Scrubs – the TV series – ran for 9 seasons, from 2001 to 2010. It was popular, of course – any series that runs that long has to be popular – but I was never a regular viewer. This summer it has become an entertainment respite. Jett has been spending a lot of time in bed and the cable TV has been minimal. So when we bought the first season of Scrubs at the New Salem Library yard sale in July and enjoyed it, we started looking for the second season. Then the third season. And the fourth. We are currently awaiting delivery of the seventh season DVDs.
One unique thing about Scrubs is the use of fantasy. John Dorian (J.D., played by Zach Braff) is forever imagining things. For example, it occurs to J.D. that residents and surgeons have a natural competitiveness, like two gangs, so cut to surgeons and residents dancing down the hall of the hospital, like the Jets and the Sharks. And lots of visual gags, many involving Janitor (Neil Flynn). But I hadn’t fully appreciated the role of music in the series. Every episode has some good music, sometimes featuring original artists. But the entire cast – with the exception of Braff and Flynn – are really fine vocalists. Singing doctors. The modern version of singling cowboys, I guess.
In any case, I am now a big fan of Scrubs. I would have to rank the series ahead of Friends and pretty close to Cheers in terms of its comedic quality.