'St. Denis Medical': Finally, a Sitcom Worth Watching, But Too Bad, Reality's Funnier

What if the documentary crew from The Office turned their camera lens onto a hospital instead of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company? More than a decade after The Office aired its finale, its concept comes to life again with St. Denis Medical, a new series that premiered this November. Filmed in the same mockumentary style, it follows the daily operations of a cash-strapped hospital in Oregon. From the moment the staff awkwardly glance at the camera, it's clear—our beloved mockumentary sitcom format is back.

The Office, with its iconic nine-season run, remains a gold standard for mockumentary sitcoms. Adapted from Ricky Gervais's same-titled British series, it grew into a distinctly American workplace comedy. Its success paved the way for hits like Parks and Recreation and Modern Family. The latter ran for 11 seasons and won 22 Emmys, but since it ended in 2020, mockumentary sitcoms have noticeably lost their cultural grip.

Today, shows like What We Do in the Shadows and Abbott Elementary keep the format alive, but neither has reached the peak popularity of The Office or Modern Family. This isn't necessarily due to a decline in quality—it's a sign of the broader challenges the mockumentary format now faces. The arrival of St. Denis Medical only underscores this reality.

The new series has all the right ingredients for a successful long-running sitcom: a stellar cast, sharp humor, distinct characters, and chaotic-yet-relatable scenarios. Its greatest strength lies in its playful subversion of medical drama tropes. While shows like Grey's Anatomy or House M.D. depict hospitals as intense arenas where life and death hang in the balance, St. Denis Medical opts for a more grounded, human approach. Gone are the hyper-competent, emotionally tortured doctors. Instead, we see hospital workers as ordinary people dealing with extraordinary situations. St. Denis Medical has no grand life-or-death melodramas—just everyday absurdities that elicit both laughter and empathy.

One of the show's producers, Justin Spitzer, who was also the former producer and writer for The Office, brings his signature brand of humor and satire to St. Denis Medical. The series opens with head nurse Alexandria (Allison Tolman) running an impromptu "honesty test" on a patient with a history of drug overdose. Within a few minutes, her compassionate yet no-nonsense personality is fully on display, and the humor lands perfectly.

The fourth episode delivers the show's sharpest satire yet. In this episode, executive director Joyce Henderson (Wendi McLendon-Covey) embarks on a misguided mission to select a non-white man as the hospital's Employee of the Month. Her search spirals into absurdity as potential candidates are disqualified for petty infractions—like taking their shoes off in the breakroom—or for suspected unconscious bias. In the end, the title is begrudgingly awarded to Bruce Schweitz (Josh Lawson), a white male surgeon who's already won twice before. Ironically, Bruce is the only one who actually cares about the recognition. The satire is spot-on, blending office and identity politics to hilarious effect.

But St. Denis Medical isn't without its growing pains. Its characters need more depth, and too many plotlines run simultaneously, diluting the show's dramatic tension. While its humor is clever, it doesn't quite have the bite of The Office.

Take, for example, the sexual harassment training scene from The Office—a masterclass in cringe comedy where Toby Flenderson's (Paul Lieberstein) well-meaning HR session collides with Dwight Schrute's (Rainn Wilson) bizarre, inappropriate questioning. Moments like these made The Office unforgettable. St. Denis Medical has the potential to reach those comedic heights but needs to take bigger risks and lean into the awkwardness.

Of course, St. Denis Medical is still in its early days. It takes time for a show to find its footing, especially when one's working within a well-worn format. So far, it's worth the watch. But it's hard to ignore the numbers—its ratings are less than a third of Modern Family's first season, and lands closer to the debut performance of Abbott Elementary. This only fuels the notion that the mockumentary era is slowly fading.

Why is this happening? Some argue that mockumentaries rose to prominence alongside reality TV. When reality TV was fresh and novel, mockumentaries offered a comedic mirror to the genre's tropes. Now that it has become ubiquitous, mockumentaries feel less innovative. I mostly agree with this industry perspective. But I'm also cynical enough to think that we're not just witnessing the decline of mockumentaries—but also watching the comedy genre itself enter a slump.

Consider this: Why did the Emmy Awards and Golden Globes keep nominating The Bear as a comedy when it clearly isn't one? Some say it was a strategy to avoid stiff competition in the drama category. But the result was that The Bear swept comedy awards, while actual comedies like Abbott Elementary and Hacks struggled to match the dominance once held by Modern Family. This shift raises a bigger question: Is comedy itself in decline?

I don't have all the answers. But as a comedy enthusiast living in today's world, I can't help but notice how absurd reality has become. Real life now offers punchlines more surreal than anything scripted. When I want to laugh, I don't always turn on a sitcom. Instead, I check the news or scroll through X (formerly Twitter). It's there that I see reports like this:

“26-year-old Luigi Mangione escapes on a shared bike after shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as social media users flood the comments with 'well done' and 'he's kinda sexy.'”

This is our reality—a world surrounded by absurdity without a fourth wall to break. When real life already reads like the wildest sitcom plot, what role is left for comedy shows to play?