| Scrubs | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom Medical drama Comedy-drama |
| Created by | Bill Lawrence |
| Starring | Zach Braff Sarah Chalke Donald Faison Neil Flynn Ken Jenkins John C. McGinley Judy Reyes Eliza Coupe Kerry Bishé Michael Mosley Dave Franco |
| Narrated by | Zach Braff Kerry Bishé |
| Opening theme | "Superman" by Lazlo Bane (Seasons 1–8) Covered by WAZ (Season 9) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 181 (including double-length episode) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Bill Lawrence Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan (2006–09) Tim Hobert (2006) Tad Quill (2006) Bill Callahan (2007–09) Zach Braff (2009–10) Josh Bycel (2009–10) Jonathan Groff (2009) |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 21–25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC (2001–08) ABC (2009–10) |
| Picture format | 4:3 480i (SDTV) (NBC) 16:9 720p (HDTV) (ABC) |
| Audio format | Stereo (2001–07) Dolby Digital 5.1 (2007–10) |
| Original run | October 2, 2001 – March 17, 2010 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Scrubs: Interns |
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes presented mostly as the daydreams of the central character, Dr. John "J.D." Dorian, who is played by Zach Braff. The ninth season saw the transition from Braff as the central character to Kerry Bishé, who plays Lucy Bennett. The show's title is a play on surgical scrubs and a term for a low-ranking person (at the beginning of the show, most of the main characters were medical interns, one of the lowest ranks in the medical hierarchy).
Alongside Braff, the first eight seasons of the show featured Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, John C. McGinley and Judy Reyes in starring roles. In the ninth season, only Braff, Faison and McGinley were listed as regular cast members, while the rest, with the exception of Reyes, made guest appearances. Braff appeared in six episodes of the ninth season before departing. The ninth season also sees many new cast members introduced and shifts the show's setting from a hospital to a medical school. Kerry Bishé, Eliza Coupe, Dave Franco and Michael Mosley became series regulars, with Bishé becoming the show's new narrator.
A complete script was written for each episode of Scrubs; however, actors are given opportunities to improvise their lines during the shooting process. The series has featured multiple guest appearances by film actors not generally seen on episodic television, such as Brendan Fraser, Heather Graham, and Colin Farrell.
Scrubs premiered on October 2, 2001 on NBC. It received a Peabody Award in 2006 for "fearlessly smashing traditional comic formulas, all the while respecting the deepest emotional and moral issues of its life-and-death setting."[1] During the seventh season, NBC announced that it would not renew the show. Shortly after the seventh season finale, ABC announced that it had picked up the series for a new season and on January 6, 2009, the eighth season of Scrubs premiered on ABC. The ninth season, which premiered on December 1, 2009 on ABC, features several new cast members and is set at a new facility. On May 14, 2010, it was announced that Scrubs was officially canceled by ABC.[2]
Contents |
Scrubs focuses on the unique point of view of its main character and narrator, Dr. John Michael "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff) for the first eight seasons, with season nine being narrated by the new main character Lucy Bennett. Most episodes feature multiple story lines thematically linked via voice-overs done by Braff. According to Bill Lawrence, "What we decided was, rather than have it be a monotone narration, if it's going to be 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."[3] In every episode J.D. has many comical daydreams as well as many "situation comedy" style lines, which are often a result of improvisation. At the end of most episodes, J.D. summarizes the story's theme in a sequence of shots that show how it has affected each of the characters.
Almost every episode title for the first eight seasons begins with the word "My." Bill Lawrence says this is because each episode is Dr. John Dorian writing in his diary (said on the commentary on the first season episode "My Hero"). A few episodes are told from another character's perspective and have episode titles like "His Story" or "Her Story". Apart from a brief period of narration from J.D. at the beginning and the end, these episodes primarily contain internal narration from other characters besides J.D. The transfer of the narration duties usually occurs at a moment of physical contact between two characters. Starting with season nine, the episode titles start with "Our..." as the focus has shifted from the perspective of J.D. to a new group of medical students, with Lucy Bennett narrating. The webisodes that accompanied season eight, Scrubs: Interns, also were named "Our...".
For the first eight seasons, the series featured seven main cast members, with numerous other characters recurring throughout the course of the series. Starting with the ninth season, much of the original cast left as regular characters, while four new additions were made to the cast.
