Latest news with #St.DenisMedical
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Pitt' star Noah Wyle entered as actor, writer, and producer for 2025 Emmys; see all the show's submissions
A week after moving into first place in the Gold Derby odds for Best Actor in a Drama Series, Noah Wyle could be in play for several Emmys for The Pitt. HBO Max has submitted Wyle, who plays Dr. Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch, in multiple categories for acting, writing, and executive-producing the acclaimed series, Gold Derby has confirmed. More from GoldDerby 'Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage' showrunner breaks down season finale surprises, teases Season 2, and details the hit sequel's origins Adam Scott, Ben Stiller, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette and every 'Severance' Emmy submission 'I do think that I burned down the cabin': How 'Yellowjackets' star Steven Krueger pulled off Coach Ben's mental and physical decline Series creator, executive producer, and showrunner R. Scott Gemmill joins Wyle in the Writing for a Drama Series category. John Wells and Amanda Marsalis are submitted for Directing in a Drama Series. Warrick All series regulars, portraying members of the hospital's medical staff have been submitted for Outstanding Supporting Actor/Actress in a Drama Series: Shabana Azeez as Victoria Javadi Patrick Ball as Dr. Frank Langdon Isa Briones as Dr. Trinity Santos Taylor Dearden as Dr. Melissa 'Mel' King Fiona Dourif as Dr. Cassie McKay Supriya Ganesh as Dr. Samira Mohan Gerran Howell as Dennis Whitaker Tracy Ifeachor as Dr. Heather Collins Katherine LaNasa as Dana Evans The show also has three contenders in the Guest Actor/Actress categories: Mackenzie Austin and Rebecca Tilney who portray siblings confronting the complexities of their elderly father's do-not-resuscitate order Shawn Hatosy as physician Dr. Jack Abbot Beyond acting and writing, The Pitt is vying for nominations in several technical and creative categories: Casting for a Drama Series Cinematography for a One-Hour Drama Series Picture Editing for a Drama Series Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One-Hour or More) Contemporary Costumes Contemporary Hairstyling Contemporary Makeup (both prosthetic and non-prosthetic) Music Composition Sound Editing Sound Mixing Best of GoldDerby 'I do think that I burned down the cabin': How 'Yellowjackets' star Steven Krueger pulled off Coach Ben's mental and physical decline 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' star Charles Edwards on his tragic death scene: 'He did single-handedly withstand Sauron' 'It keeps me on my toes': 'St. Denis Medical' star Allison Tolman on walking a fine line between zany and 'incredibly heartfelt' Click here to read the full article.
Elle
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Filipino Nurses and Health Care Workers Are Everywhere. Now, They're Finally on Screen Too.
When I was scrolling on TikTok last fall, I came across Mean Girls . The scene, clipped from an episode of the new NBC sitcom St. Denis Medical , went viral, making Filipinos in the comments laugh and feel seen. People of other backgrounds who work in health care nodded along, noting the accuracy. And I, a Filipina with a few family members working in medicine, even let out a chuckle. It was as if for the first time, a widely understood reality finally made its way into mainstream television: Filipinos dominate the health care industry. Filipinos make up the biggest group of immigrant workers in the American health care system, according to a 2019 census, per the ER ran for 15 seasons without focusing on a Filipino nurse (this oversight became the butt of a joke at the Grey's Anatomy reportedly featured a Filipino nurse for the first time significantly in 2021—its 17th season on air—when Aina Dumlao 'Being Filipino American and just having so many nurses in my family, and being pressured to be a nurse myself growing up, it's always been so odd to me that there hasn't been a ton of Filipino nurses on TV in the past on these medical shows,' says St. Denis Medical writer Emman Sadorra, who is Filipino and pitched the 'mafia' concept along with a fellow Asian American writer. '[Working on] a new medical show that I'm so lucky and proud to be a part of, I knew that that was something I wanted to try and bring to the table or shed some light on.' NBC Yssamei Panganiban as Sharice and Nico Santos as Rene, members of the 'Filipino mafia' in St. Denis Medical. Although the Filipino mafia was only the subject of one episode (so far) on St. Denis , other Filipinos in scrubs have recently appeared onscreen this year as medical TV dramas underwent a renaissance. HBO Max's The Pitt , arguably the buzziest new show of the year, features three Filipina characters working in an emergency room: two are nurses, who often chit-chat in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, and one is a doctor. And when Netflix debuted its own soapy medical romance Pulse this spring, the cast included a Filipino actor playing a surgery intern. 