From 'Dr. Kildare' to 'ER' and 'The Pitt': How TV doctors have evolved through the years

Since the earliest days of TV, there have been about two dozen prime-time medical series (most of them set in hospitals). 

Here are the most important, showing how they have evolved from the 1950s to today.

 

1950s

"Medic" (NBC, 1954-56)

This half-hour anthology starring "Have Gun Will Travel's" Richard Boone as the extremely unsmiling Dr. Konrad Styner, was briefly a sensation because of the tight focus on the disease-of-the-week format (and filmed in real Los Angeles hospitals) as well as graphic content (a baby was delivered in the pilot). Styner didn't always cure the patient — Beverly Garland and Lee Marvin starred in the opener as husband and wife, with her character succumbing to leukemia — but by the end of each episode, he'd light up a Lucky Strike, roll up his sleeves and dive into the next case.

1960s

"Ben Casey" (ABC, 1961-66)

One of TV's first antiheroes, Vince Edwards' intense, short-tempered neurosurgeon suffered fools not gladly. But that fraught bedside manner also allowed both hero and show to explore a whole range of social issues (including prejudice). Also created by "Medic's" James E. Moser, this hit established the template for future edgier medical series.

"Dr. Kildare" (NBC, 1961-66)

This was the warm, fuzzy bookend to "Casey" and starred Richard Chamberlain, whose Dr. Kildare was everything Edwards' Casey was not. Kildare even had a perfect father figure to help ground his idealistic impulses — Raymond Massey's Dr. Gillespie, the chief of staff at Blair General. "Kildare" had a sunnier outlook than "Casey," but their stars both became teen-idol material.

1970s

"Marcus Welby, MD" (ABC, 1969-76)

Robert Young, as the doctor-knows-best headliner, was kind, gentle, understanding and even made house calls in his fuddy-duddy 1969 Chrysler Newport. Reversing the mentor-mentee format of "Kildare," he had a much younger partner, the hotshot Dr. Steven Kiley (James Brolin) who made his house calls on a souped-up hog, a Triumph Bonneville.

"Medical Center" (CBS, 1969-76)

 CBS jumped into the medical/hospital genre fray, and — unsure which way to go — decided to go a few ways. "MC" essentially combined elements of "Marcus Welby," "Casey" and "Kildare," by having the impulsive young surgeon, Joe Gannon (Chad Everett) schooled by the older, wiser chief of staff Dr. Paul Lochner (James Daly). Gannon kept things lively; Lochner took down the temperature.

"M*A*S*H" (CBS, 1972-83)/ "Trapper John" (CBS, 1979-86)

You're not wrong — "M*A*S*H" doesn't seem to be a medical show in the strict sense ... except that it is. ("Hospital" is even in the title — Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.) The Korean War misadventures of Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) established the edge-heavy tone of later hits — -and, incidentally, established spinoff "Trapper John" with the title character (now played by Pernell Roberts) working as chief of surgery at San Francisco Memorial Hospital.

1980s

"St. Elsewhere" (1982-88)

Enter the hospital ensemble — and, incidentally, the genre's first (arguably only) cult classic. Weird, wild, wooly, great stuff happened at St. Wiggy's (St. Eligius), that beat-up Boston hospital full of memorable MD characters — Westfall (Ed Flanders,), Craig (William Daniels), Ehrlich (Ed Begley Jr.), Chandler (Denzel Washington) and Turner (Alfre Woodard). And to think this (they) all existed in an autistic kid's snow globe, as demonstrated in the show's final episode.

1990s

"ER" (NBC, 1994-2009)

By casting one of the longest shadows in prime-time history, every single hospital show that came after was shaped to some degree by this monster hit, which defies superlatives because there are so many. Extraordinary cast, writing, direction and 23 Emmys (including best drama in 1996) as proof. "The Pitt," of course, is its spiritual successor.

"Chicago Hope" (CBS, 1994-2000)

David E. Kelley's drama launched the same night as "ER" and (at first anyway) seemed destined for hospital TV glory. Not quite, but lots of memorable performances anyway from Christine Lahti, Adam Arkin and Mandy Patinkin.

2000s

"House" (Fox, 2004-12)

With its mystery-illness-of-the-week format, and dyspeptic genius doc (Hugh Laurie) who always cracked the case at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, this was an irresistible 21st century mashup of Sherlock Holmes and Ben Casey. House even had his Watson — Robert Sean Leonard's long-suffering Dr. James Wilson.

"Scrubs" (NBC, briefly ABC, 2001-10)

This hospital bromance between surgeons — Zach Braff's J.D. Dorian, and Donald Faison's Christopher Turk — turned the ER into a sitcom. Except not quite. There were plenty of emotional beats here, and some real-world accuracy too (The show was recently rebooted on ABC.)

"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005-present)

Impossible to summarize 21 seasons, but let's give it a shot: McDreamy; McSteamy; "It's a beautiful day to save lives" (Derek — Patrick Dempsey); that Post-it note wedding; "pick me, choose me, love me" (Meredith — Ellen Pompeo); Derek's death; "You are anything but ordinary, Meredith" (Derek — who else?) One of the greatest, soapiest TV rides of all time.

"Nurse Jackie" (Showtime, 2009-15)

Finally, a nurse as the anti-hero, Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco). Oh, but what an anti-hero: As the ER nurse at All Saints, she stole drugs, cheated on her husband, bent various hospital rules (or is the word "break") and was protected by the hospital OB-GYN Eleanor O'Hara (Eve Best).

2010s

"Chicago Med" (2015-present)

Launching Dick Wolf's "One Chicago" universe on NBC, "Med" has had more crossovers with those other "Chicago" shows than there are stars in the heaven. It doesn't get much Emmy attention but perhaps blame that on the Emmys — solid ensemble cast in a big city ER (fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center) with lots of real-world tangents and stories ripped from headlines.

"The Good Doctor" (ABC, 2017-24)

A little bit of "House," a little bit of "Grey's," this starred the neurodivergent "good doctor" Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) in TV's first portrayal of a surgeon who was on the autistic spectrum.

 2020s

"The Pitt" (HBO Max, 2025-present)

Just two seasons in and already making the case for best hospital drama in TV history, each episode covers one hour in a 15-hour shift, which so far have been brutal ones for ER chief Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch (Noah Wyle).