The first season introduces J.D. and his best friend Turk in their first year out of medical school as interns at Sacred Heart Hospital. J.D. quickly meets his reluctant mentor, Dr. Perry Cox; an attractive young woman (and fellow intern) named Elliot, on whom J.D. quickly develops a crush; the hospital's janitor, who goes out of his way to make J.D.'s life miserable; the Chief of Medicine, Dr. Bob Kelso, who appears to be more concerned about the budget than the patients; and Carla Espinosa, the head nurse and soon Turk's new girlfriend, who puts Turk through the trials and tribulations of being in a serious relationship. The characters face romances and relationship issues, family obligations, overwhelming paperwork and a tremendous number of patients.
The second season focuses on J.D.'s second year practicing medicine at Sacred Heart, where he is now a resident. As the season develops, J.D.'s older brother Dan (Tom Cavanagh) comes to visit; money issues affect J.D., Elliot, and Turk; Turk proposes to Carla; and Elliot finds a new boyfriend, a nurse named Paul Flowers (Rick Schroder). Dr. Cox resumes a sexual relationship with his ex-wife Jordan (Christa Miller), with quite unexpected results.
As the third season opens, Elliot decides to change her image, with some help from the Janitor. J.D.'s undeniable crush on Elliot emerges again, but J.D. instead begins a relationship with Jordan's sister Danni (Tara Reid), who is also dealing with feelings for her ex. Turk and Carla are engaged and planning their wedding. Turk, along with the Todd and the other surgical residents, deal with new attending surgeon Dr. Grace Miller (Bellamy Young), who dislikes Turk and considers him sexist. Dr. Cox and Jordan are doing well with their relationship and their son Jack, although Dr. Cox develops a schoolboy crush on Dr. Miller. He also struggles with the death of his best friend. Elliot gets into a serious relationship with Sean Kelly (Scott Foley) and tries to maintain a long-distance relationship while he's in New Zealand for six months. J.D. eventually convinces Elliot to break up with Sean to date him, only to realize, once he has her, that he doesn't actually love her. Their relationship lasts three days. The season ends with Turk and Carla's wedding, which Turk misses due to surgery and a church mix-up.
In season four, J.D. finishes his residency and becomes a full-blown colleague of Dr. Cox, although their dynamic does not change much. As the season opens, Turk arrives from his honeymoon with Carla, but they soon start having issues when Carla tries to change many things about her new husband. Their marriage and Turk's friendship with J.D. experience friction when J.D. and Carla share a drunken kiss. Dr. Cox and Jordan learn that their divorce was not final, but this isn't necessarily all good news. Elliot is still angry with J.D. for breaking her heart, and the situation becomes more uncomfortable still when she dates J.D.'s brother. J.D. has a new love interest of his own when a new and very attractive psychiatrist, Dr. Molly Clock (Heather Graham), arrives at Sacred Heart. Molly also serves as Elliot's mentor during her time at the hospital.
Season five starts with J.D. living in a hotel, sorting out apartment issues. Elliot has taken a new fellowship in another hospital. Turk and Carla are trying to have a baby, despite Turk still having doubts. Finally, some new interns have arrived to Sacred Heart, chief among them being Keith Dudemeister (Travis Schuldt) who soon becomes Elliot's new boyfriend, much to J.D.'s dissatisfaction. J.D. is cast in the role of expecting father, discovering at the very end of the season that his girlfriend, Dr. Kim Briggs (Elizabeth Banks), is pregnant with his child.
The sixth season sees J.D. and the other characters mature to fill the different roles required of them. Turk and Carla become parents when Carla gives birth to their daughter Isabella. Elliot plans her wedding to Keith, although she and J.D. still harbor feelings for each other. Dr. Cox, as father of two children with Jordan, struggles to prevent his foul disposition from affecting his parenting.
In season seven, J.D. and Elliot struggle once again to deny their feelings for each other, despite Elliot soon to be marrying Keith and J.D. to have his first son with Kim, whilst the Janitor may have a new girlfriend. Bob Kelso's job is also put on the line as he turns 65 years old. J.D.'s brother Dan also returns to town.
The eighth season sees Dr. Kelso's replacement, Dr. Taylor Maddox (Courteney Cox), arrive; she quickly makes a lot of changes, affecting the way doctors treat patients. Elliot and J.D. finally discuss their true feelings for each other and again become a couple. Janitor and Lady (Kit Pongetti) marry, while Dr. Cox is promoted to chief of medicine to replace the dismissed Dr. Maddox. J.D. prepares to leave Sacred Heart to move closer to his son, along with Elliot. Turk is also promoted to chief of surgery at Sacred Heart.