'It feels like the powers that be in the entertainment industry are at last starting to get it —finally noticing us, seeing us, and inviting us to tell our stories.' There have been other flashes of representation in recent years, like a brief scene of nurses speaking Tagalog in the locker room in New Amsterdam in 2023 , or a minor character, Nurse Villanueva, appearing on The Good Doctor from 2017 to 2024. This new wave of shows marks a long-awaited breakthrough in representation—and more accurately depicts the reality of working in a hospital. It feels like the powers that be in the entertainment industry are at last starting to get it —finally noticing us, seeing us, and inviting us to tell our stories. With immigrant communities under attack right now in the U.S., this kind of visibility and celebration, for any minority group, is more important than ever. 'It is crazy that it's taken this long for there to be such concrete representation, but it's so special to be a part of it and show it in so many different forms,' says Isa Briones, who stars in The Pitt as a prickly and ambitious med student named Dr. Trinity Santos. 'There's nurses, there's doctors, there's also a spectrum of what [being] Filipino is. There's so many different nuances within it.' Warrick Page Isa Briones as Dr. Trinity Santos on The Pitt. Many of these actors know the impact of Filipinos in health care firsthand. Briones says 'so many family members, extended family members and friends of friends are Filipinos who are medical professionals.' Pulse 's Chelsea Muirhead says her Filipino mother, a phlebotomist, encouraged her to be a doctor or nurse when she was going to school. 'Now I get to turn to my mom and be like, 'I did it,' the Filipino-Scottish actor jokes of her role in her Netflix series. 'I'm kind of a doctor and I'm living that dream, finally.'' The Pitt 's Amielynn Abellera, who is also Filipino and whose mom was an ICU nurse, even studied pre-med in college ('That was a pattern that I was going to follow,' she recalls) before pursuing her passion for acting. 'The medical world of The Pitt feels so familiar,' she says. The Pitt makes sure audiences know that Filipinos are in the ER staff right away. Kristin Villanueva, the actress who plays a chatty nurse named Princess Dela Cruz, points out her character's early introduction in the series, alongside Abellera's Perlah Alawi, a fellow Filipina. 'I've read some comments of people just having a huge sigh of relief and excitement when you see me and Amielynn in that second minute of episode 1 and already speaking Tagalog,' Villanueva says. 'It was also jarring for me that all of a sudden, BAM! Dr. Robby—Noah Wyle—is going in and already being flanked by two Filipino nurses.' Courtesy HBO Max Kristin Villanueva, Noah Wyle, and Amielynn Abellera in The Pitt . Notably, The Pitt develops these characters fully, rather than making them one-dimensional stereotypes. Throughout the first season, Briones's character is shown butting heads with a white male counterpart (her performance is so convincing that her character has become Briones, for example, asked if her character 'could have a last name that represented my background.' The team obliged and dubbed her Santos (Filipino surnames are often of Spanish origin due to centuries of colonization). Villanueva, who was born in the Philippines and speaks fluent Tagalog, weighed in on some of the translated dialogue and ad-libs. 'There's one scene where I call Dr. Langdon an asshole. In Tagalog we have—I don't know—20 words for asshole. It's like varying degrees of intensity,' Villanueva explains. 'So, then I would go back to the writer and ask, 'Is Princess joking? Is she teasing? Does she really mean it? Is she irritated?' Then we have leeway in interpreting that to arrive at the same vibe or gist or objective of that character.' Related Story Even the inclusion of gossip (or tsismis ) is, inexplicably, an accurate homage to Filipino culture. But the Tagalog dialogue isn't only used to talk about someone else behind their back (or in front of their faces). 'To me, when I speak in Tagalog, it's not always necessarily so other people can't understand us,' Villanueva says, in Princess's defense. 'It's easier to express in your mother tongue and your native language.' 'It doesn't matter if there's a Filipino on screen for like half a second, we will proudly claim and watch the program just to see that one glimpse of our people. So I was really just like, 'We just have to get this right.'' Nico Santos (you know him from Superstore and Crazy Rich Asians ), who plays nurse Rene on St. Denis , the leader of the Filipino mafia, was also able to use his personal experience to inform the show. Some parts of the script would be translated by a service, but the phrasing was too formal or unnatural. 'The translation was super-lalim talaga [really super-deep],' Santos remembers. 'We just don't use those words.' So he sought to make the dialogue 'more conversational' and accurate because there was a lot at stake. 'You know how our people are,' he says. 