A MARTÍNEZ, BYLINE: Last year, the show "The Pitt" followed doctors and nurses through a 15-hour emergency room shift. It won all sorts of awards. Well, it's back tonight, and the new season is set on a day notorious for emergencies.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE PITT")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Welcome back.
KATHERINE LANASA: (As Dana) Took some time. Plus, who else is going to get this place through the Fourth of July?
MARTÍNEZ: That's just one of the handful of shows our critics are looking forward to this month. Linda Holmes and Aisha Harris are both hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. They're with us now. Linda, let's start with "The Pitt." And I understand that that was one of your favorites last year, so remind us why this hospital show stood out from all the other hospital shows.
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Yeah. This was the Emmy winner for best drama series last year. It was also my favorite show of last year. It follows an emergency department at a big Pittsburgh hospital hour by hour. So each episode of the first season was one hour out of the same day. The second season is set on a different day, months later. It has an exceptional cast, this show, led by Noah Wyle. It's very compassionate toward the doctors and the nurses and the rest of the staff, and to the patients as well. It's often funny. It's often really moving, and it's just very well-made across the board.
In some ways, it is a very traditional show. It's a show about doctors and nurses and staff treating patients who kind of come and go. But there's a lot of nuance and intelligence in the way they portray the health care system, and they try really hard to be, I think, a lot more accurate and realistic than most medical shows. So this tends to be the rare medical show that, in my experience, medical personnel often actually enjoy.
MARTÍNEZ: I mean, Linda, it's Noah Wyle in scrubs in a hospital. I mean, that is TV gold. He's proven that. So what do we know about the new season?
HOLMES: Yeah. As you said, it takes place on the Fourth of July. So, you know, that's going to involve challenges like heat and parties and fireworks that the doctors will have to deal with. It's Dr. Robby's last day - that's Noah Wyle's character - before he goes on a sabbatical for a few months. And as the day goes on, you can kind of see that he really needs the break because he's kind of at his limit.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Is this your last shift?
NOAH WYLE: (As Dr. Robbie) For a while, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Maybe he's trying to outrun some old ghosts.
SHAWN HATOSY: (As Dr. Jack) There's going to be a lot of time to self-reflect. Sure you can handle that?
HOLMES: There's also a new attending who's going to be covering for him while he's gone. And she's very different from him, so it's hard for him to see her getting ready to take over this job that's such a big part of his identity. He's protective of the staff. He's kind of stubborn about the way he thinks things should be done. And while there's not the same kind of mass casualty event they had last season in the episodes that I have seen, which is not all of them, there are some unexpected problems that lead to the ER being overwhelmed and force everybody to improvise, which is kind of part of what makes the show entertaining.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Absolutely. All right. So that's tonight on HBO Max. Also tonight, there's a reality show returning on Peacock.
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ALAN CUMMING: Backstabbing, betrayal and murder. A twisted new season of "The Traitors" is finally here.
MARTÍNEZ: OMG. Backstabbing, betrayal and murder - "The Traitors." Aisha, for those of us who have not watched this before - and if you haven't watched, why? - can you just describe the premise here?
AISHA HARRIS, BYLINE: Yeah. So this is - if - I don't know if you've ever played the party game Mafia. It's kind of similar to that. A bunch of contestants - sometimes celebrities, sometimes just regular civilians - they're striving to hold on to their spot in this giant mansion and win a cash prize at the end. And everyone's assigned a role as either a traitor or faithful. But only the traitors know which team everyone is on, and so they have to keep their own identities a secret. Alliances are formed. Deception is rampant. And most contestants will either be banished or murdered, as Alan Cumming says, by the time it's all said and done.
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CAROLINE STANBURY: Lisa would run her grandmother down.
YAM YAM AROCHO: Very sketchy, sketchy, sketchy.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, when it comes to backstabbing and betrayal, usually the Real Housewives, whatever city they're from, are really good at that. But tell us who is competing this time around - any names we know.
HARRIS: Yeah. I mean, this is a very eclectic bunch, even for this show. One of the names people might recognize is Donna Kelce - she's the mom to NFL players Travis and Jason - but also, as you've mentioned, Real Housewives from various cities, including Porsha Williams this season, Monet X Change from "RuPaul's Drag Race." And then we've got Olympic figure skaters Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. So really, really a grab-bag bunch here.
MARTÍNEZ: It's a nice mix. Can't wait to see who is the traitorous - the most traitorous of all of those names. All right. So we've got a hospital show, a reality show. Up next, "Industry," which is an investment banking show.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "INDUSTRY")
KEN LEUNG: (As Eric) But the work is ugly. It's antistatus quo, antiestablishment, antipower.
MYHA'LA: (As Harper) Which part of that is meant to be a problem for us?
MARTÍNEZ: So, Aisha, I gather this is not an advice investment banking show.
HARRIS: No, not at all. I mean, this is kind of like a soapier version of "Succession," another HBO show. It started off as this series with Gen Z-ers front and center at a fictional London-based trading firm. Since then, it's kind of sprawled out beyond that to intersect with British government, media, the financial tech world.
And when we last left things off in season 3, Harper, who's played by Myha'la, has managed to partner with a more experienced and major power player who's just as unscrupulous as she is. Also, her frenemy and former colleague Yasmin, played by Marisa Abela - she married this man-child billionaire. And then their former boss, Eric, who's played by Ken Leung, was unceremoniously ousted from the firm. And so season 4 picks up not too long after the end of season 3. I mean, it's definitely keeping that ruthless dark energy going, based on the few episodes of that season I've seen so far. And that premieres Sunday on HBO.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Sounds scrumptious. Linda, I understand next week we'll be seeing something brand-new on Netflix. This one is a mystery from one of the biggest names in mystery.
HOLMES: Yeah. It's probably not surprising in light of the success of the "Knives Out" series that Netflix is continuing to make mysteries. This one is an Agatha Christie adaptation called "Seven Dials."
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MIA MCKENNA-BRUCE: (As Lady Bundle) I'm not going to stop until I find out the truth.
HELENA BONHAM CARTER: (As Lady Caterham) People who go looking for trouble usually find it.
HOLMES: Dun, dun, dun. It's set in 1925. It starts with a death that happens at a fancy party - very Agatha Christie. There's a young woman nicknamed Bundle who sets out to figure out what happened. That one will be out next Thursday. The cast includes Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman. So, you know, if you're a mystery person, they've got something for you.
MARTÍNEZ: And I'm a fan of HBC - Helena Bonham Carter. I'm very, very happy to see her in anything. All right. That's Linda Holmes and Aisha Harris. They're hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. Thanks, you two.
HOLMES: Thank you.
HARRIS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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