It’s somewhat apropos that on the 69th “anniversary” of the day that Marty McFly and Doc Brown found their way BACK TO THE FUTURE, NBC has once again dipped into the “mockumentary” world that sustained them back in the oughts to finally unveil ST. DENIS MEDICAL. After being held up by strike-related delays and strategic preferences, a show originally commissioned for the 2023-24 season premieres tonight with a double run, and subsequently will be paired with surprise success NIGHT COURT to make up an actual hour of comedy that’s not a virtual throwaway on a Friday night.
If the tones and cadence look as familiar as some of the cast members do, that’s no accident. When NBC imported THE OFFICE from the UK in 2005 they brought to comedies what was then a unique execution of breaking the “fourth wall” in a way seldom seen in this continent. By allowing cast members to effectively narrate and using a shooting style that seemingly is capturing these people in “real time”, the method creates not bellylaughs but a host of spit-takable and “WTF” moments that resonated with a younger sector of viewers seeking an alternative to the TGIT dramedies that ABC was then dominating Thursday nights with. And THE OFFICE benefitted timing-wise as DVRs were on their way up the adoption curve and Nielsen was finally producing delayed viewing ratings. Now these highly desirable viewers didn’t necessarily have to choose, with an awful lot of GREY’S ANATOMY fans switching to their recordings of THE OFFICE, and in later years such similarly styled companion pieces as PARKS AND RECREATION and 30 ROCK, in the 10 PM hour. And the reverse was also true when ABC fleshed out their lineup. It reached a point where the number one TV destination from 10-11 PM was not a network, it was “playback”. And still is, by the way.
ST. DENIS MEDICAL also has roots with a more recent and underappreciated Thursday night entry, SUPERSTORE, which enjoyed a healthy six-season run. It was created by the minds behind the Home Depot-world show, Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin, and features a couple of that show’s alumni, Josh Lawson and Kaliko Kauahi, as part of its ensemble. SCREEN RANT’s Brandon Zachary is among the more gushy reviewers who dropped articles last week, and gave them both a chance to extol them and the art form:
Josh Lawson: Yeah, it’s a delicate line. I think the setting of a hospital lends itself to that kind of razor’s edge between comedy — it’s certainly a comedy, and unashamedly so. But when it needs to crank up the stakes or pull on the heartstrings, there’s plenty of fertile ground there within the setting to do that.
Kaliko Kauahi: The environment that [Eric and Justin] build is the same. We work with a lot of the same people behind the camera as well. So it’s a really warm environment, a welcoming one. Josh and I know that it means we’re more comfortable to try things. You’re not as nervous to do that. But the tone of this show is, to me, very different from Superstore . Superstar (sic) felt wacky at times and outlandish. I think this is a little more subtle in general. That’s been a little bit of a shift.
But ST. DENIS doesn’t just stop with throwbacks to the 2010s. Rather than rely exclusively on a younger cast this time around Spitzer and Ledgin have cast a couple of more seasoned performers as veteran presences, the wonderful Wendi McLendon-Covey, late of THE GOLDBERGS, and David Alan Grier, late of just about everything from IN LIVING COLOR to THE CARMICHAEL SHOW. Both deliver the goods and for me make the show worth putting on my playlist. I confess I’m a huge fan of Wendi’s, having gotten to know her as an extraordinarily accessible omnipresence in the Sony employee gym and knowing full well she had a lot more to offer than what she hid under that hideous Beverly Goldberg wig.
And it’s not like funny doctors haven’t worked before. Do recall even before THE OFFICE NBC had long-term success with SCRUBS, a more traditional workplace comedy. But just like the mockumentary shows that followed it, it has resonated in the streaming world to a far greater level of success than it saw on traditional TV. All of these single-camera shows have found new generations of viewers that NBC hopes will bring them into the tent in ways that folks that moi might not otherwise be lured by.
The more mainstream reviews so far are modest. THE DAILY BEAST’s Jesse Hassenger dropped a less-than-rave piece yesterday:
(I)t’s not always for the best when shows bearing the obvious influence of these workplace mockumentaries must attempt to arrive fully formed, in an era of shorter season orders. Compressing that longer arc can produce something more efficient but less entertaining: a nakedly derivative sitcom that’s also wholly convinced of its own goodhearted lovability. That’s the diagnosis for St. Denis Medical, a hospital comedy that’s like The Office, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Scrubs pureed into a flavorless mush.
The LOS ANGELES TIMES’ Robert Lloyd struck a more hopeful tone: St. Denis Medical isn’t The Office, at least not yet. The CHICAGO TRIBUNE’s Nina Metz also expressed optimism that over time St. Denis will find its own rhythm. And the opportunity may just be there contrary to Hassenger’s opinion. Reportedly, this was NBC’s highest-testing comedy pilot in several years, and l certainly won’t forget the fact that SUPERSTORE’s pilot, which opportunistically aired as a lead-out to a highly rated episode of THE VOICE and then had a three-month hiatus (a strategy ABBOTT ELEMENTARY successfull emulated when it debuted), set a record for delayed viewership when NBC touted its “live-plus-119” delivery as more than doubling its live viewership, which sure sounded a lot more impressive than in actually was.
I did say I’m putting this on my playlist, but I didn’t necessarily say I intend to watch it tonight. And judging by the way NBC, and for that matter all linear television, approaches ratings these days don’t expect to see anything of consequence about overnight success. As to when that final verdict might be in? Given the genre, check back in about ten years.
Until next time…