'It doesn't matter if there's a Filipino on screen for like half a second, we will proudly claim and watch the program just to see that one glimpse of our people. So I was really just like, 'We just have to get this right.'' NBC 'We just have to get this right,' Nico Santos said of Filipino representation on St. Denis. That also meant paying attention to the details. In one scene where Rene gives a colleague a bag of canned goods and groceries, St. Denis writer Emman Sadorra recalls 'specifically telling the props people it should be corned beef. That's such a Filipino thing.' (It's not visible in the final cut, but it's the thought that counts.) When you're part of a community that's rarely in the spotlight, the pressure is high. Santos understands that struggle. 'I have sort of a love-hate relationship with the position that I'm in because at the very core of it, this is just what I want to do for a living. …. But when you start working at a certain level, there is that layer of, you are the face of the community . I feel that not only with being Filipino, but being queer as well,' he says. He later jokes, 'If I fuck up, please don't hold it against me. I am just a person, and I will make mistakes. And someday I hope that it gets to a point where we can play all types of characters, and those characters not be seen like, 'Oh my God, all Filipinos are like that.'' NBC Santos says, 'When you start working at a certain level, there is that layer of, you are the face of the community .' Briones was glad to be on the set of The Pitt with two other Filipina actors who came from different backgrounds as a way of showing this long-overlooked community is not monolithic. Briones, the daughter of trailblazing TV and Broadway star Jon Jon Briones, is mixed race, Filipino and Caucasian; Villanueva, a seasoned theater actor, was born in the Philippines and immigrated when she was a teenager. Abellera, who hails from California, plays a Muslim Filipina nurse who wears a hijab. (Though the Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, about These shows have been healing not only for viewers, but also for the Filipino actors who star in them. Muirhead, who is queer, says it 'felt so serendipitous' to play her character, Sophie, who was written as queer in the script. Portraying a Filipina exploring her sexuality helped her answer her own questions in real life. 'I'm learning a lot about myself, to be honest,' Muirhead says. 'I'm finding much more confidence in myself by digging through, potentially, what might a character like Sophie feel?' Courtesy of Netflix Daniela Nieves as Camila Perez and Chelsea Muirhead as Sophie Chan in Pulse . Briones also had an emotional realization while filming a scene in episode 11 of The Pitt when Princess and Perlah are in the midst of gossiping about Trinity in Tagalog, and Trinity chimes in, stunning the pair with her understanding of the language. In her disbelief, Princess says Trinity is ' so mestiza! '—meaning she's so white-passing she couldn't believe she was Filipina. Villanueva asked Briones for permission to use that line when the director of the episode, Quyen Tran, encouraged her to improvise. 'Kristen was kind of like, 'Is it okay if I say that?' to me,' Briones says, noting that the term could be read as an insult to people who are mixed. 'Even though those types of words have hurt me [in the past], it felt so powerful to represent it and show it. It didn't feel painful to do that scene. I would've watched this and would've teared up and been like, 'Oh my God, I've had that exact interaction before.'' Sadorra sums it up well: 'The things that make me different used to be things that I was afraid of writing about, but now I fully embrace it and it's only yielded great results.' Warrick Page Abellera studied pre-med before pivoting to acting. But even as more Filipinos appear on screen, I can't help but wonder if casting them as doctors and nurses will become just another pigeonhole—like the delivery man, the IT guy, and the exotic sex symbol tropes that Asians have long been typecast as. Knowing this, Villanueva made sure to be selective about which roles she takes on. 'If it's a Filipino nurse and there's more to 'yes, doctor,' you get to see more of the personality, or have more of a backstory, then of course, I absolutely would audition for that,' she says. When she was auditioning for The Pitt and saw the character's name was Princess—an 'if you know you know' nod to the over-the-top names Filipinos give their kids—she knew the writers were 'going deep in their research.' 'The hope for the future is just more . Not only in front of the screen but also behind it.' '[Working in] medicine is also a little bit of a [stereotypical career] in the community,' Muirhead says. 