ST. DENIS MEDICAL co-creator Eric Ledgin | ©2024 NBC/Squared Photograph

The new comedy ST. DENIS MEDICAL, which premieres on NBC Tuesday, November 12 (with episodes streaming on Peacock following broadcast), is a mockumentary that follows the mostly dedicated staff of an underfunded Oregon hospital.

Series stars include David Alan Grier as seen-it-all chief of surgery Ron, Wendy McClendon-Covey as ambitious hospital administrator Joyce, and Allison Tolman as warm-hearted nurse Alex.

Eric Ledgin co-created ST. DENIS MEDICAL with Justin Spitzer; both are executive producers on the series. The two had previously worked together as exec producers on AMERICAN AUTO, which Ledgin wrote for and Spitzer created. Some of Ledgin’s other previous credits include LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON, the 2011 WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ ASSOCIATION DINNER, THE PETE HOLMES SHOW, WORDGIRL, SUPERSTORE, and RUTHERFORD FALLS.

Ledgin participates in a Q&A session for ST. DENIS MEDICAL during NBC’s portion of the summer Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour. Later that day, he makes time for a one-on-one follow-up conversation. This interview combines that discussion with comments he made during the panel.

How did Ledgin and Spitzer come to create ST. DENIS MEDICAL?

“As far as the medical comedy part of it,” Ledgin relates, “some shows just fall off the radar of where you are at, at that time in your life. I just hadn’t seen SCRUBS, so I didn’t have in my mind an established medical comedy, and was like, ‘Why isn’t someone doing one?’ Justin was, ‘Because of SCRUBS,’ and I was, ‘Okay.’ We worked on another idea for a while.

“The reason for the medical comedy was, it’s such a stakes-y place. There’s so much inherent drama and joy and awkwardness and camaraderie in a hospital. So, it felt like such fertile ground. Especially with the mockumentary element combined with it, it made it feel more real and more alive and very exciting in a way.

“The other thing was, I just wanted to create a show with Justin. He’s just so brilliant at this, and we had such a good working relationship. So, it was very exciting to start talking about it, and see how all these characters and even story ideas were just spilling out of us early on, which is just the best test for, ‘This is coming easy.’ We just followed that.”

What is the division of responsibility between Ledgin and Spitzer? “He’s an executive producer and partner on the show, we created the show together,” Ledgin explains. “I’m the showrunner. When I was on AMERICAN AUTO, it was his show that he was running, and we were very collaborative on it, but ultimately, someone’s got to make the final decisions. We overlap ninety percent on our creative taste, but during the times that we don’t, you’ve got to have a showrunner making a decision.

ST. DENIS MEDICAL – Season 1 Key Art | ©2024 NBCUniversal

“And so, I am running this show, and he is an executive producer, meaning that he has a lot of creative input, I rely on him for a lot, and he’s obviously run a couple of shows that I’ve loved and worked on in the past, so he’s got a lot of wisdom and just comedic brilliance to tap, so I try to get as much out of him as I can.”

Now that ST. DENIS MEDICAL has become a series, has Ledgin gone back to look at SCRUBS to see if there’s any overlap, or things he wants to actively avoid?

“I watched a couple of [SCRUBS] episodes that were recommended to me, and was like, ‘That’s really well done, and that’s funny, and it’s not tonally what we’re headed towards.’ So, in a good way, I was relieved that it felt very different.

“But I will also say that it was very encouraging to see that they were able to handle some of the darker elements, or what could be considered sadder elements of a hospital, while still viewing it with heart and humor. By the way, I should say the only reason I didn’t watch more was because I didn’t want to muddy up my brain with somebody else’s ideas. But it was very well done.”

Given what people may be going through in a hospital, how difficult is it to set a comedy there?

“We’re very conscious of the fact, and that’s very much built into the idea of the show, that this is where people have some of the most important moments of their lives. It’s also especially if you talk to healthcare workers and anyone who’s had one of those crazy stories from the ER. It’s where some of the funniest moments in people’s lives take place. So, we’re really attempting to find a balance.

“I think, at the end of the day, for anyone who works anywhere after enough time, a job is just a job like any other. Except that this happens to be in the highest stakes place possible. So, we really are trying to find a balance between moments that are funny, moments that are darkly funny, moments that are sincere, and we don’t shy away from those moments when the story calls for it, for sure. And we’re lucky enough to have a cast that can deliver all of it.”

Speaking of the cast, did Ledgin generally devise the characters and then seek actors to play them, or were there any actors who had roles tailored to their particular talents?

“It’s a healthy mix of both. There were definitely a few actors who came in and nailed exactly what we were hoping for. I would say Josh Lawson [who plays Bruce] is a good example. He just screamed and was sort of the perfect actor that we could have conjured up for that role.

“Whereas Mekki [Leeper] playing Matt, and I would say this is also true of Wendy, did things a little differently than I think was on the page in a delightful way that opened up our eyes to be like, ‘Oh, maybe this character is a little bit in this direction,’ and it sort of breathed new life into those characters.”

