Scrubbing In

Dunder Mifflin meets “Do you have insurance?” in St. Denis Medical, the latest workplace comedy from exec-producer Justin Spitzer (The Office) and showrunner Eric Ledgin (American Auto). This time, instead of a struggling Scranton paper-sales company or a third-rate car manufacturer, it’s the healthcare industry under the microscope as an unseen camera crew tracks the staff of the titular medical center.

“[It’s] in kind of anywhere USA,” says Ledgin, eventually pinpointing the exact locale to small-town Oregon. “There was a nurse [from there] that I spoke to a lot during the research part of the development process, and it was a little bit of a nod to her,” he reveals. In addition, Ledgin confirms that his helpful resource also “kind of inspired” star Allison Tolman’s character, Alex, St. Denis’ put-upon supervising nurse who is both a master of handling high-stakes emergencies and sort of a mess when it comes to advocating for herself.

“I think that’s the fun of it,” the Fargo actress offers of her long-suffering but good-natured Florence Nightingale. “We get to play these folks who are reattaching arms but then also, just like have to eat. Like, ‘It’s lunchtime, you know? And I need some coffee because I was up all night with the baby or whatever. I find something really charming about the mundane in the most extreme circumstances.”

Countering the more emotional Alex is The Goldbergs’ always-perfect Wendi McLendon-Covey as St. Denis’ frenzied, bureaucratically backward executive director Joyce. “All I wanted was to not play another mom right away because I did that for a long time,” she says, just months after wrapping her 10-season stint as smotherly Beverly Goldberg. “I think it’s well-documented that I can play moms, and respect to all moms everywhere. But what I loved about this character is that she is not nurturing at all. Don’t come near her wanting a hug…she does not want your germs and she cannot keep a plant alive,” McLendon-Covey continues with a laugh. “She is devoted to the hospital. That’s her baby and her whole personality.”

As for the rest of the St. Denis team, Ledgin and Spitzer have injected the place with a winning mix of healthcare misfits that would make Pawnee’s Parks & Rec department proud. In the opener, as Alex desperately attempts to leave work on time to catch her kid’s school musical, we meet her fellow nurses Serena (Kahyun Kim), Val (Spitzer’s Superstore alum Kaliko Kauahi) and newbie Matt (Jury Duty’s Mekki Leeper), egotistical trauma surgeon Bruce (Josh Lawson, Mortal Kombat) and ER doctor Ron (national treasure David Alan Grier) via their own on-camera interviews. Throughout the episode, crisis after comical crisis erupts, threatening to extend Alex’s shift way past the curtain call and—thanks to the general goofing-off among the employees and the birth of a possible workplace flirtation—push the poor woman to her limits.

Yet despite the many laughs drawn from an endless parade of injuries, inconveniences, and coworker ineptitudes, the show is not taking shots at medical professionals themselves. Even Joyce’s seemingly chronic inability to elevate St. Denis’ reputation without causing maximum chaos is played with a sweet respect for folks who hold these mostly thankless jobs. “When you talk to people who work in these spaces, they’re very practical and will tell you that you have to have a sense of humor when you work in the emergency department,” Ledgin notes. “You have to laugh or you will cry, as they say.”

“Every episode has a moment where that sort of sincerity and that really heartfelt core shines through,” agrees Tolman. “I think we’re really lucky in that way.”

So expect a ton of gallows humor, along with a healthy dose of heart and, given how many patients come in and out of ERs, a steady rotation of guest stars. “I would say this [setting is] unique to most workplace comedies…every room, every bed is someone with one of the biggest stories of their life happening at any given time,” explains Ledgin. “And anyone that’s had one of those crazy stories from the ER [knows] it’s where some of the funniest moments in people’s lives takes place…so we really are trying to find a balance between moments that are funny, moments that are darkly funny [and] moments that are sincere.”

Not all of them will have happy endings, either. Spitzer points out that though the St. Denis team tries their best, they won’t be immune to tragedies. “We definitely don’t have a Dr. Death,” he laughs. “Our people are there for the right reasons, but they are real people.”

St. Denis Medical, Series Premiere, Tuesday, November 12, 8/7c, NBC