'It's like a dream, kind of our golden mountain to chase, especially for older generations. But what a beautiful beacon [it is].' Santos agrees: 'It's the easiest entry into our culture, and then you let them know: We're not all nurses.' Abellera says we're in the midst of a cultural shift 'where Filipino and Filipino American stories are really making their way into not only art, but different spaces like cuisine, sports, music, design, and literature in a way that I never experienced growing up.' And as a parent of a 4-year-old, she's excited to be able to show her child Filipinos on TV, from Josh, the new host of Blue's Clues , to herself. ANNA KOORIS // Netflix Filipino actors hope for more opportunities onscreen, behind the camera, and beyond.. Indeed it is an exciting time, as Hollywood has embraced more stories from people of color in recent years. But it's also a fraught one, as DEI initiatives are increasingly under threat. The hope for the future is just more . Not only in front of the screen but also behind it. While The Pitt , St. Denis Medical , and Pulse spotlight Filipino actors and storylines, all three shows are led by white male showrunners or co-showrunners. ( Pulse has a female co-showrunner.) There's always more room for improvement, whether it's in the writers' room, the director's chair, or the C-suite. 'To the executives: People want these real stories. The Pitt is an example of that,' Briones says. 'So seek out new writers, new directors, seek out the people who are going to tell their unique stories about their cultural background, and also stories that don't have to be about their Asian-ness, their Filipino-ness, or whatever—it's just ingrained.' The success of The Pitt and St. Denis demonstrate that there's an appetite for more Filipinos onscreen. 'I think what networks were afraid of was, if you get too specific, the show is not going to translate to a wider audience,' Sadorra says. 'But it's almost like the opposite of that has been true—the more specific you get, the more universal it becomes.' He adds later, 'The response of that [nurse mafia] clip that went viral, and people really loving that episode in particular, has shown us that this is really resonating with people, and it would be smart of us to keep exploring stories in that area. So I hope we get to do that for a second season.' My fingers, for one, are crossed to see more Rene and the Filipino mafia on screen in the future. I can't wait to gossip about it. Related Story
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Last of Us': Gabriel Luna on shooting flamethrowers and what Season 3 could mean for Tommy
Making a television series can be a lot like surviving the apocalypse. Most of the time you're thrown together with a group of strangers and forced to overcome differences with the hopes of achieving something larger than yourself — maybe even forming a sort of family along the way. And you shoot a flamethrower. More from GoldDerby 'St. Denis Medical' creators Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer discuss navigating the 'peaks and valleys of comedy' Liam Payne confirmed as judge for Netflix singing competition, 'Superman' hits hard, and today's other top stories Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' That's been Gabriel Luna's experience making The Last of Us, the massive HBO production that over the course of two seasons so far has turned its cast and crew into a community not dissimilar from the ragtag forces defending the walls of Jackson Hole, Wyo., from a horde of infected. "It was very similar in the way that we kind of embraced each other off-screen and tried to build the fibers between the cast as quickly as we could," Luna told Gold Derby. "There were instances where people had kind of just met each other and were thrown into pretty intense subject matter." And considering what happens in Season 2, "pretty intense" might be putting it lightly. The Last of Us Five years have passed since the events of Season 1's finale, in which Pedro Pascal's Joel murdered a hospital full of resistance fighters in order to save the life of his surrogate daughter, Ellie (Bella Ramsey). The duo are now living in Jackson, with Joel's brother Tommy, played by Luna. Tommy has spent the past half decade years growing his family, nuclear and otherwise. He and his wife, Maria (Rutina Wesley), now have a young son, and they're leaders within the community of Jackson, which has grown to resemble something like the world before the Cordyceps. For Luna, returning to the world of The Last of Us for the second season meant expanding his off-screen family as well, welcoming in new cast members like Isabela Merced, Kaitlyn Dever, and Young Mazino and doing his best to foster the same camaraderie on set that made Season 1 such a special shoot. "Pedro and myself, Rutina, and Bella were kind of the elder statesman," Luna said. "We were trying to maintain the culture of the show, which is one of love, of real love. And that sounds kind of cliché, but it's, it's really true in this case." But soon the concerns of production were shifting from whether the costars got along to whether Luna could properly handle a flamethrower. The season's biggest set piece, in which hundreds of infected descend upon Jackson, involves Tommy facing down a massive bloater one-on-one, and Luna got to operate the