Among the many virtues of The Pitt is the way it demonstrates the power of hospitals as dramatic settings: inherently interesting, pressure-cooker environments bringing together people from all walks of life, in various states of distress. It’s such a great series, and has resonated so strongly with audiences, that every new hospital-set drama for the foreseeable future will be judged in its shadow.
This isn’t good news for shows like Stan’s six-part series The F Ward, which looks like amateur hour by comparison, with an airy, over-lit aesthetic and a pulse that never really comes alive. Plenty of tense scenarios play out in the central setting, with some flickers of intrigue here and there, though it feels very much like a “TV hospital” – familiar looking and broadly plausible but infused with an air of unreality.
