Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs | |
---|---|
![]() Scrubs title card | |
Created by | Bill Lawrence |
Starring | Zach Braff Sarah Chalke Donald Faison Ken Jenkins John C. McGinley Judy Reyes Neil Flynn |
Narrated by | Zach Braff as J.D. |
Opening theme | "Superman" by Lazlo Bane |
Country of origin | ![]() |
No. of episodes | 139 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Bill Lawrence Goldman and Donovan (2006-Present) Bill Callahan (2007-Present) |
Producer | Touchstone Television |
Camera setup | Single camera |
Running time | approx. 22 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | October 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
Main cast
- Zach Braff as Dr. John "J.D." Michael Dorian MD—Attending Physician and staff internist—narrator, except for seven episodes.
- Sarah Chalke as Dr. Elliot Reid MD—Private Practitioner
- Donald Faison as Dr. Christopher Duncan Turk—Surgical Attending
- John C. McGinley as Dr. Percival "Perry" Cox MD—Attending Physician and Residency Director
- Judy Reyes as Carla Espinosa—Charge Nurse
- Neil Flynn as Janitor—a janitor at the hospital (in every episode except "My Lucky Day")
- Ken Jenkins as Dr. Robert "Bob" Kelso—Chief of Medicine
Supporting cast
- Robert Maschio as Dr. Todd "The Todd" Quinlan—Cosmetic Surgery Fellow (97 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
- Each season premiere and finale features a shot of Bill Lawrence's best friend as a good luck charm.[4]
- 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.[5]
- 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.[6]
- 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.[7]
- 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,[8] producer Randal Winston as the security guard Leonard,[9] and writer Gabrielle Allan as a nurse.
- The cast of Scrubs made an episode called "My Charlie Brown Christmas" where they made a voice over of the Christmas episode of Charlie Brown. It was created by Daniel Russ and Ryan Levin for a Scrubs cast party.
- Other cameos include Colin Ferrel, Tara Reid, Brendan Fraser, Matthew Perry, Keri Russell, Julianna Margulies, John Ritter, D.L. Hughley, Heather Graham, Martin Klebba, Thomas Cavanaugh, Rick Schroder, Amy Smart, Mandy Moore and Dave Foley.
Crew
Producers
Writers
|
Directors
|
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
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), 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
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
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]
Featured musical contributors
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.
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
- ^ Scrubs: We need 18 episodes, stat!, a May 2007 Los Angeles Times Show Tracker blog entry
- ^ a b Weisman, Jon (January 24, 2006), "Genre jumping pays off", Variety
- ^ http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/254825/srubs_the_new_mash.html
- ^ a b c Lawrence, Bill. " "The Complete First Season DVD commentary for "My First Day"".
- ^ IMDB Spin City Cast
- ^ IMDB Clone High Cast
- ^ Muppet Central Muppet Central News
- ^ IMDB Lloyd the Delivery Man
- ^ IMDB Leonard the Security Guard
- ^ NBC About Scrubs
- ^ http://www.peabody.uga.edu/news/pressrelease.asp?ID=142
- ^ http://www.emmys.tv/awards/2007pt/nominations.php?action=search_db
- ^ Braff, Zach. "The Most Awesomest Blog Ever Written". Zach Braff official website. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
- ^ a b Scrubs a Near Lock for Next Fall, a January 15, 2007 article from the Broadcasting & Cable website
- ^ Blog. Cog. Snog. Frog. Oh my Gog!, a March 30, 2007 entry from Zach Braff's blog
- ^ Show creator Bill Lawrence during audio commentary on Disk Three of "The Complete Second Season [of] Scrubs" DVD set.
- ^ 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) - ^ 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) - ^ iTunes Music Store LinkiMix
- ^ Braff, Zach (February 19, 2006). "Joshua Radin=Good". Zach Braff's Garden State Blog. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- 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