NBC welcomed a brand new sitcom to Tuesday nights within the fall 2024 TV schedule with St. Denis Medical, a mockumentary about an underfunded hospital in Oregon with a motley crew of docs and nurses doing their greatest. Renewed for a second season early within the 2025 TV schedule and nominated for a pair of Critics Selection Awards, the long run is trying shiny for the collection that acquired off to a robust begin. Alas, it did not win both of these CCAs, however I nonetheless spoke with solid members concerning the nominations… and the co-creators concerning the Tom Hanks gag that had me cracking up throughout a latest episode.
The celebs and co-creators/govt producers of St. Denis Medical attended SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, the place they have been honored with the Breakthrough Solid Award. In a coincidence, the pink carpet press line occurred simply two days earlier than the long-delayed Critics Selection Awards. The brand new comedy was within the working for Finest Comedy Sequence in addition to Finest Actor in a Comedy Sequence due to David Alan Grier’s efficiency as Dr. Ron.
I spoke with the St. Denis crew on that pink carpet, and requested main girl Allison Tolman – a.okay.a. supervising nurse Alex – for her ideas on her new present getting the CCA noms so early within the first season, and she or he shared:
It was actually a shock and such an honor. I believe we would had like, six episodes out when the nomination got here out, so we have been like, ‘Nicely, I suppose we’re heading in the right direction!’ It was a fantastic validation.
Contemplating that community TV reveals do not get a variety of love from awards reveals in recent times (with Matlock‘s Kathy Bates as an exception in 2025), St. Denis scoring nominations in two main classes is a praise to the present and the crew that makes it occur. The medical mockumentary was certainly one of solely two community reveals nominated for Finest Comedy (with the win going to HBO’s Hacks) and David Alan Grier was the one community TV star nominated for Finest Actor in a Comedy. (Adam Brody finally gained for Netflix’s No one Desires This.)
Kahyun Kim, who performs Serena because the hospital’s Beyoncé of nurses, echoed her co-star’s ideas on the consideration of St. Denis being nominated for awards:
I imply, our solid is incredible. I really like each single particular person, and we’re precise buddies in actual life. We really like one another, so it is simply enjoyable watching them on TV and being like, ‘Oh my god, that is my buddy!’ [laughs] It is form of thoughts blowing, and so they’re so good, and so they make me chuckle a lot.
I additionally had the chance to talk with EPs/co-creators Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin on the SCAD TVfest pink carpet, simply at some point after an episode aired with the gag of Alex making an attempt to criticize Tom Hanks for being impolite one time, solely to then begin itemizing the entire great ways in which he went above and past to make up for that rudeness.
Since Tom Hanks is famend as one of many nicest guys in Hollywood, the episode (accessible streaming now with a Peacock subscription) reducing forwards and backwards on Alex naming examples of his good deeds made for certainly one of my greatest laughs of the night time. I discussed to the co-creators that I’d have watched a full episode simply reducing again to Alex’s escalating reward of Tom Hanks, and so they responded:
- Justin Spitzer: We did have extra of that, I imagine, initially!
- Eric Ledgin: I particularly keep in mind that the Tom Hanks bit was a pet mission of Justin’s. He was very enthusiastic about it.
- Justin Spitzer: I actually, actually favored that.
The co-creators had loads of sitcom expertise previous to the premiere of St. Denis Medical, so maybe the early success of the present should not be too stunning, with or with out the Tom Hanks joke. In truth, each labored on former NBC hits, with Eric Ledgin as a author and govt producer on American Auto and Superstore, whereas Justin Spitzer is greatest identified for his work on The Workplace in addition to American Auto and Superstore with Ledgin.
And whereas the showrunners didn’t the truth is ship a full episode of fictional Tom Hanks factoids, there’s time to make it right into a working gag. NBC renewed St. Denis Medical for a second season again in January, effectively earlier than most reveals get excellent news about their futures. So, be happy to tune in to NBC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET for brand spanking new episodes of the medical comedy, forward of Night time Courtroom Season 3, and see why the sitcom rapidly earned awards consideration.