even though this episode has come under scrutiny for its inaccurate depiction of a worst-case childbirth scenario, the episode still remains one of the most powerful and tragic episodes among all of the E.R. The high-stakes misdiagnosis of a pregnant woman by Dr. Greene causing a C-section is a horrific tragedy well depicted by the show. The episode centers around this one particular case and flows like a drama where Bradley Whitford plays the woman's husband in an hour of television that just cannot be written off. So, if you're in withdrawal from The Pitt and looking for an episode to get into the series, this can be a great option.

Hell and High Water (Season 2, Episode 7)

If Wyle from The Pitt has risen to fame after his stint at the E.R., it is nothing when compared to George Clooney's rise to fame after his appearance as a guest star in this episode of E.R. He was the first of the many iconic stars who appeared on the show, causing it to branch outside of its staff. Clooney plays Doug in this episode, a doctor who is about to be fired because of his constant rule-breaking in the hospital but avoids this fate by saving a young boy who is trapped in a drainpipe. His heroic actions make him the local hero, and his charismatic and snarky character a nationwide favorite.

Night Shift (Season 3, Episode 11)

This episode is one of the greatest examples of the brilliant construction of this show. The episode manages to bring together so many individual stories seamlessly under the umbrella of staff clashing with their superiors. From the nursing department, an equally important part of the department, to Greene and Benton's plotlines in this episode, they come together beautifully to form this episode with one of the biggest cliffhangers. Fans of The Pitt will love this episode for its compelling dynamic of the medical personnel balancing their professional and personal lives.

Of Past Regrets and Future Fears (Season 4, Episode 20)

Generally, E.R. episodes would be made up of some light cases surrounding a major plot, but none were as heavy or traumatizing as Hathaway's efforts for Paul (played by Michael Paraport) in this episode, making it a great choice to watch after The Pitt. Paul's final hours, as he cannot be saved, are spent with Hathaway as he helps the dying man mourn for his life and his lost family. The sensitivity and beauty portrayed in this single episode, put together with Clooney and Margulies' romantic scenes in this episode, put it above all else when it comes to a beautiful episode.

These were some of the greatest E.R. episodes that you can watch to cope with the end of The Pitt.

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