'''Scrubs''' is an
Emmy- and
Peabody Award-winning
American situation comedy/
comedy-drama that premiered on
October 2,
2001 on
NBC. It was created by
Bill Lawrence, who also co-created ''
Spin City'' and is produced by
Touchstone Television.
The show focuses on the professional and personal lives of several characters working at
Sacred Heart, a
teaching hospital. It features verbose characters,
slapstick,
fast-paced dialogue, and surreal
vignettes, which are presented as the
daydreams of the main characters. This latter feature was originally focused entirely on JD, however it was expanded to the daydreams of other characters as the series progressed.
In May 2007 it was confirmed that the show would return for its seventh and final season.
[1]
Synopsis
The show is structured around multiple storylines thematically linked via
voiceovers by
protagonist and narrator
Dr. John "J.D." Dorian, played by
Zach Braff. According to Lawrence, "What we decided was, rather than have it be a monotone narration, if it's going to be told through Zach's voice, we're going to do everything through J.D.'s eyes. It opened up a visual medium that those of us as comedy writers were not used to."
[2] The show is also notable for its use of a
single-camera setup for filming as opposed to a
multiple-camera setup - the more traditional setup for
situation comedies.
The broad comedy is often counterpointed by more serious scenes, as Lawrence notes: "One of the things we thought early on was [if] we occasionally showed actual patients and actual people dying and things with emotional stakes, working in single camera, that it might be enough to combine with broad comedy."
At the end of most of the episodes, J.D. summarizes the story's moral or theme in a sequence of shots that show how it has affected each of the characters. ''Scrubs'' has been advertised as "half as long as ''
ER'' and twice as funny".
[3] The series often features guest appearances by major movie actors not generally seen on episodic television, such as
Colin Farrell,
Heather Graham and
Brendan Fraser.
Cast
Main characters
The majority of the main characters in ''Scrubs'' are medical professionals. The
doctors include
Dr. John "J.D." Michael Dorian (
Zach Braff), who is an attending physician and staff internist. J.D., a sensitive, good-natured, and talented young doctor, acts as the show's narrator and main character. He develops a close friendship with fellow intern and attending physician
Dr. Elliot Reid (
Sarah Chalke), a relationship which becomes romantic on several occasions. Dr. Reid, currently a private practitioner, is driven by a neurotic desire to prove her abilities to her parents, her peers, and herself. J.D.'s best friend is
Dr. Christopher Duncan Turk (
Donald Faison) who is a talented
Surgical Attending. Turk roomed with J.D. at college and medical school, and the two have an extremely close relationship. Dr. Turk eventually marries
Nurse Carla Espinosa (
Judy Reyes), the hospital's head
nurse. Carla, is a strong, independent nurse who cares deeply about her patients. She is prone to over-reaction, and compulsively tells her friends how to go about their lives.
Two other characters represent senior roles in the hospital.
Dr. Percival "Perry" Cox (
John C. McGinley) is the senior attending physician at Sacred Heart and the hospital's
Residency Director. J.D. considers him to be his
mentor, despite the fact that Dr. Cox routinely criticizes and belittles him - in part as an outlet for Cox's frustrations with his own life. It is frequently suggested, however, that this rough treatment is intended as a conditioning for the rigors of hospital life. Cox is actually proud of J.D., believing that he has the potential to become a great doctor.
Ken Jenkins plays
Dr. Robert "Bob" Kelso, Sacred Heart's Chief of
Medicine. Dr. Kelso is portrayed as a cold, heartless individual, driven primarily by the hospital's bottom line rather than the well-being of patients. However, it is occasionally suggested that he has a softer side, and that his cruelty is a means of coping with the hard decisions he has to make. Kelso has an unseen wife called Enid, a morbidly
obese paraplegic who he is frequently unfaithful to and critical of. Dr. Kelso cares deeply for his son, Harrison (another
unseen character), despite frequent comments about Harrison's flamboyant
homosexuality and lack of success.
The only lead character who is ''not'' a medical professional is a hospital custodian known only as "
Janitor". Played by
Neil Flynn, the Janitor has appeared in every episode except "
My Lucky Day". An incident in the
pilot episode establishes an adversarial relationship between J.D. and him, which persists throughout the series.
