‘St. Denis Medical’ Review: NBC Sitcom Finds Laughs in an Unlikely Place
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St. Denis Medical is a comedy set at an underfunded hospital in Oregon. Created by Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin, the show features a mockumentary format. The cast includes Wendi McLendon-Covey, David Alan Grier, Allison Tolman and Josh Lawson.
The pilot sees Tolman’s Alex, a supervising nurse, aiming to get out of work — after her shift ends — to see her daughter in a school play. But those who work with her know that when a crisis hits the hospital — which seems to be about every day — Alex is the last one to leave.
“A workaholic control freak,” is how ER doc Ron, played by Grier, describes her.
This crisis went down because the hospital’s clueless boss, Joyce, played by McLendon-Covey of The Goldbergs, acquires a 3D mammography machine that St. Denis can ill afford and which crashed the hospital’s system. McLendon-Covey plays the part deftly, but we’ve seen the clueless boss in many, many comedies before, be it The Office or American Auto, both of which Spitzer worked on.
Alex drives the plot in the pilot. We loved Tolman in season one of Fargo, and we like her in this as well. Few actors can express as much through facial expression alone.
Matthew, a new nurse who lacks any hint of nursing skills, carries the second episode. Played by Mekki Leeper, Matthew grew up in an extremely religious household. That’s not how he’s living his life these days, but his God background is strong enough to notice the hospital’s interfaith chaplain isn’t up to snuff. After seeing the chaplain mess up a parable he shares with a patient, Matthew tells the camera, “I learned this stuff when I was 7. In a coloring book!”
The second episode breaks down the battle between superstition and science, with Dr. Ron in full voice of science. To prove his point, he puts a hex on the hospital, and a lot of bad stuff starts happening. Examining a patient’s horrific snakebite, surgeon Bruce, played by Lawson, exclaims, “That was one snake?”
St. Denis Medical offers some laughs, but viewers may find they’re drawn to a few of the nuanced characters more than the guffaws.
