Netflix’s Pulse needs to learn one huge lesson from The Pitt

Another medical drama? In this economy? Netflix has gone for it regardless, but compared to Max’s breakout show The Pitt, Pulse has totally missed the mark.

Personally, I haven’t moved on from the glory days of 90s ER. George Clooney was a dashing young thing in a white coat, and the show established the formula all future hospital shows would follow. Still, it’s been more than 20 years since ER ended, and my God, have we seen a tsunami of fictional surgeries in its wake.

While the biggest of these is obviously Grey’s Anatomy, you’d think there wasn’t any scope left for a newbie to sneak in and stick. This is where Max’s new TV show, The Pitt, has proved us wrong, taking the streaming service and social media by storm by putting a new spin on a well-worn formula. 

But what about Netflix’s latest series, Pulse? It’s coming into the fold two months after The Pitt shot out of the gate and quite literally has the weight of the medical world on its shoulders. Now I’ve binged the full 10 episodes; there’s one key reason why Pulse isn’t even in the same league. 

The Pitt commits where Pulse doesn’t 

Max

Let’s do a quick side-by-side of the two shows. The Pitt takes its time focusing on one shift, with each of the 15 Season 1 episodes following a different hour during the course of the day. Our Pittsburgh hospital looks like somewhere we could easily roll into to get a broken arm checked, and our ensemble’s performances are sensational (probably because ER alum Noah Wyle knows his way around a hospital bed). 

We’ve also got the added adrenaline of a mass shooting taking place at a local musical festival. Introduced in Episode 12, the storyline will likely span until the Season 1 finale, taking the unspoken dread some of us feel on a daily basis and making it into a terrifying reality. No expense is spared – it’s bloody, it’s explicit, and it’s shocking.

Then we have Pulse. It’s another example of Netflix getting too comfortable with the idea that soap opera equals success. That might work in Virgin River and Ransom Canyon but in a hospital? Running on the unbelievable isn’t going to win people over.

On top of this, we’ve got some cosmetic issues (which in itself is hilarious, given how many plastic surgeons feature in this thing). The hospital is very obviously a set, none of our cast is particularly likable or worth investing in, and the CGI looks like something out of a Sharknado movie.

It’s tried to go big with its terror, too, settling on the ER operating through a vicious hurricane. By Episode 4, it’s basically cleared up, leaving trashy romance and relationships nobody cares about staring us in the face.

So why has Netflix decided to play it cheap when it’s competing in such a crowded genre? I’ve honestly got no response to this one. Sure, it’s no secret the streaming service has been losing subscribers and canceling its existing shows like there’s no tomorrow (even if it is still making money), but that still doesn’t explain a half-hearted approach to something that could bring in the big bucks. 

If Pulse gets a second series, I’d be surprised. I’m lucky I don’t have to review the show because all 10 episodes blur into an indistinguishable weekend I won’t remember. The smart business decision would be to invest money where it’s working… and I don’t think it’s working here.

All of this leaves The Pitt free to run away with the award for best new medical drama of the 2020s. That’s hardly going to be a category at the next Golden Globes, but with Season 2 and a spinoff already locked in, what’s stopping it? Netflix can’t always win the war, and nor should it.

The Pitt and Pulse are now available to stream on Max and Netflix respectively. For more, check out new TV shows streaming this month, the best TV shows of the year so far, and anticipated 2025 releases you cannot miss.