According to an old Irish proverb: “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” We should also add a line: “…so is an Emmy.”

In a television landscape where serialized dramas continue to dominate awards season, HBO/Max’s medical procedural “The Pitt,” which just wrapped its first season, is breaking through the noise, and may breathe new life into a genre long considered out of the top Emmy races.

Led by a career-defining performance from Noah Wyle, “The Pitt” unfolds over 15 gripping episodes, each capturing a single hour of an emergency room shift in real time, a la Fox’s “24.” The result is a relentless, character-driven narrative that had the internet buzzing and should be a serious contender for outstanding drama series, with Wyle himself solidified as a top frontrunner for the lead actor drama category.

Wyle, best known to many for his five-time Emmy-nominated portrayal of Dr. John Carter on “ER,” returns to familiar territory with an entirely new intensity. In “The Pitt,” he plays the lead attending physician, Dr. Robby, in a Pittsburgh ER, commanding a chaotic but tightly knit team of residents, medical students and nurses as wave after wave of patients fill the overcrowded emergency room. The series weaves its personal, medical and emotional ensemble storylines with staggering realism and heart-pounding urgency.

For Wyle specifically, if voters need any reason to check his name off on an Emmy ballot, look no further than Episode 13, which had fans and critics sounding the alarm for Emmy recognition. In what many call the performance of his career, his character’s stoicism begins to unravel in the face of medical burnout, personal guilt and moral ambiguity. It’s a profoundly introspective hour, filled with gut-wrenching moments that could finally bring the veteran actor a long-overdue Emmy win.

More than just the star, Wyle also serves as a writer and producer, cementing his influence on a series as innovative as it is emotionally resonant. He wrote episodes four (“10:00 A.M.” when Collins prepares to administer a medical abortion) and nine (“3:00 P.M.” when charge nurse Dana gets sucker-punched while smoking outside). I wouldn’t be surprised to find any of its notable directors recognized, notably John Wells for the pilot or finale (he must select only one).

Procedural dramas were once awards darlings. Series like “NYPD Blue” and “Law & Order” were both audience and critical favorites back in the day, racking up dozens of Emmy wins. “NYPD Blue” helped pioneer prestige TV with its TV-MA grit and unflinching realism, earning lead actor Dennis Franz a record four Emmys. But in the past decade, procedurals have fallen out of favor with Emmy voters, often passed over in favor of denser, serialized dramas like “Mad Men,” “Succession,” “The Crown” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

By 2014, it was clear that procedurals were no longer welcome at the Emmy table. The narrative shift toward serialized storytelling, focusing on complex, layered arcs often designed for binge-watching, made traditional procedural formats feel dated in the eyes of many voters. “The Pitt,” however, challenges that notion. Its real-time format adds a serialized intensity to each episode while retaining the urgency and accessibility of the procedural form. It’s a hybrid — part hospital procedural, part serialized character study — and that might be the formula that reopens the door for the genre.

Shows like CBS’ “Matlock” with Kathy Bates, a frontrunner for lead drama actress, are also buzzing this season with this resurgence in the genre.

But it’s not just Wyle drawing attention. The ensemble cast of “The Pitt” is filled with emerging talent delivering standout actors. Fiona Dourif (best known for the “Chucky” franchise) and Katherine LaNasa (“Truth Be Told”) have already generated awards chatter, and would fit nicely alongside the large number of “White Lotus” women. Supporting players Tracy Ifeachor, Shabana Azeez, Isa Briones and Supriya Ganesh also shine in emotionally potent storylines that tackle trauma, addiction and medical ethics with nuance and authenticity.

This year’s outstanding drama series race is, as always, highly competitive, but the buzz around “The Pitt” is impossible to ignore. While HBO/Max has long been an Emmy powerhouse, a procedural entry breaking into the top category would mark a significant cultural moment, and turn, for the network and the genre. The cable/streaming platform is juggling the recently wrapped Season 3 of “The White Lotus” and the upcoming Season 2 of “The Last of Us” which also have sprawling ensembles. Nonetheless, HBO/Max has proven to be an expert juggler, most evident in 2022, when it became the first network in over 30 years to land four drama series nominations with “House of the Dragon,” “The White Lotus,” “The Last of Us” and eventual winner “Succession.”

In the years since the last procedural won an Emmy, audience-favorites such as “NCIS,” “The Mentalist” and “Criminal Minds” have been routinely ignored by Emmy voters despite massive ratings. The argument often goes: popular doesn’t mean prestige. But “The Pitt” offers both: emotional heft and narrative ambition, all wrapped in a format that’s engaging, unpredictable and refreshingly real.

And if Emmy voters are paying attention to what’s new and fresh, they may finally recognize that a procedural, executed at the highest level, can still be awards-worthy television.

If the Emmys are ready to let a procedural back into the drama spotlight, “The Pitt” may just be the transplant the genre ultimately needed.