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Scrubs (TV series)

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This article is about the US sitcom. For Scrub, see Scrubs (TV series) (disambiguation).
Scrubs
Scrubs title card
Created byBill Lawrence
StarringZach Braff
Sarah Chalke
Donald Faison
Ken Jenkins
John C. McGinley
Judy Reyes
Neil Flynn
Narrated byZach Braff as J.D.
Opening theme"Superman" by Lazlo Bane
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes139 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersBill Lawrence
Goldman and Donovan (2006-Present)
Bill Callahan (2007-Present)
ProducerTouchstone Television
Camera setupSingle camera
Running timeapprox. 22 minutes
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseOctober 2, 2001 –
present

Scrubs is an Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning American situation comedy/dramedy that premiered on October 2, 2001 on NBC. It was created by Bill Lawrence, who also co-created Spin City. 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.[2]

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. 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.

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 main characters are all fresh out of medical school, new, and inexperienced (known in the medical field as "scrubs").[citation needed]

Cast

File:Scrubs cast 2.jpg
The main cast of Scrubs in 2005, left to right: John C. McGinley (Dr. Cox), Neil Flynn (Janitor), Sarah Chalke (Elliot), Zach Braff (JD), Donald Faison (Turk), Ken Jenkins (Kelso), and Judy Reyes (Carla)

Main cast

Supporting cast

Main article: List of minor characters of Scrubs

Cameo appearances

Crew

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).[10]

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 Best Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical 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".[11]

At the 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards, 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).[12]

Production details

Scrubs is produced by ABC, through its production division (formerly Touchstone Television), even though it is aired by rival broadcaster NBC.[13] 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."[14] Both he and Braff confirmed ABC would have broadcast the seventh season had NBC refused to do so.[14][15]

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.[4] 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.

Sacred Heart Hospital

Main article: Sacred Heart Hospital

Scrubs is filmed on location at the North Hollywood Medical Center (34°9′28.86″N 118°24′31.22″W / 34.1580167°N 118.4086722°W / 34.1580167; -118.4086722), a real decommissioned hospital on 11699 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. The Scrubs city is meant to remain anonymous to reinforce that the situations apply to all locations, according to staff.[citation needed] 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. [16]

Episodes

Main article: List of Scrubs episodes
Season Episodes Premiere Season finale U.S. ratings
[citation needed]
Season 1 24 October 2, 2001 May 21, 2002 11.2 million (40th place)
Season 2 22 September 26, 2002 April 17, 2003 15.9 million (15th place)
Season 3 22 October 2, 2003 May 4, 2004 10.4 million (43rd place)
Season 4 25 August 31, 2004 May 10, 2005  6.9 million (88th place)
Season 5 24 January 3, 2006 May 16, 2006  6.4 million (98th place)
Season 6 22 November 30, 2006 May 17, 2007  6.4 million (87th place)
Season 7 18 October 25, 2007 TBA

Music

File:Scrubs Soundtrack v1.jpg
The cover art for the first Scrubs soundtrack
File:Scrubs Soundtrack v2.jpg
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.[17] 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."[17] Producers expanded Scrubs' musical emphasis with a musical episode early in the sixth season, called My Musical. This episode aired on January 18, 2007.[18] 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[4]. 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.[19]

File:My Nightingale.jpg
The Worthless Peons, from Episode 2.02, "My Nightingale"

The Worthless Peons

Main article: The Blanks (band)

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.

Colin Hay

Colin Hay, who is the former front-man of Men at Work, has been featured in Episode 1.24, "My Last Day" ("Beautiful World"); Episode 2.01, "My Overkill" (Men at Work's "Overkill," performed by Hay, who follows J.D. around the hospital); Episode 2.13, "My Philosophy" ("Waiting for My Real Life to Begin," performed by members of the cast at the end of the episode); Episode 2.22, "My Dream Job" ("My Brilliant Feat"); Episode 3.13, "My Porcelain God", (Men at Work's "Down Under," performed by J.D.); Episode 4.17, "My Life In Four Cameras" (the Cheers theme song, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo and performed by Hay) ; and Episode 6.21, "My Rabbit" ("Pure Love").

Joshua Radin

The music of Joshua Radin, who is a friend of Scrubs star Zach Braff[20], has appeared in several episodes, including Episode 3.14, "My Screw Up" ("Winter"); Episode 4.14, "My Lucky Charm" ("Today"); Episode 4.19, "My Best Laid Plans" ("Closer"); Episode 4.22, "My Big Move" ("Don't Look Away"); Episode 5.06, "My Missed Perception" ("These Photographs"); and Episode 6.11, "My Night to Remember" ("Winter").


DVD releases

DVD Name DVD Cover # of Ep Release dates Bonus Features
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
The Complete First Season File:Scrubs Season 1 DVD.jpg 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 File:Scrubs Season 2 DVD.jpg 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 File:Scrubs Season 3 DVD.jpg 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 File:Scrubs Season 4 DVD.jpg 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 File:Scrubs Season 5 DVD.jpg 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 TBA 22 October 30 2007 TBA TBA

Around the world

Scrubs airs around the world on many different stations. In Latin America it airs in English with subtitles. Broadcasts in Asia include Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and other countries. Throughout the Arab world, it airs on various networks. Europeans broadcasts have included Denmark, Estonia (as Kollanokad – Rookies), Lithuania (as Daktariūkščiai – a playful word for Doctors), Norway and Sweden.

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.

References and notes

  1. ^ Scrubs: We need 18 episodes, stat!, a May 2007 Los Angeles Times Show Tracker blog entry
  2. ^ a b Weisman, Jon (January 24, 2006), "Genre jumping pays off", Variety
  3. ^ http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/254825/srubs_the_new_mash.html
  4. ^ a b c Lawrence, Bill. " "The Complete First Season DVD commentary for "My First Day"".
  5. ^ IMDB Spin City Cast
  6. ^ IMDB Clone High Cast
  7. ^ Muppet Central Muppet Central News
  8. ^ IMDB Lloyd the Delivery Man
  9. ^ IMDB Leonard the Security Guard
  10. ^ NBC About Scrubs
  11. ^ http://www.peabody.uga.edu/news/pressrelease.asp?ID=142
  12. ^ http://www.emmys.tv/awards/2007pt/nominations.php?action=search_db
  13. ^ Braff, Zach. "The Most Awesomest Blog Ever Written". Zach Braff official website. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  14. ^ a b Scrubs a Near Lock for Next Fall, a January 15, 2007 article from the Broadcasting & Cable website
  15. ^ Blog. Cog. Snog. Frog. Oh my Gog!, a March 30, 2007 entry from Zach Braff's blog
  16. ^ Show creator Bill Lawrence during audio commentary on Disk Three of "The Complete Second Season [of] Scrubs" DVD set.
  17. ^ a b Diane, Kristine (2006-05-08). "Cultivating a Cult Audience: An Interview with Scrubs Creator Bill Lawrence". Blogcritics. Retrieved 2007-02-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Cohn, Angel (2007-01-18). "Why You Must "Tune" In to Tonight's Scrubs Musical!". TV Guide. Retrieved 2007-02-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ iTunes Music Store LinkiMix
  20. ^ Braff, Zach (February 19, 2006). "Joshua Radin=Good". Zach Braff's Garden State Blog. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
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