While NBC’s St. Denis Medical hasn’t arrived yet, the upcoming sitcom seems to prove an iconic sitcom format is making a comeback. There are many different types of sitcoms, from warm family comedies like Full House to darker, stranger shows like It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. There are hang-out shows like Friends, New Girl, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother, as well as workplace sitcoms like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Office, and Superstore. Within these categories, there are also different formats for sitcoms, ranging from period pieces to mockumentaries, to traditional multi-camera shows with laugh tracks.
Although NBC’s new medical comedy series St. Denis Medical has not arrived yet, the series has revealed its cast and its format. St. Denis Medical stars Why Women Kill’s Allison Tolman as Alex, a supervising nurse in an underfunded public hospital. The Goldbergs star Wendi McLendon Covey plays the hospital’s executive director, Joyce, while In Living Color’s David Alan Grier is one of St. Denis Medical Centre’s ER doctors. This starry cast is promising, but what makes the show really exciting is its decision to revisit an old sitcom format that has recently undergone a revival.
NBC’s St. Denis Medical Brings Back Workplace Mockumentary Sitcoms
Abbott Elementary Reignited This Sub-Genre After Its ‘00s Peak
NBC’s St. Denis Medical is helping revive the workplace mockumentary sitcom after the success of Abbott Elementary. The Office and Parks and Recreation originated the style back in the mid-’00s, but Abbott Elementary brought it back years later when the series began in 2021. Now, St. Denis Medical is here to prove that the workplace mockumentary sitcom is back to stay. The earliest promos for St. Denis Medical features the characters speaking directly to the camera in interview segments, something that The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family all relied on as part of their mockumentary setup.
Before Abbott Elementary revived mockumentary sitcoms, the format had fallen out of favor with audiences in the mid-2010s. High-profile flops like 2015’s the muppets., the same year’s The Comedians, and 2013’s Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous proved that viewers were sick of the style after mockumentary sitcoms dominated the genre throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. It didn’t help that Modern Family and The Office were among the most popular sitcoms on television at the time, meaning their style was aped by countless competitors hoping to recapture their success.
St. Denis Medical Shares Abbott Elementary’s Clever Sitcom Setup
The Show’s Settings Allow The Sitcoms To Address Real-Life Issues
Luckily, a lot of time has passed since the mid-2010s. Now, St. Denis Medical can outdo The Office by offering a workplace mockumentary sitcom that has something to say about the real world. While The Office was a great character comedy, the series wasn’t overly concerned with real-life issues. The biggest theme of The Office’s social commentary was the banality of corporate culture and, even then, the show ended up portraying Dunder Mifflin as an oddly warm environment by its final season. In contrast, St. Denis Medical can copy Abbott Elementary’s cleverest use of its mockumentary setup.
St. Denis Medical can offer a sharp satirical view of America’s healthcare system through its mockumentary setup.
Abbott Elementary frequently utilizes its mockumentary style to draw attention to real-life issues without feeling preachy or didactic. Since the show is presented as an in-universe documentary, it makes sense that issues like under-funding, overcrowding, systemic racism, and unfair resource allocation are all addressed by the teachers. Similarly, St. Denis Medical can offer a sharp satirical view of America’s healthcare system through its mockumentary setup. The series has already managed this with its opening four minutes, wherein Alex mentions how habitually overworked the staff is, while Joyce candidly admits that the hospital is criminally underfunded.
St. Denis Medical Combines Two Beloved Network TV Styles
The Upcoming Sitcom Is Both A Medical Drama And A Workplace Sitcom
While St. Denis Medical promises to borrow the best elements of Abbott Elementary’s formula, the show also has a trick of its own up its sleeve. Until the promised Scrubs revival reaches the airwaves, St. Denis Medical is one of few network shows to combine medical drama with a sitcom setup. Medical dramas are some of the most-watched shows on television thanks to hits like Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, and The Good Doctor. Similarly, shows like Young Sheldon and The Conners ensure that sitcoms are also big business for major networks.
St. Denis Medical cannily combines two of the most popular formats on television while simultaneously bringing back a style that has gone out of vogue in recent years. By revising the mockumentary sitcom format, St. Denis Medical can appeal to viewers who are nostalgic for the heyday of hits like Parks and Recreation and Modern Family. Meanwhile, by combining a medical drama with a workplace sitcom, St. Denis Medical can also borrow from two of the most perennially popular genres on network TV. As such, St. Denis Medical is set up for success before the NBC series even begins.