Supporting cast
Main articles: List of minor characters of Scrubs
★
Robert Maschio as
Dr. Todd "The Todd" Quinlan—Cosmetic Surgery Fellow/Surgical Attending (98 episodes)
★
Aloma Wright as
Nurse Laverne Roberts (2001–2007)—Nurse (85 episodes)
★
Sam Lloyd as
Theodore "Ted" Buckland—Hospital Attorney (75 episodes)
★
Christa Miller as
Jordan Sullivan—Sacred Heart Hospital Board Member and Perry Cox's ex-wife (70 episodes).
★
Johnny Kastl as
Dr. Doug Murphy—Pathology MD (46 episodes)
★
Travis Schuldt as
Dr. Keith Dudemeister—MD Resident (31 episodes)
★
Charles Chun as
Dr. Wen—Surgical Attending (20 episodes)
★
Michael Hobert as
Lonnie—MD Resident (15 episodes)
★
Scott Foley as
Sean Kelly (11 episodes)
★
Tara Reid as
Danni Sullivan (11 episodes)
★
Elizabeth Banks as
Dr. Kim Briggs—Urologist (11 episodes)
★
Heather Graham as
Dr. Molly Clock—Attending Psychiatrist (9 episodes)
Cameo appearances
Main articles: List of minor characters of Scrubs#Cameo appearances,
l1=List of stars who have had cameo appearances on Scrubs
★ Each season premiere and finale features a shot of Bill Lawrence's best friend as a good luck charm.
★ Several cast members from ''
Spin City'', another show created by Bill Lawrence, have made guest appearances on the show. These include
Michael J. Fox,
Barry Bostwick,
Alan Ruck,
Richard Kind,
Michael Boatman,
Alexander Chaplin, and
Heather Locklear.
[4]
★ Similarly, many cast members from ''Scrubs'' have lent voices to ''
Clone High'', another show created by Lawrence. They include Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, John C. McGinley, Christa Miller Lawrence, and ''Scrubs'' recurring actors
Michael McDonald and
Nicole Sullivan.
[5]
★ Also, cast members Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn, and director/producer Bill Lawrence all made cameo appearances in a scene in the 2002 TV
Muppets movie ''
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'' that shows
Miss Piggy playing an extra in ''Scrubs'' but trying to improvise and give herself a bigger role.
[6]
★ Several ''Scrubs'' crew members have appeared in minor speaking roles, such as writer/producer
Mike Schwartz having a recurring role as Lloyd the Delivery Man,
[7] producer Randal Winston as the security guard Leonard,
[7] and writer Gabrielle Allan as a nurse.
My Charlie Brown Christmas
"My Charlie Brown Christmas" is a re-cut and re-dub of ''
A Charlie Brown Christmas'', starring the cast of ''Scrubs''. It was created by Daniel Russ and Ryan Levin for the show's 2003 Christmas party.
In it, J.D. (Charlie Brown) is feeling depressed at Christmas, Carla (
Lucy) is mad at Turk (
Schroeder) for not buying her a Christmas present, and Elliot (
Sally) is drunk off egg nog. In the end, Dr. Cox (
Linus) teaches everyone that "Christmas is about love."
[9]
Episodes
Main articles: List of Scrubs episodes
| Season | Episodes | Premiere | Season finale | U.S. ratings
[10][11][12][13][14][15] |
|---|
| | 24 | October 2, 2001 | May 21, 2002 | 11.2 million (40th place) |
| | 22 | September 26, 2002 | April 17, 2003 | 15.9 million (15th place) |
| | 22 | October 2, 2003 | May 4, 2004 | 10.4 million (43rd place) |
| | 25 | August 31, 2004 | May 10, 2005 | 6.9 million (88th place) |
| | 24 | January 3, 2006 | May 16, 2006 | 6.4 million (98th place) |
| | 22 | November 30, 2006 | May 17, 2007 | 6.4 million (87th place) |
| | 18 | October 25, 2007 | TBA, 2008 |
DVD releases
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release dates | Bonus Features |
|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|
| The Complete First Season | 24 | May 17 2005 | June 27 2005 | June 29 2005 | Newbies — a documentary that examines the actors before they were cast, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes, The Doctor Is In — one on one with Zach Braff, Alternate Lines: A Second Opinion — shows the cast's unique ability to improvise, Not Just Another Medical Show — a look at how the show is filmed, from using a single camera setup to actually shooting in a closed down hospital, Favorite Moments — cast and crew reflections on their favorite episodes, Audio Commentaries with creator and cast, 'Superman' Music Video. |
| The Complete Second Season | 22 | November 15 2005 | September 12 2005 | September 19 2005 | Audio commentaries, One-On-One with John C. McGinley, Secrets and lies, A rare condition, JD's Mojo, Music Stylings — Featurette on Music's role in the show, Scrubbed Out — Exclusive Deleted Scenes, Practice, Practice, Malpractice — Outtakes |
