NBC welcomed a new sitcom to Tuesday nights in the fall 2024 TV schedule with St. Denis Medical, a mockumentary about an underfunded hospital in Oregon with a motley crew of doctors and nurses doing their best. Renewed for a second season early in the 2025 TV schedule and nominated for a pair of Critics Choice Awards, the future is looking bright for the series that got off to a strong start. Alas, it didn't win either of those CCAs, but I still spoke with cast members about the nominations... and the co-creators about the Tom Hanks gag that had me cracking up during a recent episode.
The stars and co-creators/executive producers of St. Denis Medical attended SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, where they were honored with the Breakthrough Cast Award. In a twist of fate, the red carpet press line took place just two days before the long-delayed Critics Choice Awards. The new comedy was in the running for Best Comedy Series as well as Best Actor in a Comedy Series thanks to David Alan Grier's performance as Dr. Ron.
I spoke with the St. Denis team on that red carpet, and asked leading lady Allison Tolman – a.k.a. supervising nurse Alex – for her thoughts on her new show getting the CCA noms so early in the first season, and she shared:
It was really a surprise and such an honor. I think we'd had like, six episodes out when the nomination came out, so we were like, 'Well, I guess we're on the right track!' It was a great validation.
Considering that network TV shows don't get a lot of love from awards shows in recent years (with Matlock's Kathy Bates as an exception in 2025), St. Denis scoring nominations in two major categories is a compliment to the show and the team that makes it happen. The medical mockumentary was one of only two network shows nominated for Best Comedy (with the win going to HBO's Hacks) and David Alan Grier was the only network TV star nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy. (Adam Brody ultimately won for Netflix's Nobody Wants This.)
Kahyun Kim, who plays Serena as the hospital's Beyoncé of nurses, echoed her co-star's thoughts on the honor of St. Denis being nominated for awards:
I mean, our cast is fantastic. I love every single person, and we're actual friends in real life. We actually like each other, so it's just fun watching them on TV and being like, 'Oh my god, that's my friend!' [laughs] It's kind of mind blowing, and they're so good, and they make me laugh so much.
I also had the opportunity to speak with EPs/co-creators Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin on the SCAD TVfest red carpet, just one day after an episode aired with the gag of Alex trying to criticize Tom Hanks for being rude one time, only to then start listing all of the wonderful ways that he went above and beyond to make up for that rudeness.
Since Tom Hanks is renowned as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, the episode (available streaming now with a Peacock subscription) cutting back and forth on Alex naming examples of his good deeds made for one of my biggest laughs of the night. I mentioned to the co-creators that I would have watched a full episode just cutting back to Alex's escalating praise of Tom Hanks, and they responded:
- Justin Spitzer: We did have more of that, I believe, originally!
- Eric Ledgin: I specifically remember that the Tom Hanks bit was a pet project of Justin's. He was very passionate about it.
- Justin Spitzer: I really, really liked that.
The co-creators had plenty of sitcom experience prior to the premiere of St. Denis Medical, so perhaps the early success of the show shouldn't be too surprising, with or without the Tom Hanks joke. In fact, both worked on former NBC hits, with Eric Ledgin as a writer and executive producer on American Auto and Superstore, while Justin Spitzer is best known for his work on The Office as well as American Auto and Superstore with Ledgin.
And while the showrunners did not in fact deliver a full episode of fictional Tom Hanks factoids, there's time to make it into a running gag. NBC renewed St. Denis Medical for a second season back in January, well before most shows get good news about their futures. So, feel free to tune in to NBC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET for new episodes of the medical comedy, ahead of Night Court Season 3, and see why the sitcom quickly earned awards attention.
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