fire-powered weapon himself on set — with less training than you might expect. "They give you a three-minute tutorial," Luna said with a laugh. "That's it a couple of days before you go on." The massive scale of the action in that episode is balanced with drama elsewhere that was painfully personal. Joel's brutal death at the hands of Dever's Abby defines the trajectory of the story that follows, sending Ellie off on a quest for revenge that takes her and Dina (Merced) all the way to Seattle. But when the action picks back up on Episode 3, the focus is on Tommy, now a grieving brother, as he prepares Joel's body for burial. The scene, for Luna, had greater implications for the show that went beyond the story. "It was kind of a farewell to the great leader," Luna said. "The great leadership that Pedro gave, and a transition into Bella's tenure, and myself and everyone else and Kaitlyn, who were going to continue telling the story. Yeah, I kind of let it all go in that moment." The scene was such an integral one that Luna had a unique request. Since Joel remains beneath a sheet during the sequence, Pascal's double, Philippe, laid on the slab for filming. And when production asked Luna whether it would help to have the actor opposite him in full, bloody makeup, he took them up on the offer — unfortunately for Philippe. "I apologized for having them put him in full makeup," Luna said with a laugh. "I'd have to lift that shroud and see his face, and I wanted something to to obviously engage with and react to, and [Philippe] was kind enough to go through several hours of prosthetic makeup to do the full look. And, but it all ended up being really effective for me and hopefully for the piece itself." And while Ellie's quest for Abby takes the action away from Jackson, Tommy eventually catches up with her, just in time to land at the center of the season's climactic cliffhanger. Held at gunpoint by Abby, the fate of Tommy and Ellie are left in the balance until Season 3. But Luna is excited for viewers to learn more about what his character was up to when the series' point of view shifts to Abby and winds the clock back two days. "What's special about the game and the perspective shift that occurs is that your heroes in one viewpoint are someone else's boogeyman," Luna said. "And I look forward to being that — if we do, in fact, handle that story that way. It's an opportunity to really show somebody who returns to their base instincts and the most destructive aspects of their nature and someone who gives in to the fury that that kind of grief sparks." Best of GoldDerby TV Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' 'RuPaul's Drag Race': Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles dish their 'ride of a lifetime,' stolen jokes, and turning drag 'inside out' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘St. Denis Medical' creators Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer discuss navigating the ‘peaks and valleys of comedy'
'It would feel stupid to walk away and do something that's less joyful,' expresses Eric Ledgin about why he has built his career around television comedy. The writer, who is one of the two creators of the NBC mockumentary series St. Denis Medical alongside Justin Spitzer, initially wanted to 'make movies that are important,' but got 'pushed into comedy by a friend.' He now revels in the format because 'half hour gives you limitless opportunities to do whatever you want.' The creative duo recently sat down with Gold Derby to discuss the origins of the hospital-set series, their favorite episodes from the first season, and more. St. Denis Medical boasts a unique tone. It is a comedic mockumentary about the doctors, nurses, and administrative staff at a regional hospital in Oregon, but it also often includes moments of true stakes and dramatic heft. 'It's a comedy and it's comedy forward, but there's a lot of attention paid to character and conflict and realism,' explains Spitzer, who notes, 'It's not a drama, but we're not just a joke machine either.' Ledgin echoes the sentiment, adding, 'The thesis is that hospitals are funny places, and I think if you talk to healthcare workers, almost all of them would agree. Because it's a mockumentary, it would feel false if there weren't real moments of people being moved.' 