HBO's new medical drama The Pitt isn't just a hit with critics — doctors themselves say it's the most realistic medical show they've ever seen, according to Pittsburgh Magazine.
Medical shows have long been a television staple, but aren't always committed to accuracy. These five legendary shows — from least accurate to most — might help you finally answer the hypothetical question of whether you'd let a TV doctor perform surgery on you.
5 Grey's Anatomy. After 21 seasons, Grey's Anatomy is famous for screen doctors doing things that would get real doctors arrested or fired. A doctor becomes engaged to a patient and then unplugs his life support. A doctor operates on a co-worker in secret (twice).
4. Nurse Jackie. The titular character, Jackie Peyton, juggled a high pressure job in a New York City hospital with a secret opioid addiction. Jackie never seemed to experience consequences for her increasingly outrageous behavior.
3. House M.D. Viewers loved the Dr. Greg House, a cantankerous pill-popping genius with a knack for solving medical mysteries. But House's conduct would have ended his tenure at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital. A point in House's favor? The science was usually accurate.
2. ER. This NBC juggernaut ran for 15 seasons and, coincidentally, also starred The Pitt's Noah Wyle. But as one Soliant Health physician pointed out, the doctors at the fictional County General performed CPR incorrectly all the time.
1. Scrubs. This long-running sitcom remains beloved for the way it portrayed the culture of teaching hospitals and the way attending physicians, residents, and interns work together. Doctors and nurses have true-to-life job responsibilities, and characters are shown as human beings who need to blow off steam in a stressful environment.