| The Complete Third Season | 22 | May 9 2006 | February 13 2006 | February 22 2006 | Audio commentaries with cast members, show creator and writer, Gag reel, Deleted scenes, Alternate lines, "Twist and Shoot" featurette on first-time directors, Stunts featurette, Guest-star featurette, Dogs of the cast and crew featurette, Behind-the-scenes game of "Dare" featurette, Extended cast interview, Elliot's character featurette, J.D. and Elliot love saga featurette. One-On-One with Robert Maschio |
| The Complete Fourth Season | 25 | October 10 2006 | September 18 2006 | September 27 2006 | Will You Ever Be My Mentor? — A hilarious look at J.D.'s never-ending quest for Dr. Cox's approval, The Sweethearts Of Sacred Heart — In-depth interviews about the romantic entanglements and flirtations of the Scrubs characters, Secondary Characters — Get to know the "secondary" cast members and their roles, Who's That Man? — A look at the mysterious character "The Janitor.", Deleted Scenes, Audio Commentary. (Additional features as printed on R4 cover - 'The Weapons Chest', 'Donald Keeps Talking', Music video - 'Half' music video performed to G Tom Mac) |
| The Complete Fifth Season | 24 | May 22 2007 | June 18 2007 | June 6 2007 | Extended cut of the 100th episode ("My Way Home") with commentary by director Zach Braff, My Big Bird - Audio Commentary by Neil Flynn and Randall Winston, My Lunch - Audio Commentary by John C. McGinley and director John Michel, My 117 Episodes: A retrospective look back at the past five seasons, Deleted scenes from 7 episodes, Alternate lines. |
| The Complete Sixth Season | 22 | October 30 2007 | TBA | November 14 2007 | |
Awards
In its first three seasons, ''Scrubs'' received
Emmy nominations for
casting,
editing, and
writing of a comedy series. Following Season 4, the show received additional nominations for Best Comedy Series, Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Braff), Best Editing for a Multi-Camera series (although the series is predominantly shot single-camera, Episode 4.17 "
My Life in Four Cameras", has a brief segment shot multi-camera, sitcom-style), and casting. The show also won the 2002
Humanitas Prize, 30-minute category, for season 1 episode 4 "
My Old Lady".
Braff was nominated for the
Golden Globe award for in 2005, 2006 and 2007, but lost to
Jason Bateman for ''
Arrested Development'' in 2005, to
Steve Carell of ''
The Office'' in 2006, and to
Alec Baldwin of
30 Rock in 2007.
Scrubs won a George Foster
Peabody Award for its 2006 season; the press release specifically noted the ''Wizard of Oz'' parody episode "
My Way Home".
[16]
At the 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air in September, the episode "
My Musical" was nominated for five awards in four categories: Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series (Will Mackenzie), Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics ("Everything Comes Down to Poo" and "Guy Love"), Outstanding Music Direction (Jan Stevens), and Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (half-hour) And Animation (Joe Foglia, Peter J. Nusbaum, and John W. Cook II).
[17]
Music
The cover art for the first ''Scrubs'' soundtrack
The cover art for the second, iTunes-exclusive ''Scrubs'' soundtrack
Music plays a large role on ''Scrubs''. A wide variety of
rock,
pop, and
indie artists are featured. Almost every episode ends with a musical montage summing up the themes and plot lines of the episode, and the music for these montages is often picked even before the episodes are completely written.
[18] Members of the cast and crew are encouraged to contribute song suggestions, with many ideas coming from series creator Bill Lawrence, writer Neil Goldman, and actors Zach Braff (whose college friends
Cary Brothers and
Joshua Radin appear on the ''Scrubs'' soundtrack) and
Christa Miller Lawrence (who selected
Colin Hay and
Tammany Hall NYC). According to Bill Lawrence, "Christa picks so much of the music for the show that a lot of the writers and actors don't even go to me anymore when they have a song. They hand it to her."
18 Producers expanded ''Scrubs' musical emphasis with a musical episode early in the sixth season, called "
My Musical". This episode aired on
January 18,
2007.