'You have the peaks and valleys of comedy and serious, happy and sad,' adds Spitzer. More from GoldDerby Liam Payne confirmed as judge for Netflix singing competition, 'Superman' hits hard, and today's other top stories Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' Brian Wilson, Beach Boys co-founder, dead at 82 WATCH our video interview with Wendi McLendon-Covey, 'St. Denis Medical' The series features a large ensemble of television stalwarts including David Alan Grier, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Allison Tolman plus newer faces to broadcast television such as Josh Lawson, Kahyun Kim, Mekki Leeper, and Kaliko Kauahi. When the creators were first crafting the series, the number of full-time players they wanted to include was 'restricted by budgets, obviously,' but Spitzer explains, 'What's great about these workplace settings, certainly Superstore, is that you have so many recurring employees and nurses and doctors, so it gives you the chance to slowly expand the world.' Ledgin appreciates having a large ensemble because 'having more options helps, especially when you're on episode 50 and you're trying to come up with something fresh.' The characters he gravitated toward when he and Spitzer were breaking the pilot were surgeon Bruce, played by Lawson, and Alex, portrayed by Tolman, especially because they are so 'opposite' and therefore 'opposing forces.' In addition to the premiere episode, which laid the foundation for the tricky balance of broad comedy and emotional stakes of the show, Ledgin and Spitzer co-wrote the tenth installment, 'People Just Say Stuff Online.' In the episode, Dr. Ron, played by Grier, gets a negative Yelp review from a patient who felt the advice he received from the doctor was disparaging. The idea for the episode was inspired by a real interaction Ledgin heard from a healthcare provider. 'This doctor, who was a cocky ortho guy, was telling me he had this patient who was overweight and had a knee issue and he said the person got really offended. I thought the story was going to be, 'Can you f—ing believe this guy?,' but instead he said, 'I need to be more sensitive.' It was this very touching story about this jock-seeming guy and that seemed surprising in a way that felt like an interesting launch pad.' Spitzer says the episode works because 'this is one of those complicated areas. You don't want to make people feel ashamed, you need to meet them halfway, but some things are worse for your health than other things.' SEE 'I know this dude!': David Alan Grier explains why he leapt at the chance to play a 'burned-out' doctor on 'St. Denis Medical' The episode also features an excellent push-and-pull between Ron and McLendon-Covey's Joyce, the hospital administrator concerned with maintaining St. Denis' four-star rating online. The dynamic between the two had been developing all season. Ledgin describes, 'They have this history and a respect, even when they argue, and that definitely informed a lot of what we did even in Season 1. We're having a little more fun in Season 2 exploring questions like, how long have they worked together, and how well do they know each other?' Spitzer observes that in comedy series like St. Denis Medical, 'The characters become very quickly a family or a group of people that generally like each other. ... You have conflict, you keep that, but underneath it, people really don't want to watch people who truly hate each other.' In Gold Derby's recent interviews with Grier and McLendon-Covey, both actors expressed interest in doing a flashback episode to when Ron and Joyce were residents together at St. Denis three decades ago. Asked about the possibility, Spitzer confesses, 'It's hard with a mockumentary,' because who would have been filming in the hospital back then? Ledgin agrees, saying, 'I have a little trouble with the math of that.' WATCH our video interview with Allison Tolman, 'St. Denis Medical' Ledgin also wrote the season finale, 'This Place Is Our Everything,' which features a payoff to the season-long question about a potential romance between nurses Serena (Kim) and Matt (Leeper). Ledgin says of how he approached the arc and its first-season conclusion, 'I think the primary thing was just not forcing anything and making sure that it never felt paint by numbers. … If there's something that we did that was smart, it was not going in with a specific objective of what's going to happen with them. I could see it. I could also see it blowing up.' Out of the 18 episodes from St. Denis Medical's first season, Ledgin and Spitzer single out a few as especially memorable. Spitzer cites the third episode, 'Weird Stuff You Can't Explain,' sharing, 'I love watching Val (Kauahi) drag the cross. It makes me laugh a lot. If I rewatch it, it still makes me laugh.' Ledgin mentions episode 14, 'Listen to Your Ladybugs,' because it features a subplot with Ron that he says 'happened to me in the middle of the season, and it was very cathartic and fun to see.' He also spotlights the penultimate episode, 'Bruce-ic and the Mus-ic,' which features Bruce competing in a dance contest at the hospital gala, and 'People Just Say Stuff Online,' which finds Bruce confronting his high school bully. Speaking of Lawson's performance, the creator says, 'I thought he executed that so well in such a maniacal way.' SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby TV Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' 'RuPaul's Drag Race': Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles dish their 'ride of a lifetime,' stolen jokes, and turning drag 'inside out' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘She's got tunnel vision': Wendi McLendon-Covey reveals what she loves most about her character Joyce on ‘St. Denis Medical'
