Latest news with #St.Denis
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Cast and Crew of ‘St. Denis Medical' Found Joy and Warmth in the Show's Hospital Setting
'Hospitals are very sexy places.' The seasoned TV viewer probably knows that; from 'E.R.' to 'Grey's Anatomy' to 'The Pitt,' fictional hospitals are always teeming with attractive people and tense relationships — which is what makes them such fruitful narrative territory. NBC's 'St. Denis Medical' is no exception, as the cast and creative team told IndieWire as part of a virtual panel for Universal Studio Group's USG University. More from IndieWire 'The Gilded Age' Season 3 Trailer: A New Generation Rises as Carrie Coon Tries to Secure Her Status in High Society David Gauvey Herbert Reveals 'Ren Faire' Director Lance Oppenheim's Disarming Methods 'I always wondered: those medical dramas where people have sex in the on-call rooms, is that a real thing?' showrunner Eric Ledgin said. 'My friend who's an oncological surgeon assured me it's a very real thing.' That was the spark for Season 1, Episode 8 of the show, which opens with the St. Denis staff being summoned to a meeting after two of them are caught in the aforementioned on-call room. Hospital administrator Joyce (Wendi McLendon-Covey) hopes it'll be a quick and efficient conversation, but it ends up opening the floodgates regarding sex, gossip, and more. 'It gets Alex (Allison Tolman) in her head about is she having enough sex in her marriage — which was something that was very relatable to me and many married people,' Ledgin said. 'Then the room sort of piles on these ideas of, what if Joyce gets really paranoid that she's not in the loop, and it just was such a funny point of view for that character. One by one, it all comes together in the room of how to turn this into a story about our characters.' The break room is just one of many settings that showcase the work of production designer Elliot LaPlante, and how she and Ledgin worked to create 'the level of hospital' that St. Denis would be from a visual standpoint. 'This was not a cold, inner city hospital, and that allowed us to have a little bit more charm and a little bit more of a community feel, while keeping the balance of feeling real,' said Ledgin. For LaPlante, the show's Oregon setting took her back to her Pacific Northwest roots and to the atmosphere of that region. 'How do we bring the heart that we experience in these scripts to the visuals that we're seeing, and how do we make it as authentic as possible?' she said. 'What are those things that someone who is a medical professional will see and be like, 'Oh my gosh, that is right on. We have that in our hospital.' That's what we were always looking to find in all of our sets.' That extends to Joyce's office, cluttered with memorabilia from her time at the hospital and clues about how much time she devotes to work (as much as she wants to have a richer life outside). 'She sometimes does feel removed from things, but we wanted to get out that reminder [that] she still is integral into everything that's happening and has had such an impact on the community,' Laplante said. 'As we go on through the season, you just understand that Joyce is excluded from a lot of things, and it's because she is a disaster of a person,' McLendon-Covey offered. 'She sure wants to be a cuddly person, but she just isn't. All her plants have to be fake, because she doesn't have time to take care of them, and she has stuffed animals because those are her pets.' She and Tolman expressed gratitude for the stability of something like 'St. Denis.' The sets stay up, the departments have found their rhythm, and production rarely goes into overtime, making everyone 'able to be fully present and able to be pleasant at work for every single hour of every single day, because we weren't working crazy schedules, and we're working these coveted sitcom hours,' Tolman said. Even in a hospital, 'St. Denis' is a workplace comedy, a genre now comfortably depicted in the single-camera mockumentary style. The handheld cameras require minimal set up (cutting down prep time for someone like Tolman, who usually counts on her quick memory to learn lines on set), and performers develop a relationship with their camera operators, who function as moving pieces of the scene like anyone else. 'Whatever brand of gentle psychosis it is where you go through your life as if there was an audience — I've had that since I was a kid,' Tolman said. 'You can share things with the audience, and you can look at the camera and draw them in. There's all these opportunities to make other jokes and have other reactions, and then we get to surprise each other, and we get to surprise our writers and our directors. It just keeps it really alive.' Everyone from the 'St. Denis' team was eager to praise other departments, from the camera crew and writing staff to costume designer Alex Hester, producer Meg A. Schave, and more. As they prepare for Season 2, there was palpable excitement about working on the show with so much established. 'Normally we build something that is for a season and then it comes down,' LaPlante said about her job specifically. 'This set had to be waterproof. It had to be engineered. We built an ambulance bay with a 40-foot cantilevered awning, and we really had to be strategic throughout the Season of how we were able to shoot that area… I'm so glad it's done. It's ready to go for Season 2.' For Ledgin, his years of experience as a writer and executive producer led him to being a full-fledged showrunner — on unexpected levels. 'I am a little surprised by how much I couldn't get away from it, even when I went to sleep,' Ledgin said of the show's first season, which is now streaming in full on Peacock. 'It was in my dreams. I was waking up with an idea, and the problem was that I liked the idea so I had to actually get my phone and write it down. I was like, 'This is going to save me an hour tomorrow then I'm banging my head against the wall trying to think about what it was…' I think that was probably the biggest challenge that I am working on for Season 2.' IndieWire partnered with Universal Studio Group for USG University, a series of virtual panels celebrating the best in television art from the 2024-2025 TV season across NBC Universal's portfolio of shows. USG University (a Universal Studio Group program) is presented in partnership with Roybal Film & TV Magnet and IndieWire's Future of Filmmaking. Catch up on the latest USG University videos here or directly at the USG University site. Best of IndieWire 2023 Emmy Predictions: Who Will Win at the Primetime Emmy Awards? 2023 Emmy Predictions: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special 2023 Emmy Predictions: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Hunting Party Among 2 Renewals at NBC