[19] A complete list of music used on the show can be found
here.
Theme song
The
theme song of the series, performed by
Lazlo Bane, is titled "
Superman", and can be found on the album ''
All the Time in the World'', as well as on the first ''Scrubs'' soundtrack. Bill Lawrence credits Zach Braff for finding and suggesting "Superman" as the theme song
.
The lyrics "I'm no Superman" relate to the show's theme of its characters'
fallibility. The Scrubs version of the song is normally played at a faster speed than the original recording of the song. To be specific, the part used in the titles is one second shorter than the original song. The original, slower recording was used briefly at the beginning of Season 2, played during an extended version of the title sequence (that included Neil Flynn and full cast credits), as well as a special edit of the title sequence for resulting in roughly 1-2 seconds of music, followed by the line "I'm no Superman", accompanied by a quick flash of credits. The original intro from season 1 was used through most of season 3 (except the few episodes with the very short intro) and then used for seasons 4, 5 and 6.
Soundtracks
Two official soundtracks have been released. The first one was released on CD on September 24, 2002, and a second — an
iTunes exclusive — was released in mid-2006. An iMix on iTunes of the music used through the first five seasons has also been released.
[20]. On August 7, 2007, the soundtrack to the episode "
My Musical" was released.
Featured musical contributors
Colin Hay, who is the former front-man of
Men at Work, has had music featured in at least 7 episodes, and has appeared in the episode "
My Overkill", performing the song "Overkill".
The music of
Joshua Radin, who is a friend of ''Scrubs'' star Zach Braff
[21], has appeared in at least 6 episodes to date.
Music by
Keren DeBerg has featured in fifteen Scrubs episodes, and she appeared in "
My Musical" as an extra in the song "Are You Okay?"
The Worthless Peons
The Worthless Peons (also known as Ted's Band, The Blanks, or in the non-
canon "
My Way Home" Director's Cut as "Foghat") are an
a Capella group made up of hospital employees from different departments. They are a cover band, and often sing songs from a specific theme (for example, cartoon theme songs or commercial jingles). They have appeared in several episodes. In the extended cut of the 100th episode, found on the Season 5 DVD, Ted tells J.D. that they are being forced to change their names after a lawsuit. Their new name becomes
Foghat, but this is most likely not
canon.
The Worthless Peons are played by
The Blanks, who are a real-life a Capella band made up of
Sam Lloyd (who plays Ted), George Miserlis, Paul F. Perry, and Philip McNiven. The Blanks' album, ''
Riding the Wave'', features guest appearances from Bill Lawrence and members of the ''Scrubs'' cast.
Production details
''Scrubs'' is produced by
ABC, through
its production division (formerly Touchstone Television), even though it is aired by rival broadcaster
NBC.
[22] According to
show runner Lawrence, the arrangement is unusual, at least for 2007: "The show is a dinosaur, on one network and completely owned by another" and, since it is now in
syndication, making a "ton of money for Touchstone."
[23] Both he and Braff confirmed
ABC would have broadcast the seventh season had NBC refused to do so.
The chest
X-ray featured at the end of the
title sequence was hung backwards for most of the first five seasons. Bill Lawrence has stated that having the X-ray backwards was intentional as it signified that the new
interns were inexperienced.
[ ''The Complete First Season'' DVD commentary for "My First Day" ] However during Zach Braff's audio commentary on "
My Last Chance," he states that the error was actually unintentional. The error became somewhat infamous and was even parodied in "
My Cabbage." An attempt was made to fix the error in the extended title sequence that was used at the beginning of season 2, but the extended sequence (including corrected X-ray) were soon scrapped at fan and network request. Finally, in "
My Urologist," Dr. Kim Briggs steps into the credits and switches the X-ray around, saying, "That's backwards, it's been bugging me for years."
Every episode title begins with a possessive pronoun, usually the word "My..." with notable exceptions in the episodes entitled "
His Story," "
His Story II," "
Her Story," "
Her Story II," "
His Story III," "
His Story IV," and "
Their Story." Apart from a brief period of narration from J.D. at the very beginning and end of the episode, these episodes primarily contained internal narration from another character besides J.D. In these episodes, internal narration duty switches from J.D. to the "guest narrator" at the beginning and then back to J.D. at the end. The only exception to this rule is "Their Story," where the narration instead switches to a whole crowd of supporting cast members. The transfer usually occurs at a moment of physical contact between the two characters.