Coinciding with season eight, Scrubs: Interns was also launched, focusing around the eighth season's medical interns, Sonja "Sunny" Dey (Sonal Shah), Denise (Eliza Coupe), Katie (Betsy Beutler), and Howie (Todd Bosley). The interns learn from various characters of the show about life in the hospital.
The ninth season takes place over a year after season eight's finale. The old Sacred Heart hospital has been torn down and rebuilt and Doctors Cox, Dorian and Turk are now Winston University medical school professors whose students occasionally rotate through the new Sacred Heart. Between the end of season eight and the beginning of season nine, the Janitor has left the hospital after being told that J.D. was not returning, and Elliot and J.D. have married and are expecting their first child. J.D.'s stay at the university is short and he leaves the series after several episodes.
The origin for the show is loosely based on Dr. Jonathan Doris' experiences as a resident in internal medicine at Brown Medical School, which served as inspiration for college friend and show creator Bill Lawrence.[6]
Scrubs is produced by ABC, through its production division, even though it was aired by rival broadcaster NBC.[7] 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."[8] Both he and Braff confirmed ABC would have broadcast the seventh season had NBC refused to do so.[8][9]
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.[10] 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 that included Neil Flynn, 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". At the beginning of season 8, when the series switched to ABC, the chest X-ray was once again backwards.
The ninth season features a new title sequence with a new version of the theme song "Superman." The new title sequences features the four new characters–Denise, Lucy, Drew and Cole, as well as Dr. Cox and Turk, while J.D. is seen at the end placing the chest X-ray. In all season 9 episodes that do not feature J.D., he is absent from the title sequence and Lucy is the one placing the X-ray. The X-ray at the end of the sequence is also not backwards and the subtitle Med School appears at the end of the sequence.
The show's creator, executive producer, and head writer is Bill Lawrence. He has written 14 episodes and directed 17. He is also the show runner and does many uncredited re-writes for episodes. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan co-wrote 13 episodes during their 8-year run on the show, starting as co-producers on the show and working their way up to executive producers; they left the show after the eighth season.[11] Mike Schwartz, who also played Lloyd the Delivery Guy, wrote 13 episodes during the first eight seasons; he started out as a story editor and became co-executive producer in season 6. Janae Bakken and Debra Fordham were writers and producers during the first eight seasons, each writing 16 episodes. Other notable writers that started in the first season include Mark Stegemann, who wrote 14 episodes and directed 2 episodes during the first eight seasons; Gabrielle Allan, who wrote 11 episodes during the first four seasons and was co-executive producer; Eric Weinberg, who wrote 11 episodes during the first six seasons and was co-executive producer; Matt Tarses, who wrote 8 episodes during the first four seasons and was co-executive producer. Notable writers that joined in the second season include Tim Hobert, who wrote 11 episodes from season 2 to 6, and became executive producer in season 5. Angela Nissel wrote 10 episodes from season 2 to 8, starting out as a staff writer and became supervising producer in season 7. Bill Callahan joined the show in season 4, writing 8 episodes from season 4 to 8, he became executive producer in season 6.
Adam Bernstein, who directed the pilot episode, "My First Day", also directed 11 episodes up until season 7. Michael Spiller has directed the highest amount of episodes, directing 20 during the entire series run. Ken Whittingham and Chris Koch both directed 12 episodes from season 2 to 9. Comedian Michael McDonald, who also appeared on the show, directed 5 episodes. Show star Zach Braff directed 7 episodes of the show, including the landmark 100th episode "My Way Home", which won a Peabody Award in April 2007. In 2009 Josh Bycel, a writer and supervising producer for the animated comedy American Dad!, joined the crew as a new executive producer for the ninth season.[11]
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). In the season eight finale "My Finale", the "real J.D.", Jonathan Doris, made a cameo appearance as the doctor who said "adios" to J.D.[12]
In the show, Sacred Heart is an inner city teaching hospital owned by a pharmaceutical company run by Whitaker Chambers. It is run by Chief of Medicine Dr. Robert "Bob" Kelso until his retirement towards the end of Season 7 and then by Dr. Percival "Perry" Cox. Board members and benefactors include Jordan Sullivan (former), Mr. Summers, Mr. Swatt, Ms. Slobin, Mr. Franks, Mrs. Warner, and Mr. Zerbo.