Two freshman dramas, The Hunting Party and Brilliant Minds, emerged unscathed from NBC's Friday bloodbath and instead have been renewed for second seasons. Season 1 of The Hunting Party averaged 4.2 million total viewers (with delayed playback). Out of the 11 dramas that NBC has aired this TV season, it ranks No. 8 (outdrawing the cancelled Found and Suits LA, and the theoretically on-the-'bubble' Grosse Pointe Garden Society). More from TVLine NBC Fall Schedule: St. Denis to Lead Monday Comedy Block, NBA Tuesdays, The Hunting Party Replaces Found The Voice Season 28 Coaches Revealed: Who's Joining Snoop Dogg This Fall? Beyond the Gates Renewed for Season 2 at CBS With 4.9 million total viewers, Brilliant Minds ranks sixth among NBC's 11 dramas, trailing the #OneChicago trifecta and the two Law & Order shows. Hunting Party stars Manifest alum Melissa Roxburgh as Rebecca 'Bex' Henderson, an ex-FBI agent leading a small team of investigators on the hunt for inmates who escaped from a top-secret prison (aka The Pit) after a mysterious explosion. The cast also includes Nick Wechsler (Revenge) as Oliver Odell, Bex's former partner and The Pit's onetime warden; Josh Mackenzie (La Brea) as Shane Florence, a former soldier and Pit prison guard; Sara Garcia (The Flash) as Jennifer Morales, an intel officer and major in the Army; and Patrick Sabongui (The Flash) as CIA agent Ryan Hassani. TVLine readers gave Season 1 an average grade of 'A-.' Brilliant Minds, based on the life of neurologist/author Oliver Sacks, stars Zachary Quinto as Oliver, a neurologist at Bronx General Hospital whose atypical approach to medicine irks his superiors but often garners surprising results. The show's freshman run ended with a bombshell: While Oliver had thought his father, Noah, died when Oliver was a child, it turned out he did not. When Noah (played by Mandy Patinkin) re-entered his son's life, he added to the shock by announcing he was ill and asking Oliver for help with treatment. (Read a finale post-mortem interview with executive producers Michael Grassi and DeMane Davis.) The Brilliant Minds cast also includes Tamberla Perry, Donna Murphy, Teddy Sears, Ashleigh LaThrop, Alex MacNicoll, Aury Krebs and Spence Moore II. TVLine readers gave Season 1 an average grade of 'A.' Want scoop on , or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to , and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line! 2025 Renewal/Cancellation Scorecard View List Best of TVLine Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More 'Missing' Shows, Found! The Latest on Severance, Holey Moley, Poker Face, YOU, Primo, Transplant and 25+ Others
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
SNL Is Stuck in a Creative Rut in Its 50th Season — Can It Be Fixed?
As TVLine's resident Saturday Night Live correspondent, I cover the show each week and keep a running tally of the season's best sketches. But with just three episodes left in the show's landmark 50th season, I'm finding that my list of memorable sketches is shorter than usual. SNL went all out to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a live three-hour special in February that featured lots of fun cameos and sketches — but the season surrounding that special has been a letdown by comparison. It's almost as if the 50th anniversary has overshadowed the show itself, with the current cast getting pushed aside each week for buzzy cameos from former cast members. And it's not just the cameos: With uninspired writing and a lack of breakout stars, Season 50 has been making more headlines for viral moments like musical guest Morgan Wallen's abrupt exit than for funny sketches. More from TVLine St. Denis Medical Boss Reveals the 'Bad Idea' He Was Convinced to Drop From the Season 1 Finale The Voice's Season 27 Frontrunner Sparks a Heated Debate: Where Do You Stand On Her Unique Tone? Did Yes, Chef! Serve Up Piping Hot Drama? Grade NBC's Martha Stewart-José Andrés Cooking Competition There's still plenty of talent in the main cast, with Chloe Fineman and Heidi Gardner in particular shining on a regular basis. I like Sarah Sherman's unique brand of weirdness, and Michael Longfellow has a dry wit that isn't utilized enough. But it does feel like SNL is missing a heavy hitter right now, a true breakout star. Bowen Yang and Marcello Hernandez seem to be getting the most screen time this season, but the results have been decidedly mixed. (Hernandez's seductive Domingo is one of the few recurring characters SNL is still attempting.) I usually enjoy Please Don't Destroy's video contributions, too, but they feel sealed off from the rest of the show. SNL's current cast just feels like a grab bag of different comedic styles that aren't meshing together well. Then there's the Donald Trump problem. SNL trots out James Austin Johnson as Trump nearly every week without fail, but the political sketches feel obligatory at this point, and like preaching to the choir. Johnson's impression is spot-on, to be fair, but the writing just rehashes the same notes over and over. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, it's boring to watch SNL beat a dead horse each week, and it eats up valuable real estate that could be dedicated to actually innovative sketch comedy. Now of course, people have been declaring SNL dead almost as long as it's been on the air, and it always manages to find a way to bounce back, so I'm not counting it out entirely. But I can also clearly see that it's flailing right now, and Lorne Michaels isn't getting any younger. Could a fresh voice like Tina Fey (please?) come in and take the reins and guide SNL into a new golden era? I could see it… and I'm rooting for it. SNL's 50th anniversary special reminded us how essential this show has been to American comedy over the past half-century. But it also highlighted how far off the path the show is right now. What do you think, fans? Grade the current season in our poll, and then hit the comments to share your take on Season 50. Best of TVLine Young Sheldon Easter Eggs: Every Nod to The Big Bang Theory (and Every Future Reveal) Across 7 Seasons Weirdest TV Crossovers: Always Sunny Meets Abbott, Family Guy vs. Simpsons, Nine-Nine Recruits New Girl and More ER Turns 30: See the Original County General Crew, Then and Now