Since ''Scrubs'' is aired around the world in many different languages, instances of foreign languages on the show have to be changed for the international versions. Carla's Spanish is changed to Italian in the Spanish language version of the show, and Elliot's German is changed to Danish (or, in at least
one fourth-season episode German with a Swiss accent) in the German version of the show.
Crew
★
Bill Lawrence is, as the show's creator, the
Executive Producer, the
Head Writer, having written many episodes, and has directed 9 episodes so far.
★
Neil Goldman and
Garrett Donovan have produced and written a number of episodes together
★
Mike Schwartz is co-executive producer (2006-Present), writer of 11 episodes and also has a recurring role in the show as
Lloyd the Delivery Guy.
★
Michael Spiller - (15 episodes, 2002-2006)
★
Adam Bernstein - (11 episodes, 2001-2006)
★
Zach Braff has personally directed 4 episodes of the show, including the landmark 100th episode
My Way Home, which won a
George Foster Peabody Award in April 2007
Medical advisors
''Scrubs'' writers work with several medical advisors, including doctors Jonathan Doris, Jon Turk, and Dolly Klock. Their names serve as the basis for the names of characters John Dorian, Chris Turk and Molly Clock (played by
Braff,
Faison, and
Heather Graham, respectively).
[25]
Sacred Heart Hospital
Main articles: Sacred Heart Hospital
''Scrubs'' is filmed on location at the
North Hollywood Medical Center (), a real decommissioned hospital on 12629 Riverside Drive in the
North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. However, the location of
Sacred Heart Hospital within the fictional world of ''Scrubs'' is left ambiguous. Cast and crew on the show refer to the location as "San DiFrangeles" — a
portmanteau of
San Diego,
San Francisco, and
Los Angeles that is meant to encompass a large part of California.
[26]
Name
In the
pilot episode, a comment from
Dr. Kelso alludes to one meaning behind the show's name: "Dr. Dorian, Do you not realize that you're nothing more than a large pair of
scrubs to me? For God's sake, the only reason I carry this chart around is so I can pretend to remember your damn names." Bill Lawrence has stated that he has two main reasons for calling it ''Scrubs'': The obvious being the attire worn by doctors, and the other being the fact that the most of the main characters are fresh out of medical school, new, and inexperienced (known in the medical field as "scrubs").
References and notes
1. ''Scrubs'': We need 18 episodes, stat!, a May 2007 ''Los Angeles Times'' Show Tracker blog entry
2.
3. Scrubs: The New M
★ A
★ S
★ H
4. Spin City Cast at the Internet Movie Database
5. Clone High Cast at the Internet Movie Database
6. Muppet Central News
7.
8.
9. A Charlie Brown Christmas... Scrubs style
10. How did your favorite show rate?
11. Nielsen's TOP 156 Shows for 2002-03
12. I. T. R. S. RANKING REPORT 01 THRU 210 (OUT OF 210 PROGRAMS) DAYPART: PRIMETIME MON-SUN
13. Hollywood Reporter: 2004-05 primetime wrap
14. Hollywood Reporter: 2005-06 primetime wrap
15. Hollywood Reporter: 2006-07 primetime wrap
16. Peabody Award's
17. Emmy Award Nominations
18. Cultivating a Cult Audience: An Interview with Scrubs Creator Bill Lawrence
19. Why You Must "Tune" In to Tonight's Scrubs Musical!
20. iTunes Music Store LinkiMix
21. Joshua Radin=Good
22. IGN
23. Scrubs a Near Lock for Next Fall, a January 15, 2007 article from the ''Broadcasting & Cable'' website
24. Blog. Cog. Snog. Frog. Oh my Gog!, a March 30, 2007 entry from Zach Braff's blog
25. NBC About Scrubs
26. Show creator Bill Lawrence during audio commentary on Disk Three of "The Complete Second Season [of] Scrubs" DVD set.
External links
★
''Scrubs'' at NBC
★
''Scrubs'' at
Buena Vista (
Syndication)
★
''Scrubs'' video blog at IGN (#1 to #54)
★
''Scrubs'' video blog at Quick Stop Entertainment (#1 to present)
★
''Scrubs'' at
Channel 4
★
''Scrubs'' Wiki
★
''Scrubs'' at the Global Episode Opinion Survey
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