Flatlining after eight seasons of medical japes, the sitcom was rebooted for a med-school spin-off that should have been left for dead
They say laughter is the best medicine, but a “doctor doctor” joke isn’t going to help much if you have been run over by a truck. Which is probably why most hospital TV shows are largely guffaw-free. There was nothing to chuckle about in ER or Grey’s Anatomy, little to tickle your ribs in Casualty and Holby City, while the aisles remained roll-free in House. Even Doogie Howser, MD wasn’t that funny. But that’s because Doogie was 14, and you were eight.
Scrubs pitched itself as a medical comedy-drama. Not by accidentally slipping on a mislaid colostomy bag and yanking out the power to a life-support machine, but by way of the cartoon characters, each with idiosyncrasies jammed to the max. Life at Sacred Heart hospital is viewed through the inner monologue, hallucinations and flashbacks of new intern John “JD” Dorian (Zach Braff). Love interest and fellow intern Elliot is a mouth-not-wired-to-brain chatterbox. Surgical intern Turk plays jock to JD’s nerd, accompanied by nurse girlfriend Carla. Physician Dr Cox has had all emotion replaced by searing, apathetic wit. Dr Kelso is the hard-nosed chief of medicine. The hospital janitor is bonkers. Difficult matters like mortality are still dealt with (notably the death of Cox’s best friend in series three), but so are taboo subjects such as falling in love with a coma patient’s wife. It’s all done with humour, but also the poignancy such subjects deserve.
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