Actor Leeper is also known as a writer [JURY DUTY, 2017 WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ ASSOCIATION DINNER], but he’s not part of the ST. DENIS MEDICAL scripting staff. Ledgin jokes, “If he went into the writers’ room, we’d be a little starstruck and wouldn’t be able to function.”

As for Grier, “You go, ‘Oh, we can get David Alan Grier, a guy who I grew up quoting in the halls of my elementary school the day after I watched an episode of IN LIVING COLOR?’ What a dream. Even though he’s always been so funny, he has a gravitas. That thing he was saying [on the Q&A panel] about being an old curmudgeon and relating to that part of the character, he’s just so perfectly fit for it, and brings his own spin on it, that’s just been wonderful.”

In terms of ST. DENIS MEDICAL’s mockumentary set-up, Ledgin says, “There’s a certain aspect where we’re finding this middle ground. There are times that someone’s talking to camera that obviously they’re in one mode because they know they’re being perceived, and then there’s a mode where they’re treating someone, but they know the camera’s there.

“There’s also this middle area that we’re finding where it’s like someone is saying something half to camera, half to a patient or a coworker, and it just feels like it gives you so many different layers to play with, different layers of the characters, and we’re lucky enough to have seven series regulars who are all just killer actors and can do every one of those levels in a different, interesting way. So, I would say that even though there are, at times, some limitations to the format, you get a lot more benefits and a lot more to play with comedically and from a storytelling perspective, too.”

Ledgin praises the mockumentary skills of Kahyun Kim, who plays Serena. “There are moments when I’m watching a take of her and the way she’s looking into the camera, I feel judged as the person watching it.”

He enthuses further about the cast, crew and creative team overall. “It’s such a collaborative medium that every show is going to be the unique result of every one of hundreds of people that are working on it, and even just on the creative side, it’s dozens of people. So, it’s going to be for better or worse a concentrated result of all of our efforts together and it’s going to be its own unique thing. So far, we’re very proud of our unique thing.”

The producers/writers/directors encourage improvisation, Ledgin adds. “We’d be crazy to not. We have such a talented group of people. I think it’s a little bit of what I said about the writing earlier, where it comes a little easier and it just felt like the network and the studio have been so supportive and helpful, but it’s also clear to all of us what the show wants to be.

“I think when you’re delivering something that is, ‘Yes, this is what we were all wanting it to be and hoping it would be’ – not to say, ‘Oh, we nailed it,’ even though I do think we nailed it – I think we’ve all been on the same page, and obviously, the show takes on a life of its own to a certain degree, but very much within the path that we’ve all felt we were on together. That always helps a great deal, when we’re not all thinking that it’s going to be this totally different thing.”

In Season 1, ST. DENIS MEDICAL’s action doesn’t go any further outside of the hospital than the parking lot. Ledgin explains, “Season 1, we are very intentionally focused on staying in the space of the hospital and the grounds of the hospital. If we’re lucky enough to keep the show going, I’m sure we’ll expand beyond that, but it’s actually been kind of nice just to have everything live in this workplace. And people’s personal lives come in, in different ways. But we’ve kept everything in the hospital.”

For the exterior, “We shot the pilot in a hospital called St. Vincent’s. It’s a shuttered hospital in L.A. But the studio was generous enough to help us build an exterior that’s now on the lot, so we have a really beautiful hospital set now on the Universal lot.”

In the show, the hospital of the title is located in the city of Merrick. This is a real place, Ledgin explains. “It is unfortunately named after my hometown, which is mainly a result of the first three [city name] options not clearing.” He is referring to the fact that people and place names must be legally cleared for use on television shows. “Then I found that it’s $1,500 every time you clear a city. So, I just threw out my hometown name, and that ended up being the name of the town the show takes place in. Home of Amy Fisher, if anyone remembers.”

As for why ST. DENIS MEDICAL is set in Oregon, “Oregon was chosen for a couple of reasons. One is I just feel like it’s a very underrepresented state, a great and beautiful state that you don’t hear a lot about. But also, there was a nurse who I spoke to a lot during the research part of the development process, and it was a bit of a nod to her. She helped inspire the character of Alex a little bit, but I think it’s also a fun place for us to discover as we go. We’ve got little references to Oregon throughout Season 1.”

In the opening episodes, one of the plotlines revolves around a mammogram machine. Will that piece of equipment return?

“We’re done with that particular device, but Joyce’s ambitions will not go away. They’re not going to be quelled, and she continues on her journey to bring St. Denis a level of greatness that’s beyond its current ambitions.”

And what would Ledgin most like people to know about ST. DENIS MEDICAL?

“That it is a show with a fantastically talented, hilarious cast, fulfilling the roles of characters that I believe will be relatable to people. And even though it will cross the spectrum of human emotions, my hope is that it will be a joy to watch, and that we have respected the responsibility of people giving us their time and attention.”

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Article:ST. DENIS MEDICAL: Co-creator Eric Ledgin operates on a new NBC comedy – Exclusive Interview

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