The first eight seasons of Scrubs were filmed on location at the North Hollywood Medical Center, a real decommissioned (and in 2011, demolished) hospital located at 12629 Riverside Drive in North Hollywood, but 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.[13] For the ninth season the show moved to Culver Studios.[14] The building used for the exteriors of the new Sacred Heart Hospital is located at the intersection of Ince Boulevard and Lindblade Street in Culver City, California ().[15]
On November 5, 2007, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, which put the production of the show's seventh season on hold. When the strike started, only eleven of Scrubs' eighteen planned seventh season episodes had been completely written.[16] Lawrence refused to cross any WGA picket lines to serve any of his duties for the show, so ABC Studios had non-WGA members finish episode twelve, which the studio had unsuccessfully pressured Lawrence to rewrite as a series finale prior to the strike.[16]
During the strike, NBC announced that The Office and Scrubs would be replaced by Celebrity Apprentice. NBC later announced that they would leave Scrubs on hiatus for the time being and fill the 8–9 pm timeslot with various specials and repeats.[17]
Episode 11, "My Princess", was eventually filmed,[18] although Lawrence was absent. Filming of episode 11 was disrupted by picketers. It was believed that Lawrence had tipped the picketers off about the filming schedule, although these beliefs turned out to be false as Lawrence quickly drove to the set to "keep the peace."[18] After the strike ended, Lawrence announced that the final episodes of Scrubs would be produced although, at the time, he was unsure where or how they would be distributed.[19]
Amid strike-induced doubt involving the final episodes of Scrubs, on February 28, 2008, The Hollywood Reporter reported that ABC was in talks with corporate sibling ABC Studios with the aim of bringing Scrubs to ABC for an eighth season of 18 episodes,[20] despite both Lawrence's and Braff's protests that the seventh season would definitely be the last.[18] Just hours later, Variety reported that NBC was lashing out and threatening legal action against ABC Studios.[21] McGinley confirmed that he had been told to report back to work on March 24, 2008 to begin production for another season.[22] On March 12, 2008, McGinley was also quoted as saying that the show's long-rumored move from NBC to ABC was a done deal,[23] and that Scrubs would air on ABC during the 2008–09 TV season as a midseason replacement.[22]
On March 19, 2008, Michael Ausiello of TV Guide reported that although nothing was "official", the Scrubs cast was to report back to work the following Wednesday for work on a season "unofficial" as yet.[24] Zach Braff posted in his blog on MySpace, on April 28, 2008, that an eighth season consisting of 18 episodes was under production but that he could not say where it will be aired.[25] He then stated, on May 7, 2008, that the May 8 episode would be the final NBC-aired episode of Scrubs,[26] which was followed by a bulletin on his MySpace, on May 12, confirming that Scrubs's eighth season would be moving to ABC.
On May 13, 2008, ABC announced that Scrubs would be a midseason replacement, airing Tuesday nights at 9:00 pm EST.[27][28] Steve McPherson, ABC's President of Entertainment, also stated that additional seasons of Scrubs beyond the eighth could be produced if it performs well.[29] In late November, ABC announced Scrubs would resume with back-to-back episodes on January 6, 2009 at 9:00 pm EST.[30]
Creator Bill Lawrence stated in a video interview that season 8 will be more like the first few seasons in tone, with more of a focus on more realistic and dramatic storylines and the introduction of new characters.[31] Courteney Cox joined the cast as the new Chief of Medicine, Dr. Maddox, for a three-episode arc.[32][33] The eighth season includes webisodes and is the first Scrubs season broadcast in high definition.[34]
Sarah Chalke was hoping that J.D. and Elliot would end up back together, comparing them to Friends characters Ross and Rachel, which has been addressed a few times on the show. In the early episodes of the season they did rekindle their relationship, and have continued dating through the end of the season. Several actors who guest starred as patients at Sacred Heart during the course of Scrubs returned for the finale.[35]
The double-length season eight finale, "My Finale", aired May 6, 2009, and was expected to be the series finale as well. However, it soon became clear that the show would return for a ninth season.
On April 16, 2009, Bill Lawrence wrote on the ABC.com message boards that a season 9 of Scrubs was still "50/50."[36] On April 28, 2009, it was announced that ABC was in talks to renew Scrubs for another year,[37] but if this were to happen, some of the cast may or may not be back [due to other commitments], or only back part time.