'It was, like, four hours after we were canceled, and that's no joke.' That's how long it took for Wendi McLendon-Covey to receive the first script for St. Denis Medical after the demise of her long-running comedy The Goldbergs. As the actress tells Gold Derby, she read the pilot with no expectation of making a series commitment, but she says she became hooked because her character, Joyce, is 'such an oddball and reminded me of so many women supervisors that I had working other jobs.' The transition from one show to another did prove challenging, though, as she shot the first episode of the NBC medical mockumentary while promoting the series finale of her family sitcom and felt like she was 'cheating' on her television family. (Watch our full interview above). McLendon-Covey's character is at the center of the St. Denis Medical cast as the top hospital administrator who tries to motivate the doctors, nurses, and staff of her regional medical center in her quest to make it a destination hospital. Although the character comes across as an 'oddball,' the actress stresses that 'she's not an idiot. She's an accomplished woman who is a doctor.' The television vet crafted a backstory to explain her character's offscreen journey, sharing, 'In my mind, she became an administrator because she got tired of being told how to practice medicine.' But now, instead of battling with insurance companies over patient care, all she does now is 'beg for money all day.' The actress describes this as the 'delicious line' she gets to walk. More from GoldDerby Michelle Williams on 'Dying for Sex,' finding the perfect role and embracing pleasure: 'Can you leave shame at the door?' Marlon Wayans on laughing through tragedy in 'Good Grief' and why social media has made comedy 'toxic' Tony Talk: Dissecting those shocking wins for 'Purpose,' Nicole Scherzinger, Darren Criss, and full show analysis SEE 'I know this dude!': David Alan Grier explains why he leapt at the chance to play a 'burned-out' doctor on 'St. Denis Medical' McLendon-Covey stars in the series alongside Emmy Award nominee Allison Tolman and Tony Award winner David Alan Grier. While those performers have 'proven track records,' the Emmy-nominated Reno 911! star has been equally impressed with the cast members who she didn't know prior to joining St. Denis. 'When I watch Mekki Leeper, dear God, just take me out, turn the cameras off me because I'm laughing my head off,' exclaims the actress, continuing, 'Same with Josh Lawson, same with Kaliko [Kauahi], who can level me with one line delivery per episode. She knows how to get in, say her thing, steal all the focus, and get out. Kahyun [Kim], I'm so impressed with her because she learned English from watching television in her twenties. She's fantastic.' Joyce's relationship with Grier's character, the burned out doctor Ron, has emerged as one of the most pivotal in the series, as the snark they show toward one another thinly masks deeply-held respect. 'We haven't talked about it that much. We had a meeting of the minds and started playing it the same way,' the actress says of the duo's dynamic. The series has revealed that the two doctors were residents together at St. Denis decades ago, so the performer hopes Season 2 will feature a flashback to those years, confessing, 'I do want to see what they (a) looked like in the '90s, and (b) how that worked out when they were working 18-hour shifts together.' WATCH our video interview with Allison Tolman, 'St. Denis Medical' One of McLendon-Covey's best episodes from the first season, 'Listen to Your Ladybugs,' follows the hospital's awareness campaign to encourage women to get their mammograms in a timely fashion. But when Joyce gets her screening for the cameras, it turns up an inconclusive spot that needs further testing, causing Joyce to panic. 'We're just playing the reality of working in a hospital, and things turn on a dime. Sometimes you're the ones getting the bad news,' stresses the actress about why the installment works so effectively. The Bridesmaids star also reveals that Joyce's situation, in which a mammogram led to a more invasive biopsy, happened to her. Just like her character, the McLendon-Covey says, 'Mammograms suck! It is like a panini press. This is the best we can do for women? It's humiliating. It hurts. I've got a whole sermon I could preach.' McLendon-Covey most enjoyed shooting the 'big episodes' of St. Denis Medical's first season, including 'Some Famous Internet Guy,' where the hospital hosts a concert for its pediatric patients, and 'Bruce-ic and the Mus-ic,' in which Joyce helps Ron emcee a fundraising gala. The actress says she delights in the installments in which 'there's just chaos going on behind the scenes, and Joyce has to pretend like there isn't any chaos.' She also mentions 'Ho-Ho-Hollo,' the Christmas episode, which finds Joyce suddenly passionate about the hospital going viral online. 'The absurdity of Joyce getting a goal in her mind and trying to reach it … she's got tunnel vision," McLendon-Covey says, "and I like that in a character.' 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