Fall into The Pitt

#005

So sorry this week’s HYPERFIX is coming at you in the evening! Honestly? I am in an intense Duolingo battle right now with a guy who will NOT stop trying to come for my #1 spot. My usual writing time had to go to that. Obviously.

This week, let’s talk about The Pitt, three new true crime documentaries and other TV things. Also, if you’re in NYC or LA, I have some shows coming up. Look at that beautiful Flex line-up.

Upcoming Comedy Shows

Get tickets below:

2/27 - Los Angeles - The Elysian Theater
3/6 - New York City - FLEX at Knockout Women’s Comedy Festival

The Pitt (Max)

I switched up my Substack because I didn’t want to focus on TV anymore. It’s not my fault that TV is so fucking back, I have no choice but to tell you about it.

I’ll admit that all of YOU told me about this one, actually. I was slow to watch this. I wasn’t in the mood for another hospital drama. As I’ve said many times, I still watch Grey’s Anatomy. A few people on Bluesky begged me to check it out. Thank god for them. I love The Pitt. This show is incredible.

It’s not ER. It’s not Grey’s Anatomy. It’s The Pitt. Each episode is one hour in the day of a group of ER doctors and medical students. Noah Wyle plays Dr. Robby, a near perfect man. We follow him on the anniversary of his mentor’s death. He’s clearly not over it. He’s tense. He’s on edge. He’s also the best goddamn doctor they’ve got. He’s basically Meredith Grey.

I fell in love immediately and watched 7 episodes in a day. Watching it is an experience, so I don’t want to say too much. Go watch it, we’ll have a real discussion after the finale.

NECESSARY DOCUMENTARIES

I watch too many documentaries. Here are my thoughts.

American Murder: Gabby Petito, 2025 (Netflix)

The latest installment of American Murder takes on the Gabby Petito case. I’ve enjoyed this series. American Murder has done a great job centering the stories of victims and working with families. The other two installments, Laci Peterson and The Family Next Door both seek to correct the record to defend Peterson and Shanann Watts. Gabby Petito’s documentary attempts to do the same, to mixed results.

Because this case is so recent, most people know the details. Instead, they focus on Gabby as a person through her friends and videos. This is one of the better parts of the documentary, though there’s some controversy there. Gabby’s family allowed them to use her letters and text messages. Rather than hire a voice actor to read them like most true crime docs, American Murder used AI to recreate Gabby’s voice. Her family also approved of that, but it definitely brings up some ethical questions.

I don’t mind the use of AI here. I can understand if the family didn’t want to hear actors try to sound like their daughter. Netflix has gone too far before, though. In the documentary What Jessica Did, they used AI to create fake pictures of her. That’s not okay. That’s just unethical. An AI voice to read texts and letters the person actually wrote? It’s different.

People on Twitter said they should just show the text and let people read it so that the victim’s “voice isn’t stolen.” Well, first of all, Netflix would hate that because they know you’re looking at your phone and not the TV screen. Then there’s y’know, people who struggle with reading. And people who are vision impaired and use audio descriptions on their TV. It feels like this reaction is mostly driven by people hating all things AI. I also hate all things AI. At the same time, I cannot understand why people have an issue with this, but had no issue with voice actors doing it for decades. Were they “stealing the victim’s voice”?

Outside of the AI issue, this doc is great at laying out the full story. It mostly lets the evidence speak for itself. The full bodycam footage when the cops pull them over is difficult to watch. Some new details are shared around the timeline, but it doesn’t try to tease a big reveal. This is the story of Gabby and what domestic violence looks like. Her family wanted her texts and letters shared because they really showcase how controlling and manipulative Brian was.

My biggest issue? The doc’s ending. The final message is that Gabby always wanted to be a content creator. When she died, she only had one video on her YouTube with ~400 views. Now, the video has over 7 million views. The doc tries to make this feel good, but it’s just crass. They could’ve ended on the work of the Gabby Petito Foundation and efforts to help women of color who are missing. Instead, they want us to smile because she got internet famous in death?

It’s worth watching if you want to know about the case, but it isn’t as good as the other entries in the American Murder series.

The Fox Hollow Murders, 2025 (Hulu)

Did you know the largest collection of unidentified bones after 9/11 is from some guy’s house in Indiana? In 1996, Herb Baumeister allegedly killed two dozen men and buried them in his backyard. His wife had no idea he was doing this or that he was gay. She did, however, call police when their son found a human skull in the yard.

After one victim managed to escape and go to police (that is a wholeeee other part of the story), police go to the guy’s estate, Fox Hollow. They immediately find over 10,000 bone fragments. They find so many bones, the state of Indiana decides they don’t want to deal with identifying them and the family can pay for DNA testing if they think one of them might be their missing relative.

Because it was assumed all the victims were gay men, the cops did not care. Now, a new coroner is trying to test and identify all the remains. The cops cared so little about this case, they didn’t even arrest Herb when they found a graveyard at his house. They did have a warrant, so they let him go. He went on the run and eventually killed himself in Canada. He left behind a lot of questions, but new information hints that there could be a possible accomplice.

This doc is great. They take time to tell the stories of the identified victims. Their families share what it means to find them and have their story told.

Who Is Luigi Mangione? (Max)

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