Bill Lawrence also stated that Scrubs as we know it is over, for the show to move forward with a new cast in an ER type role on ABC, or take a new title completely. In response to criticisms that the change would tarnish Scrubs' legacy, Lawrence defended the decision, as it would allow the Scrubs crew to continue work through a recession: "'Legacy shmegacy.' I'm really proud of the show, I'll continue to be proud of the show, but I love all of those people..."[38]
On June 19, 2009, it was announced that the reformatted ninth season of Scrubs would "shift from the hospital to the classroom and make med-school professors of John C. McGinley's Dr. Cox and Donald Faison's Turk." According to Lawrence, the ninth season will "be a lot like Paper Chase as a comedy", with Cox and Turk's students occasionally rotating through the halls of Sacred Heart and encountering former series regulars. McGinley and Faison were joined by "a quartet of newbies (most of them playing students)" as full-time regulars, while one of the freshmen "will be fairly famous".[39]
The biggest change to the show for the ninth season is a major cast revamp. Of the seven actors who have appeared in the show since the pilot, only Donald Faison and John C. McGinley were set to retain their roles as regulars. Zach Braff returned part-time and still received first star billing for the episodes he was present in. Sarah Chalke returned for four episodes as a guest star; Although credited as a guest star, Ken Jenkins appeared in the majority of the season, appearing in nine of the thirteen episodes; Neil Flynn appeared in the season premiere in a brief cameo; and Judy Reyes was absent the entire season, making her the only former star not to return to the show. Her character Carla is only mentioned occasionally and Turk is seen speaking with her by phone in the end of one episode. The new main cast included Eliza Coupe[40] returning to the recurring role of Denise "Jo" Mahoney from season eight, Dave Franco as Cole, a charming, confidently stupid and incredibly entitled medical student whose family donated the money to build the school,[41] Kerry Bishé as Lucy, who shared the starring role with Braff in the beginning of the season and eventually became the show's new narrator, [14][42] and Michael Mosley as Drew, a 30-year old med student on his last attempt at school.[42][43]
Another major change is the setting of the show and where it is filmed. For the first eight seasons, the show was filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center but production for this season took place at Culver Studios. As a result, in the show, the existing Sacred Heart hospital was mentioned to have been torn down and re-built on the "Winston University" campus.
On May 14, 2010, it was announced the show was officially canceled. The season nine finale, titled "Our Thanks", aired March 17, 2010. Five days later, on March 22, 2010, Zach Braff announced, via the official Facebook page, that the ninth season of Scrubs would be the last, commenting that; "Many of you have asked, so here it is: it appears that 'New Scrubs', 'Scrubs 2.0', 'Scrubs with New Kids', 'Scrubbier', 'Scrubs without JD' is no more. It was worth a try, but alas... it didn't work."[2][44]
Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley and Neil Flynn reprised their roles as J.D., Elliot Reid, Carla Espinosa, Perry Cox and the Janitor to make a cameo appearances in the 2003 Muppets film It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, trying to reanimate Miss Piggy. Eventually, Piggy and the Scrubs cast break the fourth wall, with the actors portraying themselves and Bill Lawrence appearing as himself/the director of the current episode.
Sam Lloyd reprised his role as Ted Buckland in the season 2 finale of the Lawrence series Cougar Town. In the episode, written and directed by Lawrence, Ted is in Hawaii and says his girlfriend, Stephanie Gooch, has run off with Dr. Hooch.[45] Lloyd will to reprise his role once again in season 3. Scrubs regulars Zach Braff, Ken Jenkins (who have appeared before), Sarah Chalke, Robert Maschio, and Nicole Sullivan will appear (as different characters) in the third season as well.[46]
The show is shot with a single- instead of multiple-camera setup more typical for sitcoms.[3] The season four episode "My Life in Four Cameras", has a brief multi-camera style, since it includes J.D.'s fantasies of life being more like a traditional sitcom.
John Inwood, the cinematographer of the series, shot the series with his own Aaton XTR prod Super16 film camera. Despite the fact that some broadcasters, such as the BBC, consider Super16 a "non-HD" format,[47] John Inwood believed that footage from his camera was not only sufficient to air in high definition, it "looked terrific."[48]
Except for the finale of season 5, "My Transition", which was broadcast in high-definition,[49] the first seven seasons of the show have been broadcast in standard-definition with 4:3 frame aspect ratio. After the show was moved from NBC to ABC, the broadcast format for new episodes changed to high-definition. John Inwood opined that older episodes could be re-released in HD as well. From the very beginning he filmed the show with widescreen delivery in mind so the whole series could be aired in high-definition when the market evolved.[48]
All nine seasons have been released on DVD in 4:3 format. However, the eighth season was also released on Blu-ray Disc in original widescreen format.
