"No, sir, I'm a dreamer."
The staff at Sacred Heart learn to deal with death, relationships, and life. The new interns, awkward dreamer John "J.D" Dorian (Braff), neurotic Elliot Reid (Chalke), and macho surgeon Chris Turk (Faison), are under intense pressure and have to decide what is more important in their lives: career or relationships outside the hospital. The interns are under the care of Dr. Cox (McGinley), who has nicknames for each intern and goes on long rants with every mistake. They are aided by the nurses, led by Carla (Reyes), who are bitter after years of watching hot shot doctors take credit for procedures the nurses completed. The hospital is run by Dr. Bob Kelso (Jenkins), who has no interest in the doctors or the hospital "who has two thumbs and doesn't give a crap? Bob Kelso," and inept sad-sack lawyer Ted (Lloyd). With the psychotic Janitor (Flynn) roaming the halls, and stiff competition for any advancement, can they survive to become real doctors?
While hospital shows are nothing new, "Scrubs" embraced the lighter side to a stressful job. Much like MASH, the doctors played pranks on each other and joked around as a way to cope with the hard times and constant presence of death. The show was narrated by J.D. (except the "His Story", "Her Story", "Their Story" episodes that were narrated by other cast members) who had odd daydreams throughout the day. The daydreams and narration served as the focal point of physical comedy and outrageous situations. The writers managed to straddle the line between absurdity and sentimentality with tact, with the docs dealing the life outside the hospital and the emotional punch of the patients they were treating.
The first 7 seasons appeared on NBC, ending with a fairytale episode told to Dr. Cox's son "My Princess." The show was picked up for an 8th season by ABC. The 8th season allowed the writers and cast to say a proper good-bye to the show, ending with J.D. leaving the hospital in "My Finale." At the end of the 8th season they show was offered the chance to continue, despite the departure of creator Bill Lawrence and star Zach Braff. They decided to reimage the show as Med School, with the Sacred Heart docs serving as teachers / mentors. I prefer to think of the 9th season as a spinoff... while some of the "Scrubs" cast returned for Med School, it wasn't the same show. Braff returned for the first few episodes to co-narrate with his protege Lucy, who become the series lead. I enjoyed the 9th season, but preferred the earlier seasons.
The show worked best when it embraced the eccentricities of the staff. By the end of the 8th season the audience was familiar with the main characters, and all the people they came in contact with: Hooch ("Hooch is crazy"), Snoop Dog Intern, Mickhead (who may have killed his wife), Doug (who is a hopeless doctor and eventually works in the morgue), The Todd (who always spoke in double entendres and believed in high 5's), among others. The writers toasted different writing styles: there was a musical episode (featuring a song called "Everything Comes Down to Poo"), an episode from the POV of a nervous intern, etc.
It wasn't realistic, but it was certainly fun. The show also featured cameos by the cast of Spin City, another show by Bill Lawrence. Lawrence now helms the hysterical Cougar Town on ABC. The show features cameos by Scrubs cast members, as well as a leading role for Scrubs alum Christa Miller.
Scrubs (2001-2010)
Created by: Bill Lawrence
Starring: Zach Braff as J.D.
Donald Faison as Turk
Sarah Chalke as Elliot
Judy Reyes as Carla
John C. McGinley as Dr. Cox
Ken Jenkins as Dr. Kelso
Sam Lloyd as Ted
Neil Flynn as Janitor
Christa Miller as Jordan
Aloma Wright as Laverne
Robert Maschio as Todd
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