HBO Max Shake-Up: New Thriller “DTF St. Louis” Briefly Tops Beloved Medical Hit “The Pitt”

A shake-up like this matters more when the show being knocked down isn’t some disposable chart filler. On April 1, according to FlixPatrol’s U.S. HBO Max TV rankings, the streamer’s long-running medical drama The Pitt slipped from #1 to #2. That’s meaningful: The Pitt has been one of HBO Max’s most critically bulletproof hits since debuting, boasting a 97% average Tomatometer overall, with Season 2 at 99% and Season 1 at 95%.

So for a darker newcomer to jump in—even just for a day—it says something real about audience curiosity. And it doesn’t hurt that the challenger is stacked with star power. David Harbour, Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, Richard Jenkins, and Joy Sunday aren’t exactly a niche experiment cast.

What makes this rivalry more interesting is that it isn’t a clean prestige-drama-versus-prestige-drama battle. On one side: a high-pressure hospital series built on realism, exhaustion, and procedural momentum. On the other: a seven-episode Steven Conrad limited series rooted in suburban decay, affair-fueled chaos, crime, and a tone that swerves between dark comedy and something far nastier. That’s usually a riskier sell.

The show taking the lead was DTF St. Louis, which officially overtook The Pitt on April 1 to claim the #1 TV spot—a breakout moment for a new adult thriller-comedy with an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score, a weekly rollout, and a cast capable of turning a strange premise into event viewing.

Meanwhile, The Pitt retained the top overall position in Amazon Channels’ view of HBO Max content, meaning it hasn’t been erased—it just temporarily lost the direct TV crown. Predictably, The Pitt bounced back to #1 on April 2, likely in anticipation of the next episode of Season 2.