Comedy fans had a lot to celebrate in the 2024 TV schedule with David Alan Grier's return to network TV as part of NBC's St. Denis Medical cast as Dr. Ron. The sitcom has already been renewed for a second season to guarantee more of Grier, Allison Tolman, and the rest of the cast, but he'll soon appear on a very different show in the 2025 TV schedule: CBS' Elsbeth, which has already earned a reputation for recruiting celebrity guest stars to play killers.
After news broke of Grier's casting for Elsbeth (and more on that below), I thought back to my conversations with the St. Denis Medical co-creators and leading lady Allison Tolman about what he brings to the sitcom. And frankly, hearing from them just makes me more excited to see him on CBS' crime drama/comedy.
How David Alan Grier Has Been Crushing On St. Denis Medical
I spoke with the cast and executive producers of St. Denis Medical recently at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta about the network TV sitcom earning Critics Choice Awards nominations early in Season 1. While the show didn't win either of those trophies, I also had the chance to speak with creators Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer about David Alan Grier as Dr. Ron opposite Allison Tolman as Nurse Alex. On the TVfest red carpet, Ledgin told me:
First of all, they have so much chemistry that has really exponentially grown from what was even on the page. But I think from the beginning, we decided that we were writing this male and female character [dynamic], and there's always this expectation that, 'Are they gonna have some sexual tension?' And we were just like, 'No.'
Ron and Alex's dynamic on St. Denis Medical might be my favorite that the sitcom has to offer so far, but as the co-creator said, that's not because of any sizzling sexual tension. It was of course no surprise that the In Living Color legend could bring the laughs after a career spanning everything from stand-up to sketch comedy TV (although not SNL) to a talking live-action clock in ABC's Beauty and the Beast, but it's been a joy to watch him opposite Tolman. Ledgin went on:
This is a sort of mentoring relationship between two people who may have very different life philosophies, but they really like each other. And I think that Ron sees a lot in Alex, that he sees where his life went maybe off the rails a bit, and wants to make sure that she doesn't go through the same thing. [laughs] There's a lot, there's a lot to play with in that relationship and a lot of fun to watch them.
Fargo's Allison Tolman was also present on the SCAD TVfest red carpet and was quick to compliment her co-star, commenting that he "has this huge fan base" and "has been working forever." She went on the explain how her dynamic as Alex opposite David Alan Grier's Dr. Ron compares to the one with Wendi McLendon-Covey's Joyce, saying:
There's a barrier you can't ever quite get past when it's your boss, and Joyce is Alex's boss. So as much as she might like to say, 'God, you're annoying and wrong' to Joyce the way that she says that to Ron, she can't quite get there, which is fun. It's fun to see her be like, 'Oh no, you are also an idiot in your own ways. You are also wrong.' [laughs] And have to kind of bite her tongue about a lot of things.
All in all, if you haven't checked out St. Denis Medical yet, I highly recommend revisiting early episodes with a Peacock subscription and catching new episodes on NBC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. David Alan Grier isn't the only highlight of the freshman sitcom, but the praise for him from the St. Denis team certainly adds to the hype ahead of his Elsbeth arrival.
How He'll (Literally) Be Killing It On Elsbeth
By this point in Season 2, Elsbeth has earned such a reputation for casting celebrities as killers that I was surprised in the Valentine's Day episode when Ioan Gruffudd's character was really just a dreamy firefighter/musician and not a dreamy firefighter/musician/murderer.
Based on the details for David Alan Grier's episode (per Variety), however, he seems to be more likely to commit some crimes than sweep Carrie Preston's leading lady off her feet. He plays Arthur Greene Jr., the professional owner of a mortuary for the rich and powerful. The logline for the episode reads:
Discretion is everything to Arthur, so when his conspiracy-minded nephew threatens to unearth the truth about a famous author’s botched funeral, he does what must be done to keep the secret buried.
Admittedly, that description doesn't confirm that Grier's character will actually be the killer, but I think fans can count on the cold open of his Elsbeth episode involving Arthur committing some kind of murder. It remains to be seen when this episode will air on CBS, but new installments of Elsbeth air on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET and are available streaming next day with a Paramount+ subscription.
Mary Louise Parker of Weeds fame has been cast for another upcoming episode, while the next installment will feature Matthew Broderick as the second Producers star of the season after Nathan Lane played the premiere killer.
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