‘St. Denis Medical’ Review: A Winning ‘Superstore’ Follow-Up

The sitcom author Justin Spitzer had his first script credit score on “Scrubs,” the archetypal office comedy set in a hospital. Twenty years later, Spitzer returns to the style with NBC’s “St. Denis Medical,” co-created with Eric Ledgin (“Rutherford Falls”). In between, Spitzer has developed a trademark strategy that interprets seamlessly to well being care. A graduate of “The Workplace,” he makes exhibits set on the entrance strains of the trendy economic system: the gross sales flooring of a big-box retailer (“Superstore”) or the headquarters of a flailing automobile producer (“American Auto”). (Ledgin labored on each.) Spitzer characters don’t debate points at size like Norman Lear ones did, however their on a regular basis lives are unmistakably downstream of bigger social and political forces.

“St. Denis Medical” is a worthy entrant on this bigger undertaking — and, subsequently, a pointy break from the bro-y bonhomie of “Scrubs.” Our introduction to the namesake setting, a “safety-net hospital” in Oregon, is supervising nurse Alex (the great Allison Tolman) attending to a affected person recovering from the newest of a number of opioid overdoses. Alex’s overwhelmed colleague Val (Kaliko Kauahi, acquainted as Sandra to followers of “Superstore”) cites a staffing scarcity to a stressed crowd of therapy seekers; govt director Joyce (Wendi McLendon-Covey), a former oncologist, is extra involved with securing flashy new gear than upgrading software program from the Clinton period.

This isn’t a sequence about glamorous hero-doctors who swoop in to save lots of the day and by no means ask about insurance coverage standing. In truth, one character, trauma surgeon Bruce (Josh Lawson), is a transparent send-up of that trope. Different exhibits would make Bruce their protagonist; “St. Denis Medical” rolls its eyes at how he asks overworked nurses to fetch his espresso. (“Nurses actually present the care a part of well being care,” Alex says, which explains why they kind the core of the “St. Denis Medical” crew.) As jaded emergency physician Ron, David Alan Grier provides a grumbly, world-weary efficiency that speaks to the true spirit of the present, although he has a foil in earnest do-gooder Alex. “St. Denis Medical” adopts the now-classic mockumentary fashion of “The Workplace” and “Abbott Elementary,” interspersing handheld camerawork from pilot director Ruben Fleischer (“Venom”) with fake testimonials. This realist fashion displays the present’s substance.

Not like different medical exhibits to debut lately, just like the flashy Ryan Murphy cruise procedural “Physician Odyssey,” “St. Denis Medical” makes solely a passing point out of the COVID-19 pandemic and its heavy toll on the well being care system. As an alternative, it’s rooted within the preexisting inequities the pandemic made extra seen to the remainder of us. “St. Denis Medical” is clear-eyed about what its characters face, but in addition about how these obstacles present ample fodder for comedy. McLendon-Covey is a standout because the pathologically optimistic Joyce, who encourages her employees to beat structural issues with the facility of constructive considering. Sufferers serve the same position as the purchasers on “Superstore” did: They’re an endlessly refreshing pool of chaos brokers and fast jokes.

Over the three episodes supplied to critics, “St. Denis Medical” shortly coheres into an ensemble that’s a likable lens by means of which to view some grim, intractable dysfunction. Supporting gamers like Matt (Mekki Leeper), a brand new nurse who grew up in a Christian cult, add a specificity that retains the present from broadening right into a generic parable concerning the pitfalls of privatized medication. When a affected person calls for her favourite, supersize cross as a pre-surgery good-luck attraction, Val drags the wood behemoth round in a sublimely foolish little bit of slapstick. Within the Spitzer playbook, political consciousness enhances the humor, however loads of laughs exist for their very own sake.

The primary two episodes of “St. Denis Medical” will premiere Nov. 12 on NBC at 8pm ET, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Tuesdays and out there the subsequent day on Peacock.

Replace: An earlier model of this overview misspelled the title of Wendi McLendon-Covey.