Due to an unfortunate quirk of timing, you might initially take Netflix’s Pulse for a pale imitation of Max’s . Here, once again, is a drama set in the emergency room of a teaching hospital in a major American metropolis; the first several episodes even unfold, Pitt-like, over the course of a single day.

The comparison is not especially flattering to Pulse. This new series is less thrilling and less moving, less grounded in the realities of the job and more invested in the tangled interpersonal lives of its suspiciously photogenic doctors.

The Bottom Line A strong cast boosts a familiar formula.

Airdate: Thursday, April 3 (Netflix)

Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Colin Woodell, Jessie T. Usher, Jack Bannon, Chelsea Muirhead, Justina Machado, Jessy Yates, Daniela Nieves

Creators: Zoe Robyn

In fact, the Zoe Robyn-created series is much more reminiscent of a different hit: Grey’s Anatomy, with its mix of medical drama and soap operatics, its steady hum of romantic tension, its endless supply of metaphorically convenient cases. And seen that way, it’s not half bad — entertaining enough to scratch the same itch, if not yet satisfying enough to claim its own place in the pantheon of hospital shows.