Music plays a large role in Scrubs. A wide variety of rock, pop, and indie artists are featured, and 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.[50]
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."[50]
In addition to music being featured as a soundtrack to the show, the cast themselves also sing on a frequent basis, such as in the episode "My Best Friend's Mistake" when the entire cast had the Erasure song "A Little Respect" stuck in their heads and would sing it repeatedly. Producers expanded Scrubs' musical emphasis with a musical episode early in the sixth season, called "My Musical". This episode aired on January 18, 2007.[51]
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. Lawrence credits Braff for finding and suggesting "Superman" as the theme song.[10] The lyric "I'm no Superman" refers to the show's theme of its characters' fallibility.
The Scrubs main title is performed at a faster tempo than the original recording of the song. The original, slower recording was used briefly at the beginning of season 2, played during an extended version of the title sequence, as well as the opening for "My Urologist", and 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 and then used for seasons four through eight. Beginning with season nine, a new version of "Superman" is used which is performed by WAZ.[52]
Three official soundtracks have been released. The first soundtrack, Music From Scrubs, was released on CD on September 24, 2002.[53] The second soundtrack, Scrubs Original Soundtrack Vol. 2, was released exclusively on iTunes on May 9, 2006.[54] The third soundtrack, "My Musical" Soundtrack, featured the music composed and performed in musical episode "My Musical"; it was released on Amazon.com and iTunes on August 7, 2007.[55]
Colin Hay, the former frontman of Men at Work, has had music featured in at least seven episodes, and has appeared in the episode "My Overkill", performing the song "Overkill" as a street musician, and in the episode "My Hard Labor" performing "Down Under". Hay also sings "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", the theme from Cheers, in the episode "My Life in Four Cameras" and the episode "My Philosophy" features Hay's song "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin", sung by several members of the cast. He also appeared in "My Finale".
The music of Joshua Radin, who is a friend of Scrubs star Zach Braff,[56] appeared in six episodes.
Music by Keren DeBerg has featured in 15 episodes, and she appeared in "My Musical" as an extra in the song "All Right".[57]
Clay Aiken appeared in the episode "My Life in Four Cameras" and performed the song "Isn't She Lovely?" by Stevie Wonder.
The Worthless Peons (also known as Ted's Band, The Blanks, or in the "My Way Home" Director's Cut as "Foghat") are an a cappella group made up of Sacred Heart hospital employees from different departments. They are a cover band, and often sing songs from a specific genre (for example, cartoon theme songs or commercial jingles). They have appeared in several episodes.
The Worthless Peons are played by The Blanks, who are a real-life a cappella 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 Lawrence and members of the Scrubs cast. This band was put on the show when Sam Lloyd brought his a cappella band to the Scrubs cast Christmas party. Lloyd told Lawrence about his band, and Lawrence got the idea of putting them in the show.[58]
The Worthless Peons also sing the theme song to the web series Scrubs: Interns, which features the new interns from season eight learning about the hospital in the same way that J.D. did in season one. Interns is aired on the ABC website.
