Scrubs: My Introduction

I didn't start watching Scrubs until right after its fourth season ended. A few people had told me that I should watch it, especially since I enjoyed Garden State, which was written, directed by, and starred Zach Braff, who plays Dr. John "J.D." Dorian on Scrubs. Finally, when the first season was released and received glowing reviews, I decided that it was time to start watching. Without having seen an episode, I bought the first season, and was beyond satisfied. The show is based on the life of creator Bill Lawrence's friend, a doctor who also has the initials J. D. Lawrence's friend, Jonathan Doris, had plenty of crazy stories from his years as an intern and resident, and Lawrence used them to make a medical comedy show. Amazingly, despite some of the outlandish aspects of the humor, people I've met have said that Scrubs isn't far off in some of its portrayals of hospital life. Obviously, real life isn't anything like ER or House, where there is an incredible medical incident/mystery every week, so it is refreshing to see a show where we see some of the goings-on that occur between the big cases.

But what is often less obvious are the claims that the hospital is like high school, with the surgeons like athletes, internal medics like nerds, and nurses like cheerleaders. But that is one of the things that I was told was not exaggerated! Also, since three of the main characters start off as interns, we see how doctors start out their career, before they become seasoned veterans who may or may not be cynical (they don't know that everybody lies yet). In the pilot episode, "My First Day", two of the new doctors chicken out and hide in a supply closet. And with a job where people's lives depend on every decision you make, it has to be pretty hard not to freak out at the beginning (or even at times at later parts of one's career). This is an aspect of the job that most other medical shows don't focus on, and frankly, we as people don't want to think about. But played the right way, it is incredibly funny.

I'm going to have the next post focus on the characters, but I will briefly touch on certain aspects of the doctors that contribute to the humor of the show. In addition to the new interns' own insecurity, they have to put up with strange patients and cranky superiors. But not all of the humor is based in reality; J.D. constantly drifts off and has bizarre fantasy sequences that take a line said by one of his friends/colleagues and spins it off into a random, often sexual, fantasy. Lately, due to the South Park episodes that blasted Family Guy and the random "manatee" jokes, it may seem like these fantasy sequences would be a burden to the show, but they are handled very well. They are funny because they are usually fairly short (make a note, Seth MacFarlane), so they don't detract from the plot, and they remind us that J.D. is still very immature, despite being a doctor.

This is a hospital, though, so not everything is light and comedic. Every now and then, the show completely shifts gears and tells excellent dramatic stories. Very few shows can so effectively balance comedy and drama at the levels that Scrubs does (examples include Joss Whedon's shows). At its most comedic, Scrubs is on the level of the likes of Arrested Development and 30 Rock, while the dramatic moments are incredibly powerful.

Up next: Meeting the doctors...