‘The Night Shift’: Josh Kelly on filming special veterans episode

(L-R): Brendan Fehr as Drew Allister,  Eoin Macken as TC Callahan,  Josh Kelly as Xavier Arnold  Credit: John Britt/NBC.

The August 10th episode of  NBC’s “The Night Shift” is special because it features real life veterans in acting, writing and directing roles.

Among the veterans who served before working in the entertainment industry are US Navy vet Timothy Busfield (“thirtysomething”), who directs “The Night Shift,” and and featuring guest-starring actors Marine Corps vet Dan Lauria (“Pitch”) and Iraq War Army Ranger Josh Kelly (“UnREAL”).

Army vet Bryan Anthony, a veteran of the Army, wrote the script for the “Keep the Faith” episode.

The show is set in a hospital in San Antonio where there are a lot of military bases. The actors that are featured in tonight’s episode appreciate the realness of the show and in the real life situations that they set up.

“This was an authentic military show. They care about making it real. They were awesome about making it real and doing the research,” said actor Josh Kelly who guest stars on the episode. “This show is the closest thing to “M*A*S*H*” and “M*A*S*H*” is the closest thing to war in my personal experience that I’ve seen. It’s light, light, heavy…light, light, heavy.”

With the rise of military shows this season, (“The Brave” on NBC, “Valor” on The CW and “SEAL Team” on CBS), Kelly welcomes them.

“[‘The Night Shift’] has been around for a while and it was good that the other networks finally caught up. I don’t love watching all military things because I’m leery of the accuracy. I’m happy that this show got it right.”

“The opportunities to honor the military through entertainment are good and it’s nice to see shows like this do things like this. ”

Kelly loved working under the direction of Busfield whose directing resume includes episodes of “Nashville,” and “This Is Us” to name a few.

“I love Tim, ” Kelly said. “He’s so confident as a director. It’s rare to work with a director that is a successful actor. …no offense to the other actors who direct but most of the time it’s someone who didn’t make it as an actor and Tim Busfield knew exactly when to be light; when to talk to actors…he knows what he’s doing. It was really fun. I loved it.”

The series stars Brendan Fehr, Eion Macken, Tanaya Beatty Mark Consuelos and guest stars Dan Lauria and Josh Kelly.

Watch “The Night Shift” Thursday, August 10 on NBC.