Scrubs first seasons received critical acclaim, with many critics praised its cast, characters, and humor (especially J.D.'s fantasy sequences).[59][60][61] In 2006, Entertainment Weekly's website EW.com gave the overall series (the review was made early after the fifth season premiere) a grade of "A-", with the author saying "Scrubs is the trickiest comedy on TV [...] A likable, daffy, buoyant series that would be a big annoying mess if it weren't done just right, Scrubs is the very definition of nimble".[59] IGN gave the first season a perfect score of 10. The seven following seasons was respectively rated 9, 9, 9, 8, 7.5, 8.3 and 7.5.[62]
Common Sense Media, who mainly rates series in terms of violence, sex, and profanity, gave Scrubs a positive review and awarded it 4 out of 5 stars despite having rated both "Sex", "Language" and "Drinking, drugs, & smoking" 3 out of 5, stating "this show can be screamingly funny but is very adult-oriented".[60] The Truth About Nursing, who checks the realism of the medical series, gave Scrubs a "Nursing rating" of 1.5 out of 4 stars, but an "Artistic rating" of 3 out of 4 stars, praising that "despite the nasty and surreal elements, its characters are not above learning or growing, as they try to cope with the very real stresses of life and death at the hospital". However the reviewer stated "The show's portrayal of nursing has been less impressive".[61]
Review aggregate Metacritic only assigned an average score to the eighth and ninth seasons, with the eighth season scored 79/100, based on four reviews only (all positives), indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[63] On other review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, despite not having any score due to an insufficient number of reviews, every season (except the ninth, which is not listed) have unanimously good reviews.[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71]
The ninth and final season received mixed to positive reviews, with many critics heavily criticizing the new cast; it received a score of 64/100 on Metacritic, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[72] IGN gave it a positive score of 7 out of 10, stating "even though this was not the best season, I'll always have fond memories of the show".[73]
USA Today reviewer Robert Bianco wrote a negative review, stating "The result is a deadly, deal-driven mistake that takes a network that has made great sitcom strides forward one unfortunate step back". He also notices that the presences of a few members of the original cast (Zach Braff, Donald Faison and John C. McGinley) "only makes it harder for the new characters to take hold" (despite he also heavily criticized Braff's performance).[74] Blogcritics gave it a mixed review, criticizing the new cast, but praising the performances by the original cast members.[75]
Scrubs has received 17 Emmy nominations, in categories such as casting, cinematography, directing, editing, and writing. Its fourth season earned the series its first nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. Zach Braff was also nominated that year for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The series was nominated again the following year for Outstanding Comedy Series. At the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode "My Musical" was nominated for five awards in four categories: Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Will Mackenzie), Outstanding Music Direction (Jan Stevens) and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics ("Everything Comes Down to Poo" and "Guy Love"); while sharing the award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation (Joe Foglia, Peter J. Nusbaum, and John W. Cook II) with Entourage.[76]
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 of Arrested Development in 2005, to Steve Carell of The Office in 2006, and to Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock in 2007.[77]
The show won the 2002, 2008, and 2009 Humanitas Prize, an award created for rewarding human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It also won the prestigious Peabody Award.
The table below indicates the ratings of Scrubs in the US. "Rank" refers to how well Scrubs rated compared to other television series which aired during primetime hours of the corresponding television season. The television season tends to begin in September, and ends during the May of the following year, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps. "Viewers" refers to the average number of viewers for all original episodes, broadcast during the television season in the series' regular timeslot. "Rank" is shown in relation to the total number of series airing on the then-six major English-language networks in a given season. The "season premiere" is the date that the first episode of the season aired, and the "season finale" is the date that the final episode of the season aired.
The highest rated episode of Scrubs was the season 2 premiere "My Overkill" which aired on September 26, 2002, and received 22.31 million viewers.[78]
| Network | Season | Episodes | Timeslot (ET) | Original airing | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | ||||||
| NBC | 1 | 24 | Tuesday 9:30 pm | October 2, 2001 | May 21, 2002 | 2001–02 | #38 | 11.20[79] |
| 2 | 22 | Thursday 8:30 pm | September 26, 2002 | April 17, 2003 | 2002–03 | #14 | 15.94[80] | |
| 3 | 22 | Thursday 8:30 pm Tuesday 9:30 pm |
October 2, 2003 | May 4, 2004 | 2003–04 | #43 | 10.41[81] | |
| 4 | 25 | Tuesday 9:30 pm Tuesday 9:00 pm |
August 31, 2004 | May 10, 2005 | 2004–05 | #88 | 6.90[82] | |
| 5 | 24 | Tuesday 9:00 pm Tuesday 9:30 pm |
January 3, 2006 | May 16, 2006 | 2005–06 | #98 | 6.40[83] | |
| 6 | 22 | Thursday 9:30 pm | November 30, 2006 | May 17, 2007 | 2006–07 | #87 | 6.41[84] | |
| 7 | 11 | Thursday 9:30 pm Thursday 8:30 pm |
October 25, 2007 | May 8, 2008 | 2007–08 | #115 | 6.38[85] | |
| ABC | 8 | 18 | Tuesday 9:00 pm Tuesday 9:30 pm Wednesday 8:00 pm |
January 6, 2009 | May 6, 2009 | 2008–09 | #106 | 5.54[86] |
| 9 | 13 | Tuesday 9:00 pm Wednesday 8:00 pm |
December 1, 2009 | March 17, 2010 | 2009–10 | #116 | 3.79[87] | |
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